Final Girl Review - I immediately bought 3 boxes

[@Shelfside]

RULES CORRECTION: When you discard the health tokens from a minor dark power, it gets discarded. (oh my gosh this would've saved me so much headache). The rest of that con still stands, and the scoring! RULES CORRECTION 2: Victims generally SHOULD be in the killer's space to panic. Again, doesn't change the pro or scoring. -Ashton Written review: www.shelfside.co/reviews-2023/finalgirl-review

[@charlez2729]

Also next time you play The Organisms film the two "sheds" you can search at are considered outside spaces so it won't help you get rid of frostbite - Only the main building is considered inside. Just an FYI for when you play again! You should also get Box of Props! Adds more powerful action cards

[@DMWaldo]

@@charlez2729 This is incorrect, but only due to errata. The FAQ has clarified, "The DEFINITIONS section in the Feature Film Rulebook that comes with the Series 2 Bonus Features box is INCORRECT. Refer to the Station 2891 rule sheet that came with the FF box for the correct Definitions. Specifically, the Commander’s Hut and Tool Shed are NOT Outdoor spaces and they are NOT Main Building spaces. They are Indoor spaces." They do get rid of frostbite. Thankfully. That board is hard enough as it is, IMO.

[@Shelfside]

@@DMWaldo phew, thanks for the clarification. I was definitely using those 2 spaces to get rid of frostbite a lot -Ashton

[@charlez2729]

@DMWaldo Well that helps! Thanks! Haha. A playthtough I watched said what I had said so they def got that wrong. Oof. I have def been making that film way harder on myself.

[@janamiller273]

I've discovered that the reason that the covers don't always go back onto the box and stick well is because the paired magnets are placed in different spots. If the map/lid you're attaching back to the box doesn't stick on the first try, take it off, and put it on the other side of the box. It will stick right away. :)

[@Mysmi]

What an amazing person you are. Thanks for your help!!

[@jonwalling5556]

Corrections: 09:35 Generally, only victims in the killer’s space panic (if a victim was killed anywhere on the board that round). 19:23 The covers will close properly if you put them on the correct side. Otherwise the magnets won’t align. In the video you put the location board on the killer side of the box. Feel free to bend away (within reason..) 22:15 Minor Dark Powers are discarded when you remove the health tokens that you added to them. Extra tip: If you want to get a playmat set, get the one from s2. It is generally considered better than the one from s1. Great video as always! Love this game!

[@Shelfside]

Oh my goodness- ok I totally misread the part where the victims also have to be in the killer's space. Well now I feel stupid. I'll make another rules clarification note in the pinned comment! -Ashton

[@RafaelZanolla]

I've known about this game for a while, but only recently bought some feature film boxes. While I agree with most of the criticisms here, please allow me to disagree with you, when you say one may want to reset when things are on a death spiral mid-game: last night, while playing my first time against the Evomorph, everyone was dead, I had no gun and he was on full health (blame my poor dice rolls and even poorer planning). Then a Terror card triggered an event that opened a hole in the hull of the ship. I managed to crawl up close and throw a beacon I had on that space, watch the Alien, ahem, the Evomorph, fly past me searching for the beacon, then get sucked out of the ship. Before I could celebrate this cinematic ending, I flipped the last health token and he came back with two health. I still had four cards, which allowed me to walk one space and attack him to exactly two damage. I had to discard my last two cards to turn the dice into a success, but he finally, finally died. No matter how many times i play this in the future, I feel I'll be talking about this forever. Great game!

[@Shelfside]

haha that is awesome! Yeah can definitely see how you wouldn't want to reset, and just hope you get an insane event flip with lucky rolls. But I have also had my fair share of frustrating VERY fast losses haha- which again aren't a huge deal due to how fast the game is run back. cheers! -Ashton

[@RafaelZanolla]

@@Shelfside Totally! I've played a few more and have yet to lose to the Evomorph, but apparently he is a simpler one to beat. Conversely, I got absolutely decimated by the Wolf the first time, in a record-breaking four rounds ahaha to be fair though, even that made for cool storytelling, so I didn't mind. Glad to see it get attention, though.Thanks for the video and reply!

[@adamlong9728]

Incredible video! I have been very amused by seeing images of this game and your video is the first to show such an intimate look at all it has to offer. Thanks for all the great game footage and editing. I would like to point out that many people could find this game more attractive than Arkham Horror the Card Game simply because of all of Final Girl's boards and components. It's got a high toy factor whereas AHtCG is just cards and a few chits.

[@VanRyderGames]

Great review! Happy to hear you enjoyed Final Girl!

