10 Best Sci-Fi Board Games – Destructoid

If you’re as big a sci-fi fan as I am, you know that absolutely everything is better with spaceships and laser beams. There’s always been a healthy supply of sci-fi stories, movies, and video games, but sometimes it can be tough to find a space-faring board game for your next dinner party.

Years of obsessing over sci-fi and board games has given me quite the list of great games that encapsulate everything I love about the genre. Some of these are massive undertakings that only the most dedicated gaming groups should attempt, and others are perfect for getting your kids involved. There’s a sci-fi game out there for everyone, and hopefully there are a few that are perfect for you.

Catan: Starfarers is a great starting place for sci-fi gaming, assuming you’re already familiar with games like Settlers of CatanThe two games are very similar, but Starfarers places more emphasis on expansion and exploration than on trade. The game replaces ports of Colonists with a galactic market, and it also introduces NPCs and bonuses that can be collected by venturing deeper into space. Other than that, it’s the same building and trading game you already know and love, making it one of my top recommendations on this list.

Twilight Empire is an immersive and massive board game about building a spacefaring empire. It’s not for the faint of heart, either. The game works best with 4-6 players and can easily last 6+ hours. The goal is to grow your empire in a variety of ways to rack up victory points, and in the process you might just crush a few of your competitors. You’ll need a dedicated group of friends to tackle a run, but if you’re a fan of 4X games, this is the tabletop experience of your dreams.

Emptiness is another 4X game that is not as time consuming as Twilight Empire, and that offers a bit more playstyle flexibility. The premise of the game is that a terrifying entity called the Voidborn has erupted in the heart of a galactic empire, and the surviving houses of the empire must fight it off. The game can be played solo or competitively, but the co-op mode is where it really shines. There’s simply nothing quite like building armies and slaying epic space aliens with your friends.

You and up to four friends can become business leaders who make a profit by advancing humanity in Terraforming Mars. This is a resource management game where you expand your planetary territory to increase the production of valuable materials like oxygen and electricity. At the same time, you can pick up special project cards to create even more valuable technology. If you’re looking for less space battles and a more grounded sci-fi experience, this is definitely the game for you.

Nemesis is a heavy board game with a narrower focus than games like Twilight Empire And Emptiness. Players take control of a character on a stranded spaceship infected with a terrifying alien creature. As a group, you must pursue various goals to survive, but sometimes characters will come into conflict with each other due to their individual goals. Nemesis is a semi-cooperative experience that throws you into a survival/horror experience that is completely in line with the Alien franchise, and it’s great for fans of board games with great miniatures.

Managing a space empire is no easy task, but Cosmic Encounter transforms you into an Imperial decision-maker with a fairly rules-light approach. You choose an alien race, each with a special power, to control, and then you must divide your attention between defending your various homeworlds and expanding into enemy territory. As you move your units between planets, you’ll feel a bit like you’re playing a game Riskbut the alien forces give the formula a whole new twist and make the game extremely replayable.

It’s no surprise that some of the best science fiction franchises lend themselves to great board game adaptations. Dune Empire lets you fight for control of the spice against up to three other players. At first glance, Dune Empire is a worker placement game, but it mixes in deckbuilding elements to inject another layer of strategy into the experience. You use cards to move your Agents around the map while also collecting resources that you can use to damage your opponents and add to your deck. It’s a great tabletop experience, but the digital version of the game is almost as fun.

There are various Firefly board games but the best is simple Firefly: The Game. The game puts you in the cockpit of your own ship and tasks you with traveling the ‘Verse picking up jobs and crew members. You need to gather enough money to keep your crew afloat, but traveling carries the risk of attracting the attention of the Alliance of Reavers, who are truly your greatest enemies here. This game is something that any sci-fi fan can appreciate, but it is definitely aimed at people who are invested in the Firefly Stylish.

Now it’s time for a game that is perfect for families and also features a single player mode. First Rat is a bit like a science fiction movie MousetrapBut here it’s the rodents that run the show. You play as a group of rats who dream of one day walking on the surface of the moon (it’s made of cheese, haven’t you heard?). Players race to the rats’ launch pad, collecting resources along the way, which they can use to recruit more rats to their cause and speed up the space race.

Star kingdoms is a deckbuilding game designed for 2-6 players. You and your opponents have access to a shop full of ships from different factions, and you take turns building your fleet while trying to blow each other to pieces. Even with more than two players, the games move pretty quickly, and because you build your deck as you go, no two games are ever the same. This works as a great introduction to deckbuilding for players who are new to it, and there is a digital version of the game available for those times when your table group can’t get together.