Yes this is a puff piece. But like... Carcasonne was 2000. There has been amazing progress in game design and depth. So many games that have wide audiences and

Yes this is a puff piece. But like... Carcasonne was 2000. There has been amazing progress in game design and depth. So many games that have wide audiences and that are just fun and well designed, that would not have been published 20 years ago because it would not fit into the right mold. For every "game meant to get 20 expansions", we have a wealth of very good replayable games that exist well on their own. For every game meant to launder 20 different kind of components, you get 4 wonderful games sold at cost and that are actually fun, with the tactileness being the flavor on top. I kind of agree that lots of games are OK with making their boxes "too much" nowadays (if only from a practical perspective of it being too big and just a lot of trash). But I think almost everybody at the creative level is just earnestly excited to make board games. Business people want to make business, but that's the same in every industry.