It's not new at all, but Cosmic Encounter blew my mind wide open. It's far and away the most chaotic board game I've ever played. I love it.
The object of the game is to occupy ten planets (you start with five) via combat, negotiation, or shenanigans. Each player drafts two unique powers, each of which breaks the rules somehow. Just for instance, in the last game I played, one player had the power "you start with ten planets, but your planets are only worth half." Eventually I won by causing this player to swap places, but not powers, with me. Some such BS happens every single game, and never the same way twice.
Cool! I bought Cosmic Encounter in the 80s. I left it with my parents when I moved out, and then we would play it there when we visited so I never moved it to my own house. Then of course they threw it out. I had no idea it had been republished. Very fun game--a little random but for me that makes it more fun.
Maybe I've always played it wrong but I found Cosmic Encounter horribly unbalanced and very random. My friendship group used to play it as a warm-up game before other games so I have a lot of experience with it but almost none of it I found enjoyable.
Either I just couldn't wrap my head around a winning strategy or we were getting the rules wrong because it was just miserable, and I say that even winning my fair share of games, but often times it felt like I didn't do anything particularly different to deserve that victory.
Cosmic Encounter [1] is my all time favorite. I think it works best with 5 or 6 players, which allows for lots of interactions and wacky card play. Some of the alien powers are better than others, which might seem unfair. But the fun is in assessing each situation and making the appropriate alliances, etc. to "balance" the game - hopefully to your own advantage, of course!
[1] Specifically the Mayfair edition from the 1990s, although I understand the current version is pretty similar.
I have Cosmic Encounter with 4 expansions and I bought it after watching it played on No Rolls Barred (great Youtube boardgame channel). So far I've tried to play it once but my friends don't seem to get it at all. Quite sad since from seeing it played I think it's a fantastic game.
The object of the game is to occupy ten planets (you start with five) via combat, negotiation, or shenanigans. Each player drafts two unique powers, each of which breaks the rules somehow. Just for instance, in the last game I played, one player had the power "you start with ten planets, but your planets are only worth half." Eventually I won by causing this player to swap places, but not powers, with me. Some such BS happens every single game, and never the same way twice.