#29: Voidfall (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Voidfall

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 86
• rating: 8.5
• published: 2023
• designer: Nigel Buckle & Dávid Turczi

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• Normally, I’d balk at a game with a non-random combat system and heavy intertwined mechanisms – but the theme of defeating the Voidborn is so tightly woven into the design & flow of the game that I find myself lost in the world and the puzzle of trying to expand my civilization’s capabilities whilst fending off the encroachment of mind-altering evil. 

Tips & Tricks:

• You have to know two things about this game going in: first, there's a LOT going on and it's going to be overwhelming. Second, for as heavy as it is, it's not a tremendously long game - 2 hours as a solo game and 3 hours or so as a two player competitive game.
• I don't care if you're the savviest gamer in town, you should NOT skip playing the tutorial. It's an actual game with an excellent guardrail system that gives you a pretty full tour of the complex game system without sending you down a railroaded pathway.
• It takes a bit to get used to the combat system. Remember: the "battles" in this game are multi-year wars, not a single battle. (It's a highly abstracted and non-random system... but it works well in the context of the game.)
• All but two of my plays of Voidfall have been solo - and that system (which is similar to the cooperative system) works like a charm.

Extras

• The copy pictured is the Galactic edition - which has cool miniatures and lots of other bling. The underlying game engine is strong enough not to need the bells & whistles.
• Along with a team of fellow writers at the Opinionated Gamers site, I hosted an extended conversation about Voidfall.
• Yes, I've already backed the upcoming expansions (Resurgence and The Last Novarch) as well as the "sister" game in the Voidfall universe, Revenant.
• This is the fourth of four games on this countdown with design work from Dávid Turczi and the second of two games from Nigel Buckle... not to mention the second of two games designed by this team!