Have you missed solo board games in the past? Maybe your future lies in the 7th Citadel

Given the nature of the work I do here as Polygon’s tabletop editor, I end up playing a lot of board games alone. No board games you should play alone, mind you. Instead of enjoying the cardboard equivalent of the Times Sunday crossword, I’m more like Bugs Bunny plays baseball. That’s why I’m happy to be able to roll up my sleeves The 7th Citadel, one of the best modern solo board games. It’s also pretty great as a cooperative experience.

Published by Serious Poulp, The 7th Citadel is the descendant of The 7th continenta Cthulhu-inspired board game that made waves in 2015 with a €1.2 million campaign. I’ve played that many times, and I admire its depth and complexity. Players take on the role of explorers who must use their survival skills to gain the upper hand against alien forces. But the game itself is just a big box of numbered cards. The system, inspired by Choose your own adventure books, uses these numbered cards (nearly 850 in the base game) to tell an elaborate story. At the end of the adventure, you’ll end up with a table covered with a charming isometric map made from the cards you’ve drawn.

Not only does the game work extremely well as a solo experience, I’ve also been playing it more or less in a hot seat with other members of my family. Although I have the attention level to see it through to the end, I am often joined by other explorers along the way. It’s a pleasure.

Meanwhile, Serious Poulp continued to publish. It blew the doors off the next campaign in 2018, including a reprint and a major expansion. All told, it made over $7 million dollars. That effort was later followed up in 2020 with The 7th Citadel, a dark, medieval-inspired story with nearly identical mechanics. That raised more than €3.2 million.

Now the design team of Ludovic Roudy and Bruno Sautter is back for another reprint. This is included a lush new version of The 7th Citadel and, like the reprint campaign for The 7th continent from 2018 also includes significant expansion, as well as the promise of more ambitious goals as the campaign progresses.

Here’s a snippet from the press release about how it differs from its ancestors:

The 7th Citadel distinguishes itself from its predecessor by bringing many new elements to the table. First of all, it has its own original universe to explore: The 7th Citadel‘s story takes place in a post-apocalyptic medieval world called ‘The Collapsing Lands’. Players enter a dark world full of mysterious Necrodruids, monstrous plants and the even more dangerous Burrowers, in a fight for survival spanning multiple adventures called Threats. As for the mechanics, The 7th Citadel features exciting new additions such as an evolving world map, customizable action decks, the ability for players to develop their own Citadel between scenarios, and much more.

While I may not be participating in the campaign myself, it will definitely be on my radar once it hits retail. But if you want yours sooner, be quick. The campaign runs only from today until June 19th. Copies start at around $54, with delivery expected in November 2025.