[@nickmcdonald4092]

Great review! I love final girl, as I play through it, I record the stories and if my character survives, she moves onto the next location/killer, if not her 'friend' or 'sister' takes over. Its a great tool for creative writing and makes the game so fun and thematic to play! Would definitely recommend the Alien set, its by far my favourite.

[@TsuDymphna]

I think a very fair and succinct review. Doesn’t waste time and hits over how to play and a lot of content really fast, nicely done. As far as the boxes I find if you push the flap back until you feel just a touch of resistance they stay put, no need to force it past that. Van Ryder has said this was intentional. It CAN be very snowbally, but my most fun game was going horribly for most of it with the killer getting like five bloodlust on turn one, and somehow I managed to take the killer out only to die in the last ditch effort alongside him. Losing games can be almost as fun as the wins.

[@robotradar]

The good thing is that the situation you described counts as a win. Your feeling is legit.

[@charlez2729]

To your complaint about component. 1- The board is meant to be folded all the way back the first time so it'll sit flat if you want. You dont need to fold it back anymore after that. 2- The boards are actually made to be attached to the box a curtain side. If they are on the wrong side it wont stay closed all the way, if its on the correct side youll hear a distinct snap/click and itll stay closed. 8/10 recommended score is solid, I wish you had the Lore Books and Grusome Deaths book, probably would have possibly bumped your score. You should NEVER just reset if it starts out bad, you arent supposed to win often

[@Shelfside]

Cheers man, yeah I was trying to fold the board back many times but it kept going back up? Could be the weird temperature in my room. I also found that the organism box has magnets to help it stay closed better, I'd have to check again for the other boxes! -Ashton

[@charlez2729]

@Shelfside That's so odd about your board not sitting flat, normally when you fold it completely flat you can feel it where it'll stay flat

[@DMWaldo]

Yeah, make sure that the UPC symbol is on the bottom side of the box, not the top. If your Final Girl on the 'VHS' cover has a UPC on the side above her head, the boards are on upside down and then they don't stay shut. I've played a ton of FG at this point (all of season 1 and 2) and all my boards will lie flat if you bend them backwards a little (and Van Ryder games has said they were designed to survive just that) and the boxes seal perfectly well when put back together correctly (which, admittedly, took me a while to figure out).

[@VanRyderGames]

There are silhouette images on the edges of the interior box to make lining up the flaps the correct way easy peasy.

[@Daddyson_Shido]

Your reviews are always so good 😭 I love the intros bro. Ive had this game on my shelf for a while, hopefully I can get around to playing it soon

[@Shelfside]

Cheers man! Glad I could get this one out around halloween haha -Ashton

[@TheFancyFilmmaker]

Final girl has made it to my top 3 games of all time. When ever I get the itch to play a game in the middle of the day before board game night with friends I’ll play a couple games of final girl!

[@AdvayBasavaraju]

Pretty comprehensive review of the game. Really loving the quality of vids recently. Keep up the great work!

[@Shelfside]

thanks mate! More coming :) -ashton

[@sky8ash]

15:20, each set comes with 3 final cards, 4 dark power cards (one being a EPIC one) but there is also the EPIC Final cards for all of the killers in the Bonus Feature set (Series 1 has the 1st five killers, series 2 has the 2nd five killers)

[@adameaton9826]

Your story about the funny combo of the block party and Officer Kopp reminded me of the first time I played The Captain is Dead. I was playing as the Crewman (i.e. red shirt), who just straight up died instead of just being injured. He then respawns on the Bridge with all items intact. I had acquired a cool gun that would eliminate every alien invader in the room. I then died, only to respawn on the Bridge, which was almost overrun at that point. So the Crewman wakes up on the Bridge in the middle of a crowd of invaders, and is able to immediately wipe them all out with my shiny new gun. 😂

[@shortydancer]

Man that gun prop has paid off in spades lol

[@koroviev8897]

I wanted so bad to like Final Girl, but in the end the randomness was too much for me. Sometimes I felt like I wasn’t even playing since every decisión I made was meaningless. On the other hand, Arkham Horror is quickly becoming one of my favorite games. Great review as always :)

[@draketheduelist]

