Games like Diplomacy

June 9, 2020 8:14 AM

Over the past month or so, a group of my internet friends has been playing Diplomacy (on backstabbr and playdiplomacy). We're kind of tiring of Diplomacy, but have really enjoyed playing something multiplayer, async and web-based. Surely there are more games out there like it we could play?

A few things we'd like to find in a new game:

• can't require everyone/anyone to be online at the same time
• fun?
• multiplayer
• ideally webbased, though a crossplatform (Linux/Mac/Windows) game would be maybe okay
• ideally not mobile

We looked at Subterfuge and while mobile, and technically synchronous (slow, real time) it seems like a good option. What else should we check out?

posted by so fucking future to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

If you like Diplomacy then give Neptune's Pride a try. Iron Helmet also has a co-op game called Blight of the Immortals which is also pretty fun. These are real time games, but very slow. You check in once or twice a day to and they play out over a long period of time.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 8:30 AM on June 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

Food Chain Magnate is available online asynch. You can get emails when it's your turn and everything!
posted by Carillon at 9:51 AM on June 9, 2020 [2 favorites]

Polytopia is mobile-only at the moment (though a Steam version is forthcoming), but it's a very splendid little stripped down 4x type game. I can imagine Diplomacy people taking to it.
posted by crazy with stars at 1:02 PM on June 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

18xx.games is a nice new site for playing the 18xx family of games, of which there are dozens; currently two (1889 and 18Chesapeake) are implemented and more are on the way. It definitely checks all your boxes. 18xx games are multiplayer (typically 3-5) games where players invest in railroad corporations and run them, typically with lots of stock-market and track-laying shenanigans as players screw each other over creatively. They scratch a lot of the same itch I used to get from Diplomacy. They can be a little hard to get into at first, but you can find rules online and once you're hooked, you're hooked.
posted by dfan at 10:27 AM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]