Best Adventure Board Games

Magic, Suspense, and Quests… Oh My!

Adventuring is a dirty job, but someone has to do it. It’s not like there are board games about farming or quiltmaking….Oh, wait. That’s beside the point. 

Today we’re answering the call. The call to ADVENTURE, that is. An adventure board game doesn’t always need a Tolkien-style dark lord and a magical ring (it does help sometimes). A true adventure board game tells a story and offers up meaningful decisions with an impact on the player characters. 

We’ve scoured ancient tomes, faraway lands, labyrinths, and the furthest reaches of the known world to find the best adventure board games just for you. 

🏆 Our Top Picks for Best Adventure Board Games

In a hurry? Take a quick peek before you go.

06/06/2023 01:30 pm GMT

Mage Knight: Ultimate Edition

Players: 1-5
Playing Time: 150 minutes
Ages: 14+

Players take the role of powerful Mage Knights that explore the Atlantean Empire. What you actually do is entirely up to you.  

Mage Knight has it all when it comes to adventure board games. There are RPG mechanics as Mage Knights level up and gain powerful skills and spells, players can pick up companions to help them on their quests, and, most importantly, morality is completely defined by the player. 

Need supplies, but can’t afford them right now? There is that monastery sitting there undefended…

Not only does Mage knight offer an incredible world to explore and multiple campaign-style scenarios for adventurers, but it also pulls double duty as one of the best solo games I’ve ever played. 

What We Liked

In terms of bang for your buck, Mage Knight offers fantastic value in one box. You’ll get a lot of gaming sessions out of it and there are also 3 expansions so it’ll take a long time to get bored. You could play Mage Knight every week for a year and still find new content. 

What Could Be Better

The price tag is hefty, the game is not easy and the playing time is long. Depending on your perspective, a tough game with a lot of depth may be exactly what you’re looking for. But you should answer this question before you buy Mage Knight: Do you have a core group of friends ready to commit to the long haul and make this purchase worthwhile?

Mage Knight checks every single box I have for an adventure game, and it’s a must-have in my book.

Gloomhaven

Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 60-120 minutes
Ages: 12+

Gloomhaven is arguably the most impressive adventure board game available. It’s certainly one of the largest and will let players sink hours (if not months) into the world of Gloomhaven. 

Gloomhaven is like a well-orchestrated Dungeons & Dragons campaign without a dungeon master. Instead, the scenario booklet and the mechanics run the game while players just need to concern themselves with surviving and glory. 

The mechanics and story of Gloomhaven can be daunting at first, especially since it’s made with legacy elements, in which characters continue to grow and influence the world of Gloomhaven directly.

What We Liked

Gloomhaven is insanely popular these days and with good reason. As an adventure game, it will go down in history as one of the greatest, in-depth and immersive board games of all time. As a legacy-esque game, the content seems like it will never run out. And when it does, you can just restart the whole campaign. 

What Could Be Better

You probably know this already but it needs to be said: Don’t buy Gloomhaven if you want a casual and quick gaming experience. The game is expensive, the box itself is massive, the setup takes ages, learning the rules can be overwhelming and the game just never seems to end.

7th Continent

Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 5-1000 minutes
Ages: 14+

7th Continent is extremely unique. It’s based on the Fighting Fantasy solo adventure books, written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston.

7th Continent is the epitome of adventure. Having the source material come from an old adventure series creates a world of exploration, intrigue, danger, and adventure right from the start.

Players create their characters (or character) and then send them out on a randomized modular board to explore the 7th continent and uncover its secrets. 

The entire production of the game is quite astounding. From artwork to mechanics, 7th Continent is amazing. Perhaps one of the coolest features is that the adventure can be paused or saved quickly. 7th Continent is designed to save progress on your adventure and pick it up again at a later date.

What We Liked

7th Continent executes its theme expertly and also provides an incredible amount of replayability. You need to survive and explore. There are hundreds of cards leading to hundreds of different exploration possibilities. It’s quintessential adventure at its finest. 