What ultimately sold me on this game was the green side of the horror dial. When / if you get there consistently, it's almost like you're playing a parody of a horror movie. For example, playing the base Hans at the base Camp Whatever setting, I managed to save tons of meeples, to the point where I basically wound up saving them all easily. The horror track spent most of the game in green due to spamming early game Focus actions and maintaining effort to keep it that way (mostly to appease that inner Tyranid player who gets a kick out of rolling more dice). All the while, Hans spent the game meandering around but rarely landing attacks while in populated areas. But then I hit the low firepower problem where I couldn't pull any good items. Eventually it became clear that, even with the best rolls possible, my clock on him was way slower than his clock on me. I distinctly remember how Hans wound up killing my Final Girl at the Makeout Point area after the one event where two meeples get spawned onto that zone. Because of the odd way the game played out, the story running in my head was that Hans was just some teen guy ineptly trying to get a date. The few kills he did manage, including the Final Girl herself, were all just unfortunate happenstance. Tripping and falling into bear traps. Slipping and hitting their head on the dock. Steak knife catapult via improbably suspended bowling ball. That sort of thing. In the end, the Final Girl was the wrong kind of genre savvy and stirred up the entire campground into a crazed frenzy, inadvertently causing all the calamity she sought to avoid, only to karmically get caught up in the very panic she started, and all because she thought it'd be funny to troll the horror geek. It was like _Final Destination_ meets _Mean Girls._ Final Girl is a storyteller's game, particularly if you're into creative writing. Playing Final Girl and coming away with a cool and / or funny chain of events is like playing Skyrim and running into a really odd bug. It's not the _intended_ reason you're there, but it's arguably the most memorable thing you'll get out of the session.

[@Agrios211]

So, for some of the cons you mentioned I think you were off on a couple things. (As we all are without too many plays into a game). First of all, I believe only the victims in the same space as the Killer panic, not everyone on the map. Second, the minor dark powers are discarded when all of the health are removed from the card. (So, you don't always need the bat, you just need to do some damage.) Third, for the Box cover staying bent up after putting it on, I believe you put it on backwards. Try switching the spine you put the side on. There are magnets in the board that should keep it shut when you put it on correctly. This is an awesome review and I agree with a lot of your points! Well done articulating the things that make this game so good and the things holding it back from greatness.

[@Shelfside]

Heyo! You are correct on the minor dark powers and the box cover (although I think mileage varies based off the box). For the victims, I just looked it up and its victims panicking if any victim died on the map! -Ashton

[@JonTripp115]

@@ShelfsideIf any victims die for any reason during the round, then all (surviving) victims *in the same space as the killer* will panic during the Panic phase. Not every victim on the board. Hope this helps!

[@JackBorchers]

I got the core set a while ago, played a couple games and haven't played it since. After watching this review I feel like maybe I should pick up a couple of the feature films, as I was a little underwhelmed by Hans and felt like there wasn't a ton of mechanics to interact with. It looks like the other films improve on this greatly. I'm looking forward to the John company review. I recently picked up Pax Pamir second edition, only got to play it solo once so far but looking forward to getting to play some real games of it soon. I'm Interested in John company but haven't done much research into it. I'm a big fan of anything Cole Wehrle does

[@Shelfside]

Nice- yeah John company requires a LOT more time on our end to review. I'm shooting for a november release! -Ashton

[@blizzyblake]

I'm sad I waited so long to play this game. Once I did, I was hooked. And it was during the KS for S3. There are very few games I enjoy solo. Maybe 2 or 3 at most. But VRG did something amazing with this game. It has me hooked! It flows so well, keeps plenty of tension, and the rules aren't hard. Though the rulebook seems like it, it's not hard at all. And so many combinations that you can do with all the feature boxes!!!!! Wonderful idea and can definitely get your money worth out of it. Some of the component cons I agree with ya too. Especially those little wooden discs.

[@Mark-nh2hs]

On Etsy there is a seller who has some amazing print out designs for the mepples and the discs etc. Ive used them and they add more character to the game as the stickers look like different characters instead of empty pieces of wood. Not expensive either I live in the UK and they are stationed in the US. Worth checking it out.

[@Shelfside]

aaah those wooden discs!

[@kernelforbin6185]

I just turn the card 90° each time I use it and leave the wooden discs in the box

[@KingJahamesIII]

In shocked this has less than 1k like, it was a really good video 👍

[@bearhustler]

On the matter of the 'once per game rereoll' something like that (a special dice) along with a power-up system exist in the Props Box add on but if you find out how they work you can easily replicate their effects with standard dice. For example the special dice, it's called something like the Death Dice, 5 sides show a success and and one a instant game loss symbol, you can opt to roll it once per game. The powerup system allows you to add dice that do things like add time, heal, give you extra cards. All that helps you tailor difficulty to your taste.

[@schmuckmcgee7294]

I was not expecting any Dead By Daylight sound effects when I clicked this video. Not complaining though, they absolutely fit.

[@mrness2203]

The Box Of Props box has elevated my enjoyment and experiences with Final Girl. I also feel that some Feautre Films are better than others for mix match play. I'm still very invested in this game with the 5 boxes that I own, and there is a lot of replay ability, which I highly value in a solo game experience. Recommend.

