Gen Con 2025 is officially in the books, and at ICv2, we are hard at work pushing out the remaining editorial coverage of the event. It was a banner year for Gen Con, as it sold out and toppled its previous attendance records (see "Record"). And of course, several spicy games were previewed at the show as well.

One of the most common questions I'm asked, both at the show and afterwards, is "What games are you excited for?" As I look through hundreds of distributor listings and press releases every day (all week) across multiple categories of games, my answer at the show is "I have no idea, but I'm sure I'll see something that catches my eye." Well, here it is. These are the following game products that were the most buzzworthy of Gen Con 2025: 

Riftbound TCG: League of Legends by Riot Games. I usually can tell whether or not a TCG has momentum going into Gen Con by how many text messages I get asking for review product for the game. In this case, most of my trusted TCG experts, in-store organizers, and collectors were all asking about Riftbound TCG by Riot Games. I must've completely underestimated exactly how many TCG players cross over into the League of Legends territory (and vice versa). This game was insanely hot at the show, with Riot Games' team running non-stop demos and running out of demo product on a daily basis. Should do very well when it hits retail in October 2025 (see "'League of Legends TCG' ").

Gundam Assemble Miniatures Game by Bandai. I would've suspected that the hotness at the Bandai booth would've been the Gundam TCG, but it wasn't. Lots of fans were clamoring for a first look at Gundam Assemble, Bandai's new miniatures skirmish game. I think most of the buzz behind this game was fans just trying to figure out what was going with this game, as it was announced with little information attached, and the exuberance of actually seeing the miniatures IRL. Regardless, everyone seemed to be talking about it. 

Starfinder 2E RPG by Paizo. The talk of Gen Con, as far as RPGs go, was the release of the Starfinder Player Core rulebook for Starfinder 2E. I honestly didn't see this one coming, mainly because it had been telegraphed for quite some time (see "'Starfinder Player Core'"), and there didn't seem to be an unusual amount of discussion about the book going on in social media circles. However, when it hit the streets, fans came running to buy it.  

Lightning Train by Dire Wolf Digital. The hot board game of the show was clearly Lightning Train by Dire Wolf Digital (see "'Lightning Train"). The buzz on this game started a few weeks back, when the game actually hit retail preorder, and carried into Gen Con 2025. Dire Wolf clearly dumped a bunch of show sponsorship dollars into promoting the game at the show, as banners for the game were almost everywhere. The game, itself, feels like a souped-up version of Empire Builder with a spicier theme, better artwork, and niche mechanics. It'll do well at retail as very few board game enthusiasts can resist a solid train game. 

Star Wars: Battle of Hoth by Days of Wonder. The Star Wars fans were just all over this one. There had been a number of Hoth-themed board games released in the past, but none have been as anticipated as this one. It's a card-based miniatures board game that is simple to play, has cool-looking AT-AT's and the troops, and offers players the strategic complexity of a war game. This will be a winner at retail. 

There are a couple other Honorable Mentions of Gen Con hotness. The Enemies of Gotham board game (see " 'Batman: The Animated Series' Game") looks incredible, but it is too far off (May 15, 2026) to make judgments about how hot the game will be. The other Honorable Mention was how hot Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy Collector Boosters are. Packs were going for $140 per pack on the show floor, and an attendee mentioned to me that they had actually bought one of the ultra rare serialized Golden Chocobos for about $35,000 there, and then flipped it for $50,000 at the show in a private sale. That Magic set is still absolutely on fire!

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.