What Could Be Better

It is very possible to die in 7th Continent. In fact, you’ll constantly be in fear of your imminent demise. Once you die, that’s it. All your progress is wiped and it’s like you never even existed. If you’ve put in a lot of hours, this can be incredibly frustrating.

War of the Ring

Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 150-180
Ages: 13+

Being huge Lord of the Rings fans, we’re really into War of the Ring. It’s one of my favorite LOTR board games. 

War of the Rings is the classic epic struggle of good versus evil, but unlike Tolkien’s timeless classic, the outcome isn’t set in stone. Players can relive the classic tale as either the forces of Sauron or the Free Peoples of Middle Earth. 

There’s even a tracker to keep track of the Fellowship as they journey through Mordor. War of the Ring has large-scale battles, decisive moments, incredible tension, and theme, and it’s a fantastic two-player game in its own right even though it can be played with up to 4.

What We Liked

Apart from being an epic fantasy adventure game, War of the Ring stays faithful to the original source material. So, if you know a lot about Tolkien’s world already, then you’ll love seeing the way the lore permeates through the game. If you don’t know much, this is actually a great way to learn. 

What Could Be Better

The actual components let the game down. In isolation they’re good, but combined, they don’t work that well. The minis are hard to tell apart from each other. Plus, once they’re placed on the map, it’s hard to actually read the place names and markings on the map.  

If ever you were looking for a fantasy adventure, Lord of the Rings is always a great place to start.

Legacy of Dragonholt

Players: 1-6
Playing Time: 60-999 minutes
Ages: 14+

Legacy of Dragonholt is like playing an old choose-your-own-adventure novel with a bunch of friends. 

Legacy of Dragonholt is an amazing storybook that players work through. Each player plays as a customized character with various skills. During a single game, players will work through the adventure book.

One of the coolest things about Legacy of Dragonholt, besides the awesome story, is the components. The first thing our intrepid adventurers receive is a letter from an old friend, and inside the box is the actual physical letter that players can pick up and look for clues.

The thought processes and writing that went behind the game are phenomenal. The game itself gives players the option how to solve problems and progress in the story. For example, if there’s an obstacle blocking a party, players may have the option to bypass the obstacle through brute force, acrobatics, or even tools they may have available. How they go about it is completely up to the players.

What We Liked

Legacy of Dragonholt is built around its narrative. This is its core strength. And it excels in this regard. The story is fantastic and will keep you hooked. The game lacks components and takes a unique approach to gaming, whereby the story is the main mechanic driving the game. 

What Could Be Better

Ultimately, there’s only so much content in Legacy of Dragonholt. While it’s great on the first few run-throughs, the content will become too familiar. There’s just not enough novel content to add to the replayability of the game. That, however, doesn’t detract from it being a great beginner RPG adventure.

Lord of The Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth

Players: 1-5
Playing Time: 60-120 minutes
Ages: 14+

The world of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth has inspired a number of authors, series, and writers since Tolkien first touched pen to paper. 

Journeys in Middle Earth is a rather impressive miniatures game in which players control key moments in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Unlike a lot of all vs. board games, Journeys in Middle Earth comes with a companion app that can be downloaded for free and controls all of the enemies. This means that everyone gets to fight on the same team, and there isn’t that one player stuck being the bad guys every game. 

It can be quite the adventure when wandering through forbidden woods when all of a sudden a gang of orcs accosts the party.

What We Liked

Apps in board games are a make-or-break kind of deal. So, is the app any good? Well, it takes care of a lot of the background work, keeping track of your enemies stats and resolving each interaction. This takes away a lot of the gruntwork players would be doing otherwise. 

What Could Be Better

Even pro apps sometimes have frustrating drawbacks. If you accidentally click something on the app, there is no undo button. When this happens it’s extremely annoying, but you just have to accept the app’s final decision.

