Isolation Games: PC, Board Games, Console, and more!

 

From all of us at Inked, we hope that you, your friends/family, coworkers, pets, and everyone in between is staying safe and making the best of these stressful times. Most of us at Inked have been working from isolation at home, and the warehouse is working on a bare bones staff right now. 

We've been throwing around ideas of different games that can be played in isolation - either with your significant other/roommate, or through online multiplayer. This isn't the whole list, but it's quite an in depth list of some of our all-time favorites! Let's dig in...

 

Teamfight Tactics (Free to play) – “Auto Chess” battler with online multiplayer capabilities. Can be played on multiple systems, including phone.

Temtem (One-time purchase) – Monster catching MMO very much like the Pokemon series. Found on Steam.

Eternal Card Game (Free to play) – Online card battler with multiplayer capabilities. Can be played on multiple systems, including phone and Switch, among others.

Magic: The Gathering Arena (Free to play) – Online card battler with multiplayer capabilities. Can be played on PC and Mac, with phone capabilities coming in 2020. The game that started it all!

Mythgard (Free to play) – Online card battler with multiplayer capabilities. Found on Steam and mobile.

Legends of Runeterra (Free to play) - Online card battler with multiplayer capabilities. Available on PC.

Hearthstone (Free to play) - Online card battler with multiplayer capabilities. Can be played on multiple systems. One of the pioneers of digital card games.

Teppen (Free to play) -  Online card battler with multiplayer capabilities (Street Fighter themed!).

Dota: Underlords (Free to play) - “Auto Chess” battler with online multiplayer capabilities. Can be played on multiple systems, including phone.

Hearthstone Battlegrounds (Free to play) - “Auto Chess” battler with online multiplayer capabilities. Can be played on multiple systems, including phone. Found in the Hearthstone client.

League of Legends (Free to play) - Most popular MOBA in the world. Beware! People on this game can be very passionate about it, and sometimes that manifests itself in negativity.

Call of Duty – Warzone (One-time purchase) - New shooter in the long series of COD games.

Fortnite (Free to play) - Arguably the most popular shooter in the world. Plus, it helped facilitate Drake and Ninja breaking Twitch that one time..

Doom Eternal (One-time purchase) - Very new shooter with a very old history. Looks like a great game.

Dota 2 (Free to play) - The second most popular MOBA in the world. Being the second most popular game of the most popular genre in the last decade is a great place to be. The community feels a smidgen more welcoming, as well. 

The Elder Scrolls: Legends (Free to play) – Online card battler with multiplayer capabilities. Can be played on multiple systems, including phone.

Path of Exile (Free to play) - Dungeon Crawler action/adventure RPG (extremely in depth!)

World of Warcraft (Monthly fees) - MMORPG (World of Warcraft Classic for bonus throwback points!)

Minecraft (Free to play) - Worldbuilder (Great game to play with your children!)

Escape from Tarkov (One-time purchase) -  Another new shooter.

Apex Legends (Free to play) - Wait, you wanted your free shooters with your other free shooters? Here you go.

Fifa 20 (One-time purchase) - Most popular (futbol) soccer game in the world. Lot’s of great competition.

Overwatch - (One-time purchase) - Older shooter with constant upgrades and support.

Madden NFL 20 (One-time purchase) - Most popular American football game in the world.

Old School Runescape (Free to play) - MMORPG that focuses a lot on exploring, crafting, and buying/selling. A classic!

Dark Souls 3 (One-time purchase) - Action RPG that’s difficult and rewarding!

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (One-time purchase) - Beautiful Action RPG. One of the best games on the Nintendo Switch.

Rocket League (One-time purchase) Soccer plus fast flying cars? Sounds strange, but has consistently been one of the best games found on Steam for years.

Pokemon Sword/Shield (One-time purchase) - Traditional Pokemon game found on the Nintendo Switch. Many new adventuring features have been added to this generation. A must try!

Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls (One-time purchase) - One of the more older games on the list. Another Dungeon Crawling RPG with impressive amounts of replayability! 

