(Photo credit to Van Ryder Games)
Written by Ed Carter, Movin’ Meeples, Staff Writer
Final Girl: Dice rolling, card play hand management horror themed
1 player
Published by Van Ryder Games
You are the Final Girl! The last line of defense for the helpless and the last one to take out the Killer! For every Jason, Freddy, Chucky, and terror out there, there is one who stands up and takes the killer head-on; The Final Girl!
Final Girl is the one-player game where you are that hero who will try to rescue victims from the killer as well as take them head-on! To play this game, you need two parts; the core box and a feature film box! The core box has all of the base cards, dice, and counters needed to play and the feature film is the story that you are thrown into with a killer to take down. Each film box offers a different scenario to challenge you with. and they can be mixed and matched with any feature film box you have in your collection.
Van Ryder presents…Final Girl, starring YOU: How to play
The core box is where the rules, the actions cards, dice, tokens, and counters are and the film box has the map, killer board, item, event, terror, and any additional rules needed for that killer. To start, from the core box, take out the player board, dice, action cards time, and bloodlust counters. choose a location and killer. From the film box, take out the setup, event and terror cards, the finale, dark power, and any additional tokens or cards needed for this killer.
Select the final girl you want to play and place them and a number of life tokens indicated on their card. Shuffle the final health tokens and without looking, place in the final health spot with the +1 die side up. Draw one for the killer as well. Shuffle the set-up cards and randomly choose one and return the others to the box. This card tells you where to place the victims for the setup of the game. Shuffle the event cards and place them in a face-down pile. Take the item cards, shuffle them, and make 3 face-down piles of 4 cards for each area that you can search. Flip the top card face up and return the rest to the box. Place the horror marker on the starting space of the player board, found on the killer board. Place the final girl meeple and the killer meeple where indicated. Take the 5 zero action cards for your first hand, and then separate the other cards by their type and cost, from lowest to highest into a tableau. Place the bloodlust marker at the starting space on the killer board, and the time tracker at 6. Flip over the top event card and you are ready to play.
You are not so tough! The Player Phase
In the action phase, you will play cards to take actions. To play a card, you make a horror check rolling the number of dice based on the horror level. A success lets you perform the success action, if 2 successes, you gain the extra bonus. If you roll the card symbol that is a partial success and you can make it into a success by discarding two cards from your hand. If you fail, then you follow the card for a fail and take the penalty indicated. Some cards will cost you time, and you must reduce the time based on the results of the roll.
Cards allow you to move, attack, search, regain health, add more dice, reduce horror, and for some feature boxes, a special action card can be used. A search card can be played if you are at a location that can be searched. Play the card, make the horror check and if successful can search and collect an item at that location. You can either carry a one-handed item in each hand or a two-handed item in both. You can also place items in your backpack for later use.
A movement card allows you to move. If you come to a space with a victim, you may take up to two with you at a time. If you get a victim to an exit location, you can save them. If you do the victim leaves the board and you can place their meeple on your player card giving you an additional bonus. If you save enough victims, you can “flip” your hero card to reveal your ultimate power.
Attack cards allow you to attack the killer and do damage to them, which is also increased by any weapon items you are currently using. When you damage the killer, remove the number of heart tokens equal to the damage inflicted.
The phase continues until you have no cards or desire to not play any more cards. Then comes the planning phase. With the time you have remaining, you can add cards to your hand by paying the cost and reducing the time and adding them to use in your next turn. After you have purchased the cards you want, reset the time to 6 and return all played cards back to the tableau. You can have a hand of 10 cards and can always take any zero cards that are available to use.
I will finish you girl! The Killer Phase
It is now the killer phase. Follow the killer board and resolve the killer action indicated, including any bonuses indicated by their bloodlust level. Each symbol indicates what the killer will do (select a target, move, and attack) Once the killer has done their action, resolve a terror card. Turn the top card over and from left to right, do all of the actions indicated in the order the card indicates.
Depending on the action, the killer will either target a victim, Final Girl, or whoever is closest. Once the killer moves, and is in range of its target, if it attacks, reduce the damage based on the target. a victim has only one health so it will be killed. Whenever a victim is killed, the killer’s bloodlust goes up and it gets stronger. Move the bloodlust marker up and follow any one time effects, noting the killer’s new movement and attack power.
If the target is the Final Girl, they may play a defense card if they have one; play the card, make a horror check, and follow the results. If the killer or the Final Girl has lost all their health tokens, flip the final token to see if they are truly dead, or if they had an adrenaline surge and are still fighting. If the token is blank, then they are dead, If the token has hearts, take the final white health token and a number of hearts to equal the hearts on the black token and keep going.
If a terror card reveals a minor dark power, place the card in the slot above the killer board indicating it is in play. If the card adds additional life, place the equal number of health tokens on the card. any damage to the killer’s health must be removed from the card first. Once the card has no more health tokens, remove it from the game.
Picking up the pieces! The Upkeep phase
The last phase is the upkeep phase where the finale card is revealed if no terror cards are left and the Final Girl can rearrange any items from their hand to their backpack.
The game continues until either the killer is defeated of the Final Girl is. Once the final health token is removed from either the killer or the Final Girl, the game ends and if you kill the killer even in a tie where you both die, you still win.
The aftermath! What do I think
This game has been recognized as one of the best, if not the best, solo game. Van Ryder is no stranger to solo games, with the quite popular Hostage Negotiator.
Final Girl has surpassed the others, I think because of the variety it offers. Each Feature film box is different and offers a different way to play and challenge yourself. The ability to mix and match them is fantastic. You can have the poltergeist torment the scientists at station 2891 or Dr. Fright haunt the dreamers at Camp Happy Trails! In addition, with the variety of set-up cards, the game is different as each setup requires new strategies.
As with any dice game, there is luck but there are cards that can allow additional re-rolls or additional dice, to better your odds. There is mitigation to the luck element.
But don’t think this is a game that you can breeze through and win, it is hard, and you may lose. in fact a lot. It requires planning and strategy to achieve your goals, to gather the tools you want to face the killer, and not be taken by surprise.
I have to give it a 9/10. The components are stored easily, well made, and can be upgraded with miniatures instead of meeples if you choose. There is a nice player mat that also makes things very organized on the table as well if you would like to purchase additionally. The price is stellar. the core box is about $20 and each feature box is about the same. So, for the price of a “big box” game, you can get the core box, and 2 feature boxes to play. That is a lot of gaming for $60 or so.
I think Horror fans will really enjoy the theme and the gameplay is solid and simple to follow, not a lot of “exception” rules to follow as this is a solo only game. If you ever wanted to take on one of the classic horror themes and see how you would fare, then Final Girl is one worth looking at. Find out more at Noble Knight Games.
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