Mansions of Madness

Players: 1-5
Playing Time: 120-180 minutes
Ages: 14+

Mansions of Madness is another Lovecraft-inspired board game from Fantasy Flight, but this one takes a bit more intimate look at madness and exploration. Instead of getting free reign of Arkham or the world, players are confined to a mansion.

In this adventure, they’ll need to explore the mansion, find clues, stop the elder gods from awakening, and, hopefully, not lose their sanity or their lives in the process. 

Similar to Journeys in Middle Earth, Mansions of Madness also has a companion app that controls the mansions and encounters players will deal with throughout the game. It makes it a lot easier to set up and play once the app is up and running.

What We Liked

The components are of great quality, the artwork is thematically on point and the scenarios offer a lot of opportunities for thrilling adventures. Overall this all makes Mansions of Madness a highly immersive game that excels as a mystery horror adventure game. 

What Could Be Better

Something to be aware of is that once the game is set up, it takes up a lot of room on the table. It can be difficult to lay out all the components in the most efficient way so that the table isn’t cluttered and everyone has access to the playing area.

Aftermath: An Adventure Book Game

Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 60-120 minutes
Ages: 14+

Post-apocalypse fuzzy critters… that sounds like an adventure to me. From Plaid Hat Games comes another anthropomorphic romp, but this time, instead of castles or nightmare creatures, players will be exploring the apocalypse. 

In the possibly not-too-distant future, humanity has been completely wiped out and all that’s left are hyper-intelligent animals and woodland critters trying to survive in an apocalypse wasteland. 

Aftermath has some similarities to its predecessor Mice and Mystics but does improve a bit on worldbuilding and storytelling. Players will adventure forth into the apocalypse and scavenge the wastes while fighting off other creatures. 

Aftermath is a really fun storytelling game and has another fun booklet that brings the entire world to life as players adventure into the wastes.

What We Liked

The storytelling component is really well done. As the game develops, you learn more about the animals’ backstories and how this post-apocalyptic world came into existence. This all adds an immersive backdrop from which to enjoy the adventure aspects of the game. 

What Could Be Better

It’s better to learn the rules directly from someone who knows the game already. Deciphering the rulebook isn’t an easy task and can just leave you feeling confused and unsure about the right course of action.

Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island

Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 60-120 minutes
Ages: 14+

Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe was one of my favorite books growing up, and Adventure on the Cursed Island just so happens to be one of my favorite board games. 

This isn’t a fun little jaunt through the woods, either. Adventure on the Cursed Island is hard and dangerous. Literally just leaving camp on any given outing can spell absolute disaster for the party, but to make matters worse, if you don’t leave the safety of camp you’ll die slowly. If you leave, chances are you’ll die horribly. 

Good luck, but if you manage to survive, you’re in for an amazing experience and one of the best cooperative games you’ll ever experience.

What We Liked

Robinson Crusoe’s story is already ingrained in our collective psyche. It’s a famous tale of adventure. Adventure on the Cursed Island does a great job of incorporating that theme into the game. The artwork, storytelling, and gameplay all combine to create an excellent adventure board game. 

What Could Be Better

Adventure on the Cursed Island is a tough game. I mean, really tough. It’s super hard to beat and unforgiving if you make any mistakes. It does mean communication and cooperation are absolutely essential so make sure you’re playing with some friends that you know have your back. 

Eldritch Horror / Arkham Horror

Eldritch monsters and globetrotting adventurers? That sounds like the perfect adventure story. 

Eldritch Horror is the spiritual successor to Arkham Horror. Instead of staying in Arkham, the most unfortunate city in all of existence, the elder gods, and cults are awakening and beginning to make moves worldwide. 

Players journey around the world searching for clues of hidden cults and alien monsters across the globe, all while trying to keep their sanity and prevent the unthinkable from happening, the awakening of an elder god. 

Eldritch Horror plays very similarly to Arkham, but being released later, a few quirks have been edited out in the rules and everything feels like a much more polished game. The storytelling and adventure stories that come out of a playthrough are quite exciting and it’s a fantastic way to spend an evening.