NBA : 2K20 (One-time purchase) - The most popular basketball game in the world. Many different modes to keep you entertained for months. Plus, they have a competitive scene for folks looking to compete at the highest level.

Monster Hunter Wold (One-time purchase) - An MMORPG that is extremely in depth. If you’re looking to get immersed in a game for possibly years, this is a great choice.

Warcraft 3 (One-time purchase) - A remaster of the classic RTS, Warcraft 3. 

Raid: Shadow Legends (Free to play) - An RPG available on many platforms. Simple battle system, similar to Final Fantasy, but also extremely complex. 

Warframe (Free to play) - Third Person Co-op shooter. Great free game to download with your friends and keep occupied for months.

Arena of Valor (Free to play) - An extremely accessible MOBA. Our recommendation if you are new to the MOBA genre of gaming.

Stardew Valley (One-time purchase) - Simulation farming RPG. It’s like farmville...but actually a good game. Found on Steam. 

Tabletop Games/Activities:

Dungeons and Dragons (Books and supplementary materials recommended) - If you don’t know what this is by now and you’re reading this blog, welcome back from your 100 year cryogenic deep freeze sleep. You have much to learn. 

Pathfinder (Books and supplementary materials recommended) - Arguably more accessible D&D. Highly recommended.

Cribbage - (Requires cribbage board and playing cards) - A classic 2-4 player game. The author of this article believes that this is one of the best games of all time, especially to teach people quick math and complex thinking. 

Puzzles - The classic frustration (or relaxation) co-op game. 

Chess - Checkmate.

Scrabble - It’s like words with friends...but not on your iPhone.

 

2 player only

7 Wonders Duel - Set in the classical era. Can you build your wonders before your opponent?

Star Realms - Great little deck building card game where you are star fleet commanders and are shooting at each. 

Hero Realms - Same as above but in a fantasy setting. 

...and then, we held hands - A relationship game where you are both trying to get to the center at the same time. But the twist is you can not talk about the game while playing it. You have to feel how the other person is going to play their cards.

Jaipur - Head to head set collection game to become the best merchant in India. 

Carcassonne - The Castle. Building the inside of the castle with tiles.

Hive - Boardless strategy game. Your tiles are different kinds of bugs that you use to trap the opponent's queen bee. 

Lost Cities - The age of great explorations has begun. Can you make a success of it or will the cost of the expeditions drag you under.  

Caesar & Cleopatra. A card and bidding game over the fight for the senate of rome to see if egypt stays independent.

Solo or more

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective series - Can you be smarter than the great Sherlock Holmes and solve the case in fewer turns than him? Most likely not. But it is fun to try. Also works great at any player count.

Legendary Deck Building series - Any of this series can work as a solo game. But the Superhero/villain ones have a better feel if you are doing it solo. Also works great as a 2 player. 

Agricola - Fun farm building game. Plays 1 to 4 people and solid at any player count. 

Gloomhaven - Legacy dungeon crawler. 

Tiny Epic Galaxies. Dice rolling space empire building game. Plays 1 to 5 personally I like it best with 3 tho. 

Arkham Horror - both regular and card game versions. Can you stop the great old ones from taking over the world. Or will you succumb to the mind shattering insanity of them? 

Welcome To... - Great neighborhood planing game. A roll and write that uses a deck of cards instead of dice. 

Castle Panic - Tower defense game. Can you save your castle or will it get overrun. Many flavors form classic fantasy (i.e. has orcs and goblins), to munchkin, zombies, and my favorite version Star Trek. 

Elder Sign - Like Arkham Horror, but with dice. 

Ghost Stories - Can you defend the small Japanese village from the hoards of ghosts? Most likely not, but give it a try.

Samurai Spirit - This time you are defending a small Japanese village from bandits. This one is a bit easier than fighting the ghosts.

 

Anything that we missed? The new Animal Crossing that came out last night comes to mind! Please let us know in the comments what you're playing during these social isolation times! 

Stay safe, be good to each other, and as the band MGMT said in their hit song, Kids, "Control yourself, take only the toilet paper that you need." Well, maybe it wasn't exactly that, but they WOULD have said it during these times.

Much love,

Mitch Gross

Inked Gaming