Against all odds, 2025 was a phenomenal year for new board games. It started strong, with releases like Critter Kitchen and The Dark Quarter, and the new releases didn’t let up, with a string of well-designed, unique and mechanically-interesting experiences launching in the following months.
In the variety of new titles released, from clever IP adaptations to all-original narrative adventures, layered puzzlers and beyond, there were new board games for every type of player – young, old, new and experienced.
From a big wide world of new game releases, the ScreenHub team has whittled down their favourites, curating this list of the big, bright and bouncy board games we absolutely loved in 2025. Whether you’re looking for a new experience, a gift or something else, read on.
Best board games of 2025 – quick links
The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era
- Players: 1-4
The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era is a heavyweight adventure board game that adapts the events of The Elder Scrolls franchise into a sweeping tabletop adventure perfect for fans of high fantasy and those looking to deepen their understanding of The Elder Scrolls lore. You’ll need to engage yourself completely to grasp every mechanic and story thread as you travel through a dense plot, but for your effort, you’ll get to experience one of the most gripping board games of 2025.
Not everyone will have the chance to appreciate and admire this behemoth, thanks to the time investment required, but those with a gritty determination to indulge in a well-rounded, gorgeous new tabletop experience should certainly make time for this one.
The Dark Quarter
- Players: 1-4
The Dark Quarter is a lush dark fantasy adventure that lets you roam a magical version of New Orleans in the 1980s. This is a game guided by an app, with deep storytelling allowing you to fully embody a special agent attempting to solve crimes of a mysterious nature, in compelling board game fashion.
While we’re suckers for app-driven board games here at ScreenHub, what sets The Dark Quarter apart is its lush theming, which brings to mind urban fantasy and supernatural adventures like Constantine. Here, you’re flinging magic spells with aplomb while a lush and sprawling story plays out, with many threads to unravel. You’ll need to invest time in this adventure but it’s so very rewarding when you do.
The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship
- Players: 1-5
The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is an adventure board game that adapts the gameplay system of Pandemic. You play as members of the iconic fellowship, and must work towards defeating the forces of Sauron by travelling to various locations and completing quests. It’s all about understanding your surrounds and figuring out how to maximise your moves in order to make the most progress each turn.
This is actually one of two Lord of the Rings board games included in this list, and they both succeed on similar merit. They adapt the classic story in entirely different ways, while allowing players to live and breathe Tolkien’s world. With the Pandemic gameplay system backing each move in this board game, there’s a real sense of strategy baked in.
Finspan
- Players: 1-5
Finspan is a management board game all about discovering fish in various underwater locations while also creating the perfect circumstances for them to lay eggs and create offspring. Once your menagerie of fish is primed, it’s about watching your collection grow.
This is a relatively competitive game, with layers of strategy involved in creating the biggest and most impressive collection of fish, but there’s also plenty of opportunity to sit back and appreciate the game’s many beautiful sea creatures too. In either mode, Finspan is a fantastic and engaging experience, making it one of the best board games of 2025.
Propolis
- Players: 1-4
Propolis is proof that board games don’t need to be complex to be memorable and engaging. Here, you’re corralling a menagerie of bees, using them as workers in individual colonies. In turns, you’ll work to place your bees in key locations to collect pollen, while also creating a hive that best serves all your workers and the Queen Bee.
Propolis works so well because it’s backed by layered strategy while remaining fairly simple in nature. You have your task, you have your bees, and success or failure (determined by the most prestigious bee hive) is all down to how you strategise. That’s not to mention that Propolis is very pretty, with gameplay buoyed by a colourful art style.
Knitting Circle
- Players: 1-4
Knitting Circle is a cosy board game all about knitting garments, with the help of roaming cats. Playing in rounds, players pick and choose yarn from a basket, and use it to create cosy clothing, adding various accessories along the way. The goal differs based on the rule sets you choose but ultimately, this game is all about creating cool clothes under the watchful eyes of tiny calico cats.
The theme, and the simple-to-understand gameplay, makes this particular board game perfect for players of all ages. It teaches valuable skills like reasoning and organisation, and encourages competitiveness. For older players, it’s also just a breath of fresh air. To be able to sit back and relax with a neat board game is highly underrated.
Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Players: 1-4
The Unmatched franchise continues with 2025’s Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a colourful and nostalgic fighting adventure game that adapts the excellent Unmatched board games system. Here, you embody the titular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as they face off with Shredder and Krang through a light-touch story packed with strategy.
Like its predecessor, this Unmatched Adventures board game allows you to do battle by playing cards, with the added twist that each enemy is controlled by set events. You’ll need to plan well and strategise to make an impact so you can take down each of this game’s iconic foes.
Everdell Duo
- Players: 1-2
Everdell Duo is a resource management game that can be played either cooperatively or competitively, making it great for board game players of all kinds. In rounds, you’ll place workers in your own little animal-filled village, and work towards making it harmonious. With its lush, colourful art and easy-to-learn, hard-to-master gameplay, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable experience – even if you’re keen to just sit back and admire something pretty.
You don’t need to have played other games in the Everdell franchise to enjoy this one. All you really need is an appreciation for nature and a desire to micromanage a thriving community of animals. The lovely, free-flowing gameplay will do the rest.
Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons
- Players: 1-5
Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons is the latest variant of the Horrified board games system, which sets groups of up to five players travelling across a board, defeating monsters. In this case, players are working together to save the citizens of Waterdeep from the encroachment of Mimics, beasts and dragons.
This game is an excellent co-op experience, particularly if you’ve got friends who love fantasy games (although you can also play it solo and have a great time too). Gameplay is highly exploratory and elements of chance mean you never know what’s waiting with each new dice roll or card flip. That does mean the occasional victory is thwarted but the gameplay loop is exciting enough that you’ll want to keep playing anyway.
The Hobbit: There and Back Again
- Players: 1-4
Now for the other Lord of the Rings board games adaptation, The Hobbit: There and Back Again. This is a cosy flipbook game where you’re competing with players (or flying solo) to wander along the narrative of The Hobbit. In turns, you’ll use dice to make steps forward, collect special items and perform special actions, all of which will help you advance through story chapters and eventually reach The Lonely Mountain.
What’s novel about The Hobbit: There and Back Again is that it allows you to draw your way to victory, with each player charting their own unique course through maps in the included flipbooks. This game actually adapts the entire Hobbit story too, so you’re drawing your way through goblin battles, riddles in the dark and dragon encounters. With the gameplay being relatively lightweight, this game is fantastic for players of all kinds.
Disney Villainous: Unstoppable!
- Players 2-4
Disney Villainous: Unstoppable! is a board game that invites players to embody a classic Disney villain, complete with a nefarious goal and the cards to achieve it. If you’ve ever played the original Villainous games, you’ll understand most of what to expect here – but notably, Unstoppable! does twist and adapt established gameplay mechanics.
What hasn’t changed here is how much fun it is to be a villain. In turns, all players will compete to reach their set goal, using cards and tokens to gain advantage along the way. Whether you’re playing as Ursula, Scar, Maleficent or Hades, you’ll have a blast conniving your way to victory.
Critter Kitchen
- Players: 1-5
Critter Kitchen is a wonderful heavyweight management game where you’re corralling creature chefs to gather ingredients and cook hearty meals. There are multiple moving parts in this game but the friction of learning how to play is eased by just how gorgeous and cute its entire world is. The artwork and design are pretty phenomenal, frankly.
More than that, Critter Kitchen rewards your patience very well, with satisfying cooking gameplay and an endgame that pays off the entire experience. It’s absolutely delightful and one of the best board games of 2025.
