Games Like Frostpunk: The Board Game

Frostpunk: The Board Game is a city builder, of sorts. It incorporates resource management, worker placement, and exploration elements. And, thanks to the impending storm, it has a major stress element. It also plays solo or cooperatively with up to four players. The generator and other buildings in the game are represented by some nice-looking plastic components, too, giving it a good table presence.

Below is a list of 6 board games like Frostpunk to help you find your next tabletop adventure.

1. This War Of Mine

• Publisher: Awaken Realms
• Release: 2017

If you’ve read our list of video games like Frostpunk, you’ll know This War Of Mine topped that list, too. Although the theme is unrelated, the two video games were made by the same publishers and have the same harrowing and difficult decisions running through them.

Although the board games are produced by different publishers, they still have a similar feel to one another.

This War Of Mine is also a solo game that can be played multiplayer. There’s exploration, although resource management takes the form of looting, rather than gathering.

If you have played the video game, the board game will feel familiar and while it definitely plays best solo, it still plays well with up to three players. If you enjoy the survival element of Frostpunk, along with the tough decision-making, and the fact it plays best solo, This War Of Mine is a great option.

2. Dead Of Winter: A Crossroads Game

• Publisher: Plaid Hat Games
• Release: 2014

In many respects, Dead Of Winter is really dissimilar to Frostpunk. It can’t be played solo, and while there are difficult decisions to make, they ultimately come down to what will benefit your chances of success the most.

But, it is a survival game and there is an ever-increasing threat, in the shape of an advancing zombie horde.

While it can’t be played solo, it is a cooperative game, albeit a competitive one. That means you will need to work together to beat the game, but players have their individual goals, and there is a possibility of a saboteur working against the group. This adds an extra element because you never know whether one of the party is working against you or not. We really enjoy Dead of Winter and it is especially good as an introduction to competitive co-op gaming.

3. Nemesis

• Publisher: Awaken Realms
• Release: 2018

Nemesis is another semi-cooperative board game, like Dead Of Winter. It demands decisions that not only affect the player making those decisions but also other individuals and the group as a whole.

It is one of those games that will have you talking about incidents long after the escape pods launch or the ship self-destructs. You will remember the time you single-handedly finished off the queen or when your so-called friend shut you in a room with two intruders to make good their own escape.

The game is heavy on tension, although there isn’t any real resource gathering, and while you do explore the ship, there isn’t the level of exploration there is in other games. What there is, though, is a raft of stunningly detailed plastic minis and an excellent story-driven game.

4. Forbidden Desert

• Publisher: Gamewright
• Release: 2013

Forbidden Desert is a cooperative game that can, at a push, be played solo. But it plays best as a pure multiplayer co-op. There is an impending weather event, which brings tension similar to the impending storm in Frostpunk. Exploration is a big part of the game as you uncover tiles in the hope of uncovering lost ship parts.

Forbidden Desert can get frantic as the storm progresses, and it can be tricky to win if you don’t play as a team, but the lack of competition will put some players off.

5. Sniper Elite

• Publisher: Rebellion Unplugged
• Release: 2022

Sniper Elite’s gameplay isn’t that similar to Frostpunk, but it is based on a video game, and we’re enjoying playing it, so it makes the list. It’s an asymmetrical hidden movement game. One player plays as the sniper while the rest play as “German” soldiers attempting to kill the sniper

The sniper uses their board to mark their moves while the soldiers play their moves out on the main board. If the sniper gets too close to soldiers, they make noise and give clues as to their whereabouts.

The game is fun, but it doesn’t tie in that well with the video game, which is known for its sniping and bloodthirsty killcams. The killcams can’t be replicated, but the small maps mean your sniper is more interested in sneaking around than in actually sniping.

With that said, it is still a really enjoyable game and well worth playing. It’s certainly a good introduction to hidden movement games.