Desperate Oasis

The animal card grouping mechanic is trickier than it looks, especially when you're fighting over the same oasis tiles. Took us a couple rounds to get the powers right, but once it clicked we played four more in a row. Perfect for two people who want a game with actual back-and-forth.

My partner and I played this three nights in a row, and the tug-of-war over the oasis tiles gets genuinely tense by the last round. Two players only, which is perfect for us since our game group rarely gets bigger than that.

The animal card powers add a nice layer of strategy I wasn't expecting from such a small box. My wife and I played three rounds back to back, and the tug-of-war over the sanctuaries kept it tense right to the end.