Every year, Gen Con arrives like a burst of fireworks in the tabletop world—a lively, colorful, and sometimes overwhelming showcase of where the hobby is headed. And 2025 looks no different. With thousands of publishers descending on Indianapolis, the convention floor is stacked with prototypes, hotly anticipated releases, and bold new ideas.
What stands out this year isn’t just the number of games; it’s the range. From weighty Eurogames dealing with social issues to meditative eco-designs, gritty frontier survival, and even anarchic dark comedy, the spectrum is wider than ever. Among all the buzz, four titles took the spotlight: Severton, Garden Lake, Dirt & Dust, and the provocatively titled Immediate Murder Professionals.
Severton – A City Teetering on Collapse
Severton might be fictional, but it feels unsettlingly real. Players manage a modern industrial city in decline, where every decision comes with a trade-off between growth and collapse.
- Style: Tactical Eurogame with resource management
- Focus: Urban decay, political struggle, economic survival
You can build new factories to stimulate the economy—but at the cost of eroding neighborhoods and rising crime. Every move feels sharp-edged, pressing players to confront the consequences of development. It’s weighty, cerebral, and unflinchingly relevant.
Garden Lake – A Breath of Calm
Sitting at the opposite emotional register is Garden Lake. Rather than decay, it celebrates renewal: players work together to restore a fragile wetland ecosystem.
- Style: Cooperative, puzzle-like strategy
- Focus: Ecosystem health, conservation, long-term balance
This is a meditative design, rewarding collaboration and foresight. It belongs to a wave of eco-conscious titles that blend education with satisfying gameplay. Slow growth, thoughtful choices—an oasis of calm amidst Gen Con’s chaos.
Dirt & Dust – The West Without the Rose-Tint
Dirt & Dust offers the Wild West, stripped of glamor. There are no heroic gunslingers here—just grit, hunger, and the struggle to survive under punishing conditions.
- Style: Sandbox survival adventure
- Focus: Frontier hardships, fragile alliances, disease and scarcity
Gameplay demands resource management, alliance-building, and improvisation. Each session feels like carving out a new story in the dust—sometimes triumphant, often precarious.
Immediate Murder Professionals – Chaos, Satire, and Black Comedy
And then there’s Immediate Murder Professionals—a party game with a name designed to make you pause. It leans gleefully into over-the-top cartoon violence and merciless parody.
- Style: Fast-paced card chaos
- Focus: Satire, slapstick brutality, irreverent humor
It’s brash, outrageous, and divisive. Some players will howl with laughter; others will cringe. But either way, it’s a title guaranteed to get people talking long after the cards are packed away.
Why These Four Matter
Together, these games sketch the evolving identity of tabletop in 2025:
- Designs unafraid to wrestle with real-world issues (Severton).
- Gentle eco-games that teach while they entertain (Garden Lake).
- Tough, story-driven survival sandboxes (Dirt & Dust).
- Loud, irreverent comedy experiences (Immediate Murder Professionals).
The spread is remarkable—serious, playful, thoughtful, absurd—and all of it is being embraced under one roof. The hobby is becoming more experimental, more personal, and refreshingly unpredictable.
So which would you pick first? The storm-battered streets of Severton, the meditative wetlands of Garden Lake, the grueling frontier of Dirt & Dust, or the comedic chaos of Immediate Murder Professionals? One thing’s clear: Gen Con 2025 will be anything but boring.