Anything from Leader Games and illustrated by Kyle Ferrin (Root, Oath, Fort…) feels like cheating but still, I absolutely adore their art style
Everdell, Photosynthesis, Parks, look nice as well
I also bought an updated edition of Costa Tuna just because of the illustrations: https://www.pamwishbow.com/client-work/project-four-yjynj-pafyx
Tic tac toe.
Harmonies is pretty and very very inviting for non-gamers.
Small World always stood out to me as a game with lots of style and identity.
Glory to Rome, in the crazy, all-in reprint they did still to me is an absolute highlight of art and theme. So pretty.
Great question!
I really like when the games art immediately pulls players in. Everyone wants to play Flamecraft because the art work is so damn cute. Players are already engaged with the.gsme, before it even started.
Everdell is great too!
I never heard of Flamecraft! It looks super cute 🥰
Surprised nobody has said Scythe yet. The artwork is stunning
Imma go with the suuper vanilla answer: Game of Life. I love the little hills and buildings you have to put on the board.
On the totally opposite spectrum of Nerdiness a full Board of Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition is a marvelous sight to behold
Probably Root, and Once Upon a Time. I love both games, and I think it’s at least partly the aesthetic.
It’s great playing other Ferrin games and seeing his range.
Maybe I’m just a bird man but Wingspan is absolutely stunning. I bought second copies of the base game and addons to put cards into a binder
I was hopping in to comment wingspan and then immediately realized of course everyone had already been talking about how beautiful this game is
Being a bird fan is just the healthy same thing to do, it isn’t a hobby it is just a pleasure of being on earth that everyone should enjoy.
Wingspan is gorgeousssss.
The app is too!
When I first heard about Wingspan app I dismissed it in an instant - why do I want to sit in front of the screen instead of being at the table? As someone working in IT boardgames are my escape from virtual world. But the game is phenomenal - cards have animations, birds make sounds and in the Polish version they have hired legendary Krystyna Czubówna (most famous voice actor) to read bird trivia. 10/10.
When I first heard about Wingspan app I dismissed it in an instant - why do I want to sit in front of the screen instead of being at the table? As someone working in IT boardgames are my escape from virtual world
I agree and I think that dynamic is definitely at play but it is eclipsed by the immediately evident truth that the digital game is as much a genuine love letter to birds wearing the disguise of an awesome strategy game as the board game itself.
A love letter is a love letter, the details of what medium the letter is written in doesn’t matter, and what better crush to write a love letter to than the birds bursting wild and free into even the most terraformed artificial human environments.
…Do you think you could teach a crow to play wingspan?
I too am a bird man but I’ve asked my non-birdman friends who say that the game is indeed stunning.
It helps that the game is also enjoyable to play.
Wyrmspan really brings it home for me personally, while also being a more fleshed-out and mature version of Wingspan
I miss the educational aspect of bird’s trivia but I guess that’s expected from a game about dragons
There’s a whole book of dragon facts
Yeah but looking up the specific dragon you’re playing is a whole separate thing to do as opposed to it just being on the card in wingspan.
Probably Meadow. It is such a beautiful game.
I have a soft spot for C1 Carcassonne. There’s something very elegant in the simplicity of the tile art, and it’s the version of the game that got me hooked in the first place.
Off topic, but what’s going on with the feddit.de instance? The main site (usually) just says
server error, but I still see occasional posts and comments from communities (such as this one) and users on that instance in my feed. Is there a meta community where this is discussed?The feddit frontend has been offline for months, but the backend works just fine, so if you use another ui (such as an app) that instance can still be used. It’s a mess.
Talisman is close to my heart in every possible way, though the character art for some of the more recent expansions don’t fit in particularly well.
@Stalinwolf @inlandempire I treasure my 2e Talisman box sets. The art is so good.
I’m kinda partial to this vibe for my games:
Or this vibe:
Mouse Trap
I’m right on board with you with Kyle Ferrin. I’ve spent… a lot of money on Leder Games games.
It’s interesting how Kyle Ferrin managed to develop such a unique, recognizable and charming art style that I when I looked at OP’s picture, I instantly thought “huh, the art style of the third board game reminds me a lot of Root”
Yeah it’s Oath, I bought it, I don’t even know if I’ll be able to play it with friends, but I need all the Kyle Ferrin I can humanly collect in my life. His cute critters and goofy faces and lovely sketch lines and textures are just so adorable
My first thought was “I’ve got to share about Root” and then looked closer and thought “they probably already know”
I really like Spirit Island. It’s a grest game and the art style really adds to it as well. It really adds to my imagination not only to read the cards powers but to see the detail in the tiny art box on every card.
For me, the game with the most beautiful art has to be Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn.
My favorite art style, though, would have to be Middara (though the female characters could use some more practical outfits). It is just so over the top and vibrant.
Another art style that I enjoy seeing is Dungeon Degenerates. The gross, ugly look fits the atmosphere of the game setting.
