It’s a glaring hole in replicating that authentic early Resident Evil feel, as they could create occasional breaks that would make you play and think in different ways, and often also challenged players to retread zombie-filled hallways. I was disappointed to hear that RE2’s puzzles wouldn’t be represented in the adaptation. This option means you keep your ending health, items, and ammo from the last scenario, and certain item pickups can be missed entirely if you don’t stop to grab them. Those scenarios can be played individually, or in the specific order of the video game as a campaign. The core game comes with eight scenarios, but the expansions will bolster that number to 23, including an encounter with a giant freakin’ alligator. Leon Kennedy, Ada Wong, Claire Redfield, Robert Kendo, William Birkin, and even HUNK and Tofu will all be playable across the base game and expansions, all with their own special abilities and weapon proficiencies. Resident Evil 2: The Board Game can be played solo for that classic feel, or with up to four total players. All the while, creatures like zombies, dogs, prehensile arms extending from the walls, and even a Licker got in our way. office inside the RPD station, but had to explore looking for a key to unlock a door that would then let us find another key that would finally get us where we need to go. In ours, we needed to reach the S.T.A.R.S. Your health is tracked on the classic pulse monitor, which you refill with herbs and first aid kits, and ammo only comes on rare occasions.Įach scenario begins with a specific objective, but you don't know how exactly to complete it.

When they do grab you, the mechanics allow you to shove them off as they stumble back, providing a much-needed opportunity to escape. The way you have to dodge and weave past zombies felt just like the video game. The constant low-key dread and tension within this game took me back to my childhood, but with a completely new and refreshing experience that I can now share with friends. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I have never felt a tabletop game do what Resident Evil 2 has done. Matthews kept pausing to share story after story of different elements that were organically built in to recreate the original Resident Evil experience.

There are deeply hidden easter eggs, secret items, crest keys and locks, and map layouts that actually mimic the specific levels they represent - there are even tank control and knife-only rules variant if you want a real challenge. At the end of each turn, you draw from a Tension deck (whose card backs look like the famous slowly creaking-open door loading screen of the original games), making it constantly feel like something could be about to jump out at you. Instead of just shooting at zombie minis like many other tabletop games, you’re meant to manipulate enemies, utilize the environment, and carefully use every resource you are given. The commitment to the theme and the source material here are seriously unmatched. If you try to blast everything, you’ll run out of bullets, get bit, and die.” He wasn’t kidding, as we managed to beat the scenario without actually killing a single enemy, though apparently later scenarios in the campaign don’t always allow that same non-lethality. Instead, he drew the map of the Raccoon City police station on a grid from memory alone.Īs a long-time fan of the early games in this series, I was comforted when Matthews explained that “this is a survival horror game, not a ‘kill everything game’. When Matthews first got word that he would be working on the RE2 game, he was so excited that he couldn’t wait for assets to be delivered from Capcom. In order to survive and complete each scenario, players will have to work together and discuss the best way to advance.And that’s because the people behind it seriously know their stuff. Resident Evil 2: The Board Game is a fast-paced cooperative survival horror game for 1-4 players. Along the way you'll have to aid others like you, battle enemies unknown, and search for the sinister truth behind the disaster that has befallen Raccoon City. It is into this nightmare you are now thrown, another survivor desperately trying to escape with your life. A viral outbreak has brought this once-prosperous town to its knees, infecting the populace and turning them into ravenous undead monsters. Night has fallen over Raccoon City, and a shroud of darkness hides the horrors within.

Resident evil 2 board game