What We Liked

Thematically, Eldritch Horror is on point. It really captures Lovecraft’s incredible world of fantasy and horror. The storytelling reaches new heights too. Leaving the restrictive confines of a single town and increasing the scope of the game to include the whole world allows for a different scale of storytelling. 

What Could Be Better

Although the story itself is fantastic, there isn’t much in the way of character development. Characters are just a means to an end to develop the story rather than the other way around. A better balance in this regard would be great.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Players: 1-5
Playing Time: 120
Ages: 14+

Descent is a fantasy dungeon crawler in which players face off against the most dangerous predator…MAN. One lucky player gets to take the role of the dungeon and controls all of the monsters with special boosts to kill and cause trouble for all the adventurers. 

In this adventure, players have to work together to survive long enough to clear the dungeon and steal the loot. It’s a classic fantasy adventure, but Descent brings it to life beautifully with impressive miniatures and solid mechanics. There’s a reason it’s hitting our top adventure board games list and our best dungeon crawler list.

What We Liked

In Descent, there are loads of opportunities for character development and customization. From choosing your class and equipment to developing your skills and weapons, you can customize your character in tons of different ways. There’s also no limit to how much equipment you can carry so the possibilities are endless. 

What Could Be Better

Being the Overlord is a lonely and thankless task. It’s your job to make everyone else lose so even if you win, you’ll be hated. Plus, there’s no collaboration or character development to enjoy. I find it hard to see why someone would willingly take on this role, so it seems like at some point everyone will just have to do their duty for the greater good.

Plunder: The Pirate’s Life

Players: 2-6
Playing Time: 40-120 minutes
Ages: 10+

Plunder is a pirate adventure game in which players sail around a modular board of islands and seaports. It’s a rather simple game with a lot of fun thematic elements. Although the rules are simple, the gameplay and strategy still hold up. There is a rule and move element to ships and that can be taboo to some hardcore gamers but Plunder works wonders as a gateway adventure game. 

Players are let loose on an unsuspecting archipelago. Players have the option of gaining victory through trade, combat, piracy, and even taking over whole islands for themselves. The road to victory is vast, and how you get there is entirely up to you.

What We Liked

One of the best things about Plunder is the theme. It’s a classic adventure trope: A bunch of swashbuckling pirates on the hunt for treasure. What’s not to like?

What Could Be Better

There’s a huge amount of randomness in Plunder. From dice rolling to card drawing, every move has a chance to derail you or reward you, depending on how the dice gods are feeling that day. It can make it pretty hard to plan what you want to do because you’re relying on being lucky to do it. 

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Players: 1-2
Playing Time: 60-120 minutes
Ages: 14+

Another Eldritch board game makes the list. I don’t necessarily like Lovecraft (his writing or his personality), but I really enjoy the world that he inspired. 

Arkham Horror: The Card Game sticks to the tried and true Lovecraftian elder monsters and tropes in this deck-builder. Each game revolves around different scenarios as our intrepid adventurers unravel the mystery surrounding cults, monsters, the end of the world, and humanity as we know it. 

The interesting thing about the card game is the deck-building aspects of the game. As players progress, they’ll get access to new cards and abilities making each game different. 

If you’re looking for an Eldritch Adventure that doesn’t take up 3 tables worth of space, the card game does manage to bring the adventure down to a much smaller playing area while still packing a fun punch.

What We Liked

The deck-building aspect of Arkham Horror: The Card Game is great. In some ways, it offers a ton of variety in terms of the characters you can pick. But it also makes sure to elevate the theme by limiting which card decks you can draw from. It’s a great combination of variety and theme. 

What Could Be Better

There aren’t enough missions to keep you coming back for more. There are only a few core missions, and once they’re played, that’s it. It doesn’t take that long to play through them either. You can get expansions but the core game isn’t amazing value.

Call to Adventure

Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 30-60 minutes
Ages: 13+

Call to Adventure is one of the most unique storytelling board games I’ve ever seen. If you find yourself daydreaming a lot about fantastical adventures or getting lost in fantasy novels, Call to Adventure is an easy choice. 

