Dead of Winter Review - with Ryan Metzler

[@aug73]

Great game, got it at Christmas. Everyone who's tried it, loves it. Kinda scratching my head at the "it's not a Co-Op game or it's not a Semi-Co-Op" comments. Crisis cards have to be dealt with as a group, as does feeding the colony, clearing waste, defending the compound. All this happens, regardless of there being a betrayer. Sounds at least Semi Co-op to me. And there is not only one winner. I've played games where 3 or 4 people have won or all have won. There have been games, where no one won...not even the betrayer. Never had a problem with people tanking games either. If people were doing that...I'd find other people to play with!!!!!!! This may not be a game for everyone, but I think it deserves the praise it gets. I've introduced about a dozen people to this game and the most common reaction to playing it has been, it's got a lot of moving parts, it's interactive, it's quick to pick up.

[@chrishenderson3691]

Great review, Ryan! Love the game myself, and have played 2 player and while it took longer than expected, was still quite fun. Agree we did not always see XRoads cards take effect, but that was expected...although wanted to see more of them.

[@TheGentlemanJim]

Great review! I watched the whole video and towards the end I noticed his shirt and then looked at mine and it was the same dungeons and dragons tee haha 😅

[@smooth122]

the game is fun and actually easy to get into once u get the rules down.

[@steelchampion]

I have 2 plaano-type boxes in my Caverna box, which makes it quite easy to setup, but there is nothing similar I can do to this game to help with setup speed. This game takes such a long time to setup and put away - much longer than any other game I own. I think it really is a huge drawback, I love this game but I really cannot be bothered to set it up! And even if I do set it up, I then dread putting it away...

[@MarcelPogorzelski]

Each character can move once each round. Not one move per player.

[@TabularConferta]

It sounds similar to Battlestar Gallactica. Thanks for the great review and description.

[@ggrant1189]

The challenges remind me of BSG--very similar mechanic.

[@reepax]

Really enjoy this game and runs really well. But at times, i feel the game is always stacked against the 'Good guys'. Seen the betrayer win games before without doing much to make us lose. But with more games, im sure we will become better at surviving. If you like zombies, semi-coops and tons of theme, get it!

[@ZakiJeppe]

Color me surprised! I expected you to hate on this game. Great review

[@A.L.E.X.42]

Even with all the luck I feel like I could still enjoy this game if it wasn't for the item teleportation that completely breaks the thematic immersion (which really is the only reason to play this game).

[@homelessjoe]

"Super Dooper" Well done.

[@settlers33]

Awesome game! And cool that your wearing your Loot Crate T-Shirt.

[@zaneramos8976]

love the heck out of this game.

[@winterplum]

In my experience, this is not a good 2-player game. Disappointed the box says '2-5'. Crossroad cards are randomly consequential. I did not consider this a 'zombie' game as the zombies serve merely to keep the waters moving...the real threat was rolling that one die...instant kills...and the frequency with which it was rolled, and making sure to keep the crisis cards demands up. Surprised you liked it so much. Sorry to be such a sourpuss here, but aside from this game looking beautiful, it failed me. Thanks for your review though, it was interesting to hear how you went into this game and how you came out of it. :)

[@JonGilmour]

winterplum I've released a 2 player variant based on the Prisoner's Dilemma that makes the game interesting for a lot of people. So far the response has been positive with it.

[@winterplum]

Jon Gilmour I see that on BGG many people enjoy the Prisoner's Dilemma varient for 2-player so I will try the game with it.

[@xenothonstelnicki597]

Good man!

[@MisterAbysmul]

I know a lot of folks like it but to me it feels like a hodgepodge of mechanics that got a zombie theme slapped on it to take advantage of the zombie popularity. The crossroads cards frequently don't trigger or have marginal impact, and feel like a gimmick to me. I'm glad it's popular, especially if it helps grow the hobby, but I'll never play it again.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Mister Rob I pretty much feel the same. The die of death is just too much, the X-road cards almost never trigger and you have to house rule not reading the options. And I hate it when people call this a Co-Op game, it's not even a Semi-Co-Op game though I'll let it slide if that's the agreed definition. Only one person wins due to the agenda's so it's not a Co-Op game and that's assuming someone doesn't tank the game because they know they won't win. . . . . . .

[@MisterAbysmul]

Don't forget to take out the trash! Ugh, I just find it all painful.

[@jackjohn810]

Luke Hector More than one person can win. The non-betrayal agendas aren't mutually exclusive. I've had quite a few games where everyone has won.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Jack Fleming As I mentioned on another comment, I've never seen more than 1 person win. It's either Betrayer wins (assuming he got lucky with card searching unlike me who can't seem to pull a weapon out of a police station for toffee), or 1 Survivor wins (he got his agenda) or everyone loses and 90% of the time it's the first or the last of those 3 options. If a survivor knows he's not going to win the game, what incentive does he have to help everyone survive. Screw everyone, BOOM, tank the crisis card, morale to 0, new game please!

[@jackjohn810]

Luke Hector You and I have clearly had different experiences with the game. I've had plenty of games where more than 1 person won and even a few where there was no traitor. As for "players who can't complete their objective tanking the game," to me, that's a problem with the player, not with the game. I simply don't play with people who would play that way and if someone pulled that move, I probably wouldn't play any game with them again. I view tanking in DOW when you aren't the trader as the equivalent of king-making in a purely competitive game. It's just that instead of king-making another player they're king-making the zombie horde.

[@kingpietro1279]

great game if you play withouth the traitor's and its just a co up game

[@dcal12]

Great game!

[@bobgabriels8456]

this game is a total luckfest

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Bob Gabriels 100%

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

It's not a zombie game (you could paste anything there for the little that the zombies actually do) and it's not a Co-Op game as only one person wins....

[@youperguy]

Not true everyone can win. This is not a one victor game. Everyone can lose, everyone can win, 2 people can win, or 3 or 4.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

And that happens when? I've never been part of a group victory or even seen one. It works in Cosmic Encounter but not here. Here the fact that a Betrayar with any brains is auto fail and the ability to "tank" the game if you know you won't win makes group so rare or non existent that they might as well not be in the rulebook and they should have used an arbitary tie breaker instead.

[@KentTallKid]

Luke Hector I somewhat agree with the Co-op point, but it is definitely a zombie game because theres zombies in it...

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I know but they don't act like them! You could easily swap the zombies out for a pack of wolves and it wouldn't change a thing. In fact I would say it would be a thematic improvement!

[@MisterAbysmul]

Luke Hector Mad Max theme, wolves, gang members, invading army, aliens, many themes could be pasted on. I really think the game feels almost theme-less (because how pasted on it is)... I know a lot of people love the "art" but to me it's very bland and lifeless (which I assume was to help support the winter part of the theme, but .. yuk).