Steamforged Resident Evil 2 The Board Game: Core Game

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If you’re new to tabletop survival horror, welcome — you’re in good company! There’s already a thriving Resident Evil tabletop community, which you can join right here . Once you’ve used up your four actions, any enemies on the same tile or a tile connected to your character’s tile by an open door will react. Now, if all this sounds pretty straightforward so far, it’s because we’ve deliberately kept the rules as user-friendly and intuitive as possible. But don’t let that fool you.

Should you have the mettle to add these abominations into your collection, you'll be given behaviour cards for them, the magnificently disgusting models for Stages Two and Four, and three item cards for your troubles. It's no lie that any boss will add an extra element of danger into the mix, but these guys mean business. G Stage Two will pursue, swipe at, and maim your characters relentlessly in a game of cat and mouse around the tiny play area. As you can probably tell, Resident Evil: The Board Game has a constantly evolving game state that requires you to think on your feet. Every turn is about looking at the board and deciding which resource is more valuable to you — your health and recovery items, or your ammunition, as you work out how to overcome the odds. Resident Evil 2: The Board Game is a cooperative horror board game based on the popular video game. Just like in the video game, your goal is to get out of Raccoon City by making your way past undead monsters and completing your objectives.

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The Murder from Above Expansion was clearly made for the fans; an inclusion of the iconic encounters to truly reflect the video game feel. Resident Evil 2: The Board Game is already a great reflection of its video game counterpart, but this expansion really captures some of those more iconic moments within the story!

So, let’s walk through how to play a turn in Resident Evil: The Board Game, to see how those pillars are realised on the tabletop... Player Turns The Resident Evil 2 theme definitely comes through. If you’re a fan of the video game, you’ll recognize everything, from the characters to the locations to the items you find. Also, the story plays out pretty much exactly as it does in the video game.Feeling brave, Survivors? Then let’s head where few others dare to tread. Deep into the darkness, where mutant monsters make their lairs… Just as I found with Steamforged’s Dark Souls-inspired board game, there are slight imperfections in many of these plastic figures. Defects ranged from warped bases that caused characters to wobble on the table, to multi-part minis being assembled incorrectly. The issues are nothing that a little handiwork can’t fix, but for the price I’d rather not spend my time repairing and rebasing when I could be playing the game instead. Resource management, rising tension, jump scares, atmospheric environments, narrative, isolation, strategic depth of movement.

The original game’s B-Files were a core element of the story; it added depth, gave answers and explained what happened to the other survivors of the G-Virus incident. This expansion is an excellent reflection of that side to the story. The inclusion of Mr X’s mechanic to simply burst into a scenario keeps you on your toes more than the core game. It makes it less about clearing rooms and more about keeping a clear focus.

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Stepping into the boots of your chosen S.T.A.R.S. character and heading into the mysterious Spencer Mansion, your exploration of that sinister place will be divided into turns. For us, it’s vital that any tabletop game feels as close to the source material as possible — whether that’s directly translating mechanics, or trying to capture and evoke the same player emotions in a way that makes sense on the tabletop.

Combine that with the fantastically illustrated behaviour cards and you've got a true horror show going on! On the less aesthetic side, the cards are of similar quality to that of the core game and the models are sturdy and robust, any eager painter could easily make these beasties look a much more frightening to get that true immersion. This particular expansion is an odd one; the campaign play with this mini-boss is wildly different to the free choice play. When we played it as part of a free choice scenario, the tension cards we drew actually worked in our favour and caused the Giant Moth to leave its room and enter a long corridor. This meant we could pummel it with grenade rounds for an easy kill. This is not true to the Resident Evil game style. The main new mechanic for this expansion is the introduction of Mr X. Unlike other enemies within the game, his pursuit is relentless and he appears in every scenario. His only goal is to kill you and the other survivors, and he is pretty good at his job! The introduction of Mr X into a scenario is done through the encounter table or through specific Tension Cards. Either way, you’re not going to be able to avoid him for long! But what is Resident Evil: The Board Game? And, more importantly: Can you survive the horror? What is Resident Evil: The Board Game?Being young was awkward, when you weren't hiding behind the controller that is! Remember not knowing how to talk to someone you liked? So you'd awkwardly sort of be around them and existed continually, never making progress or effort to let them know you were there? The T-00 Tyrant doesn't. He has no fear. No reservations. He's a successful go-getter and a man on a mission. He knows what he wants, and he wants you. (Dead!) If you’ve played the Resident Evil 2 or 3 board games, you’ll already have an idea of the basic mechanics for this game. And if you’ve never played a Resident Evil board game in your life, but you’re thinking of dipping your toe into the tabletop world of survival horror, you’re in for a treat. Arriving within a zombie’s grasp of the digital remake of seminal horror video game Resident Evil 2, which brings modern graphics and updated gameplay to the 1998 PlayStation classic, its board game counterpart is instead a thoroughly old-school experience. That’s been your overview of how to play Resident Evil: The Board Game, but stay tuned. We’ve got new mechanics to explore and bosses to encounter in future articles coming very soon.