Call to Adventure allows players to create a character and help them fulfill their destiny. Using cards, they’ll form a character based on the traits they pick up through cards and try to live out their ultimate destiny. 

There is, of course, a point system for the winner, but the stories that come out of Call to Adventure are more often than not the most exciting part of the game. Everyone will walk away from the table with a cool story, regardless of who wins.

What We Liked

The combination of narrative and thematic elements with the gameplay work together to create a brilliantly immersive adventure game. Each aspect of the game helps the others and the result is a pitch-perfect adventure game that has a lot of replayability. 

What Could Be Better

Some of the rules are quite ambiguous and so it can be hard to figure out what the correct course of action is in a given situation. Try and learn the rules from someone who has played before. Or use the internet as a resource because this will clear up any final concerns you have.

Dragonfire

Players: 2-6
Playing Time: 60-90 minutes
Ages: 13+

Dungeons & Dragons is synonymous with adventure stories and Dragonfire is no exception. 

Dragonfire is a Dungeons & Dragons-themed deck-building adventure that has players trekking through the famous Sword Coast. 

Just like with actual Dungeons & Dragons, players can level up their characters at certain milestones to get powered up. Dragonfire uses a sticker system similar to the Shadowrun card game. When players level up, they can choose a sticker that designates a new feat/ability and stick it right onto their character sheets. 

Dragonfire is quite the adventure that will have players delving through dungeons and fighting dragons. If that’s not enough for you, there are several expansions that take players through other famous Dungeons & Dragons locales like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter.

What We Liked

Dragonfire achieves a rare blend of being easy to teach but hard to master. As long as someone at the table has played the game before to answer any questions that come up along the way, you can join right in and have fun from the first game.

What Could Be Better

You need to gain XP to improve your character but this can be too slow. Improving your character doesn’t come cheap and XP doesn’t come easy. Combine the two and you’ll be left saving for an upgrade for a frustratingly long time. 

Champions of Hara

Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 30-120 minutes
Ages: 14+

Champions of Hara is quite an adventure. Player characters from all different backgrounds and worlds are pulled into the world of Hara. Within Hara, unstable energies ripple through the lands and whoever can stabilize them wins a wish from the mysterious and powerful Kensei. 

The story adventure story elements in Champions of Hara are extremely well done. The game itself is played in episodes. First as a free-for-all with each champion trying to win a wish from the Kensei, and afterward, the winner chooses a scenario specific to their chosen character in a cooperative game. 

It’s a very unique take on extended gameplay and story between games, and it’s done incredibly well. Champions of Hara offers a grand adventure for multiple characters across multiple scenarios which will keep any player busy for quite some time.

What We Liked

Champions of Hara feels like a fully populated world, bursting at the seams with different characters, loads of cool backstories, and a ton of different scenarios to play through. The characters all feel unique and there’s loads of content to keep you occupied for a long time. 

What Could Be Better

The co-op mode has a lot more to offer than the versus mode. Working together to beat the scenarios provides a better gaming experience and allows you to explore more of the world and the backstories of the characters. 

Betrayal at the House on the Hill

Players: 3-6
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Ages: 12+

Get ready for a Scooby Doo-style adventure through a haunted mansion. Players need to be prepared for anything like crazy cat ladies, flesh-eating zombies, mad killers, and even the Ouroborus snake devouring the world. 

Betrayal at House on the Hill is a 2-part adventure game. The first half involves running around the mansion on the hill, exploring, picking up items, and gaining stats (hopefully). Stage 2 is where the real fun begins. 

Stage 2 is the haunt. Each game will play out differently and the scenario depends upon the rooms and items revealed during phase 1. The scenario booklet that comes with the game references multiple adventures that the players could encounter. Some of them are purely cooperative, some involve a powered-up traitor, other scenarios are everyone for themself, and some are just plain weird. 

