Thematic games and mechanical games occupy different aesthetic spaces and I am tired of the argument that one is superior. A game can be beautiful and have emergent narrative. A game can be a pure mechanical puzzle. Both experiences are valid.

Where the argument goes wrong: using 'thematic' as a euphemism for 'randomly determined' and 'mechanical' as a euphemism for 'cold and dry'. The best thematic games — Spirit Island, Gloomhaven, Arkham Horror the Card Game — have strong mechanical bones. The best mechanical games — Brass Birmingham, Ark Nova, Terraforming Mars — have themes that illuminate the mechanisms rather than decorating them.

The games I find least interesting are mechanical games with actively misleading themes and thematic games that use narrative to paper over mechanical weakness. Both fail in the same fundamental way: the theme and the mechanism do not talk to each other.