Designer: Antoine Bauza

If there’s a horde of crazed oni attacking your idyllic Japanese village, who ya gonna call? You, apparently.

Ghost Stories is a cooperative game where players take the role of mighty Taoist warriors, attempting to stave off the ghosts who are invading the village, attacking from all sides. Every turn adds one — or more — ghosts to the invading force, and if left unchecked, they’ll destroy the village. Players need to leverage their abilities and the innate abilities of the village locations, to survive this onslaught, which builds up to an attack by the notorious head honcho, Lu Feng.

Interesting Mechanic: The Village. Several coop games have randomly generated locations. However, the locations are more relevant here.  The Village is a randomly generated village of 9 buildings in a 3 by 3 grid, where each location offers different benefits to the ghost hunters. Skillful use of these location advantages is essential to success, which means that every game of Ghost Stories is a unique puzzle that needs to be solved.

Ghost Stories is very good, but very hard – one of the most difficult coop games I’ve played. The White Moon expansion helps soften this a good deal, but if you’re looking for an excellent coop experience that truly challenges your table, this is a good choice.

(Photo Credit: Board Game Geek)