No matter which scenario players find themselves in, it’s guaranteed to be an interesting adventure. 

What We Liked

This is another adventure game that nails the theme. It really captures the classic horror movie vibes. The production levels are exceptional and the scenarios are tons of fun to play through. Plus it’s really easy to teach and easy to play. 

What Could Be Better

One player has to be the traitor. While it can be fun knowing you have this power, at the same time it can be an isolating role.

Pathfinder: Adventure Card Game

Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 90 minutes
Ages: 13+

When looking for adventure, it helps when it’s literally in the title and backed up by one of the most popular pen-and-paper RPG systems. 

Pathfinder: Adventure Card Game takes a simple card system and turns it into a customizable deck-building RPG adventure game. Players start with a standard deck and explore the different locations of the scenario looking for the big bad evil guy of the scenario. Once they’re found, players need to work together to close off locations and corner them for a final showdown. 

As players progress through the game, the cards in their deck will slowly grow and swap out with more powerful weapons and cards, and even the characters themselves will gain better stats the longer they play. 

It’s a bit of a mish-mash of genres and can get a little pricey buying the separate modules, but even with the base set or 1-2 expansions, it’s quite the adventure experience.

What We Liked

Pathfinder has done a great job at transforming a tabletop game into a fully realized card game. It’s easier to learn than the tabletop version but there’s still a nice amount of world-building and nicely structured adventure to play through. You can also customize your characters in plenty of different ways. 

What Could Be Better

The game setup actually takes a surprisingly long time. Plus, the overall price might put you off. Once you’ve factored in expansions, this isn’t a cheap gaming experience, for what you get. 

Above and Below

Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 90 minutes
Ages: 13+

Above and Below has quirky fun artwork wrapped in a cute little package. At its core, it’s a worker placement, tableau-building game but to expand your settlement, you’ll need to build above… and below the ground. 

Each player is in charge of their own settlement but below ground is a massive network of tunnels and caverns filled with mystery and whole civilizations. To build below, ground players will need to first explore and go on an expedition below to find a suitable location. 

The adventures are filled with fun little scenarios that can improve your reputation, damage it, or reward players with valuable resources. The adventure scenarios are really fun but they’re not the most comprehensive. It’s definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re a fan of worker placement games.

What We Liked

Above and Below combines adventure storytelling with engine-building and worker placement mechanics. In this way, it’s got a lot to offer to different types of gamers. While you’re building your engine you’re also exploring and discovering fascinating backstories about the characters. 

What Could Be Better

Because Above and Below combines all these different mechanics, it doesn’t really excel at any. It’s a jack of all trades and a master of none. The storytelling, for example, is a great element but it doesn’t reach its full potential.

Mice and Mystics

Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 60-90
Ages: 7+

Mice and Mystics is a fantastic introductory adventure game, especially for younger players. It’s designed and plays like reading a bedtime story. 

Welcome to a world in which “being small doesn’t mean you can’t change the world”. In this adventure game, the former prince of the kingdom and his loyal cohort has been transformed into tiny mice to escape the coup of the evil witch Vanestra. It’s up to the players to rally their forces and take back the kingdom that was once theirs. 

Mice and Mystics has an incredible storyline that takes players through an episodic journey filled with magic, suspense, and epic tails. 

What We Liked

Mice and Mystics is an incredibly cute and thematic game. The storytelling is pitch-perfect. It’s an ideal family game and a great introduction to gaming for kids. There’s quite a lot going on so it’s not necessarily easy at first. But once you get the hang of it, the whole family can join in. 

What Could Be Better

Although this game is definitely geared toward children, it’s probably too complex for them to work out by themselves. It’s a strange situation where the mechanics are geared toward gamers but the theme isn’t. So basically, the appeal of the game is limited to a family game where the parents can teach the kids.

Wrap-Up

We hope you’ve enjoyed our list of the best adventure board games! Hopefully, you’ve found the perfect adventure board game for your gaming crew but if we missed your favorite, we’d love to hear about it. 

Drop a comment below!