Resident Evil: The Board Game Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review the Resident Evil board game from Steamforged Games. Resident Evil is a adaptation of the classic video game and brings this horror experience to your tabletop.

Itchy…tasty…

After bizarre murders take place in the Arklay mountains outside of Racoon City the Special Tactics and Rescue Squad, or S.T.A.R.S., team is sent to investigate. Ambushed by monsters, they have taken shelter in a mansion deep in the woods. Have they fled to safety or deeper into danger?

Resident Evil is a co-op dungeon crawler with a campaign mode designed for 1-4 players and takes between 60-90 minutes per scenario.

Resident Evil has two distinct modes you can play, one shot or the campaign that closely aligns with the video game it is based on. Set up will generally be very similar, with some extra steps for the campaign mode. Each player will select their character and receive their starting equipment. Based on the scenario chosen, the tile board can be set up. In some scenarios, the board will continue to grow while exploring.

Each player’s turn in the game is split up into three main phases.

The first phase is where players will take their actions such as move, attack, open and close doors, and search for items. Here players need to be careful, as enemies will move towards the sounds of combat, forcing players to choose when to fight or flee. Players will search different rooms for clues and trigger exploration cards while exploring the halls of the mansion. Depending on each character’s starting equipment each player is also provided an ammunition counter to keep track of their dwindling ammo supply.

The second phase is the reaction phase. This is where the enemies on the board that are alerted to player characters will move and