The Best Tabletop Selections from Steam
By Alex J. Coyne © Gifts For Card Players
The Steam platform is to gaming what platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime are to movies: it’s where you go to download stuff. Steam launched in 2003, and it has since become one of the largest gaming networks out there. Thousands of games and millions of users call Steam the place to be.
If you haven’t joined Steam in this day and age, it could be a sign that you haven’t played any serious video games since the mid-nineties.
Steam, it’s safe to say, has everything – from first-person shooter games to weird board games like 5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel.
Here’s a look at some of the best-selling tabletop games available for download on Steam
1. Cultist Simulator
https://store.steampowered.com/app/718670/Cultist_Simulator/
Cultist Simulator is a board game inspired by the Lovecraft Mythos. Players are involved in a takeover of the board, as cultists, with the goal being to spread the occult influence further. PC Gamer’s Christopher Livingston gave Cultist Simulator an 85% overall score.
If you’re a fan of games like Steve Jackson’s Illuminati, invite your inner sanctum to a game of Cultist Simulator.
2. 5D Chess
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1349230/5D_Chess_With_Multiverse_Time_Travel/
At this point in time, most people are familiar with 3D chess… But what about two dimensions further?
The idea behind 5D Chess is to blend new game mechanics with a familiar game. Somewhat, I’d say, like Saints & Sinners Bowling with its weird power-ups that allowed you to mess around the opponent and make their game just that little harder.
5D Chess decides to add, as the description says, multiverse time travel.
Have fun with this!
3. Terraforming Mars
https://store.steampowered.com/app/800270/Terraforming_Mars/
Terraforming Mars is a traditional world-building game that’s all about establishing a civilization on Mars.
Players will have to consider their resources, their stats, and colonize the Planet Mars with turn-based gameplay. The game requires a fair deal of serious thought: then again, so do most management-type games that have the words Tycoon or Build in the title.
The game also happens to be the perfect companion for the movie The Martian (2015). They are not related at all, but fit weirdly well.
4. Scythe: Digital Edition
https://store.steampowered.com/app/718560/Scythe_Digital_Edition/
The best way to describe Scythe is to imagine you’re playing a very specific version of Risk. Published by Asmodee Games, Scythe: Digital Edition is a throwback to the 1920s where players compete for total domination of the board.
Scythe relies heavily on the role-playing aspect. The game has clans and character abilities, and actions like foraging or building (among many others).
As of now, it’s one of the most popular traditional war games on Steam.
5. Roll for the Galaxy
https://store.steampowered.com/app/893840/Roll_for_the_Galaxy/
Roll for the Galaxy is an interesting blend of world-builder and dice-rolling title.
Dice represent the galaxy’s population, and each roll gives the appropriate action that can either further the galaxy or send it back to the past.
Up to 5 players can roll together, and games can be either very quick or extensive.
6. CATAN Universe
https://store.steampowered.com/app/544730/Catan_Universe/
CATAN Universe is the online conversion of CATAN, one of the most popular map-based role-playing games. More than 20 million copies have been sold to date.
Players are tasked with the creation of an army and the takeover of the world map, while other players compete against them to advance. Turn-based war games don’t get much better than CATAN; according to the official website, CATAN has even become a sight at business meetings as a way to break the ice.
Through Steam, CATAN Universe puts you in touch with a whole world of players to conquer. Good luck!
7. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links
https://store.steampowered.com/app/601510/YuGiOh_Duel_Links/
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links is only one of several Duel Monsters conversions available on Steam, but so far, the most popular downloadable online version of the game. Duel Links allows the player to compete against others, enter competitions and tournaments, and feel like they’re right in the middle of the action.
If you were a fan of the show at any point, consider this a must-play.
8. Clue/Cluedo
https://store.steampowered.com/app/794800/ClueCluedo_The_Classic_Mystery_Game/
Clue, sometimes called Cluedo, is one of the board games you’ll find in thousands of households as a distinguished family favorite. It’s one of the first (and still, best) murder mystery board games, now with an online equivalent available for download through Steam.
Compete against friends, or make some new enemies!
9. Uno
https://store.steampowered.com/app/470220/UNO/
Uno is the popular card game where everyone is sure they’re sure about the rules – but then you play online where the computer does the scoring, and maybe you realize you’ve been playing your own version of it for the past twenty years or so.
A great, multiplayer version of Uno is available on Steam if you would like to introduce any players to a great technically trick-taking game.
