Bribe, brawl, befriend – in the story-driven card game Foretales, shuffling tactics helps you stay alive. As a thieving crow cursed with apocalyptic visions, play cards to pick pockets and eavesdrop on conversations while you navigate a winding tale with multiple endings. Can you stave off doomsday?

What we love: Overcoming obstacles in creative ways. Guards can be bribed or intimidated, but they might also respond to compassion if you play a Solidarity of the Weak card. And while you can use gold to buy food from a merchant, playing Léo’s Aimed Shot card will get you a free meal – if you can stomach a bit of violence.

Quick tip: Whenever possible, spend fame points to convince enemies to withdraw from combat. If you lower a rival group’s morale to zero by bribing its strongest member, each fleeing foe will earn you another fame point. You might even gain enough back to break even!

Meet the creator: Foretales began as a traditional deck-building game, but French indie developer Alkemi felt it begged to be something more, so they added a deep, branching narrative.