[@morgaknightgames]

I really appreciate that you don't need EVERY box for the experience. I have about half of them after cherry picking my favorites and it's such a great, short, and sometimes brutal game. 😂

[@JedeOff]

I've wanted to try Final Girl for so long. I bought Hostage Negotiator and then found out they basically use the same system. Not a huge fan of Hostage Negotiator to be honest, although it is good to pass the time, but the randomness is just too much when every action you do depends on your dice rolls. I've noticed Final Girl reworks some or the systems, so the cards do still give you alternatives to achieve your plans at the expense of something else. The time mechanic is also slightly different in the way that you will always get some time to buy more powerful cards. In HN you had to play a bunch of cards to get conversation points, and if you get shit rolls it's a lose lose situation. Thats my only complaint and the only thing keeping me from playing this game.

[@jasona8396]

Bro, that was a pretty good intro. 👍👍

[@RisingShadow11]

This game has never once felt the same so many things can change every game. Everything is so unique I love this game highly recommend it.

[@TheScarletSpidey]

Absolutely love this game. I love the stories it tells over the course of each game. Some are tense, some are hilarious, and some make me feel like the biggest badass in horror film history.

[@rthomas1031]

Yes! If you lose, out turns out you were a side character and not the Final Girl!

[@CleaveBuscemi]

Thanks for the review! I'm SO tempted to buy this for my brother, because i know that he'll love the theme. But I'm just not sure if he'll like the game itself... i don't know. I'm not looking for an answer, I'm mostly commenting for the algorithm, hahaha.

[@andrewbrassington2856]

When you lose the health tokens off a minor power it goes, one damage to Dr Fright would get that card out of the game!

[@Shelfside]

Thank you so much for this. Made a pinned comment! -Ashton

[@8kfks8]

Hello, do You plan to review Frostpunk the board game?

[@Shelfside]

no polan! -Ashton

[@Eric-f4b]

Is your camera standing super low or do you have bad posture?

[@otakuofmine]

When my gf found out about it and the newest campaign launched, she went all in with everything. looking forward to play it.

[@Noobwater]

Love this game, one of the best Solo games around!

[@zenster1097]

What about Danial? No review from him on FG?

[@Shelfside]

He was super busy on ATO! -Ashton

[@zenster1097]

@@Shelfside Okay. I figured it was a smaller game that he would be able to test out, but fair enough.

[@Mark-nh2hs]

I never understood the dislike towards random as it almost impossible to remove it. The randomness in this game I feel fits the theme. Most horror films have either stupid random stuff happen and random very convenient moments. Could you imagine how dry this game would be if it had Euro game mechanics lol. I'm sure there will be some Euro gamer moding the game for Euro play lol. Also the new player experience is a mute one you get slaughtered in the first game - I know a few games which are worse - Pandemic being one. A game which can slaughter you time and time again before you actually win your first game.

[@JELIFISH19]

Randomness for solo games is one of the most important things to me. There are very few games with no randomness that don't become solvable. The randomness is what brings me back. And I don't think it hurt FG at all because the game is short. It's only 20-30 minutes long. Losing doesn't feel bad. Losing a 2-hour game to pure randomness doesn't feel great. But you can play FG 4-5 times in the same time span that it took you to play that 2 hour game.

[@schmuckmcgee7294]

Quick rules correction: If I’m not mistaken, when a Victim dies you only panic Victims in the same space as an enemy, not every space on the board.

[@Theplaysthet]

Yeah this is a great review but i feel like ur misunderstanding of the minor dark powers and how to get rid of them must have made your games sooooo much harder! I hated this game when i first got it, nearly sold it but now it’s one of my favourite solos. When u loose u loose bad but when u win… omg its such a great feeling! Got a gameplay vid of this going up soon.

[@eriksjogren800]

Thanks

[@pothocket]

The game is packaged the way it is because you're supposed to mix and match killers and locations from different feature films. It makes no sense to put them all together on one side since you're often only using half the components. It's literally less cumbersome as is.

[@evannadeau3938]

Bro. VanRyderGames left you a comment Oh and great review!

[@Shelfside]

hahaha yep! Pretty sweet :D -Ashton

[@Thebrad11984]

I don’t play this game a ton but they do nail the theme with some of the nonsense that happens. I do agree that the set up can be a little annoying because it’s such a quick game it’d be nice if set up was better

[@TheFancyFilmmaker]

I think my only complaint with the game is some killers are a little to complex and you might forget specific rules for a certain killer and then you’ll need to spend like 15 minutes reading that killers rule book before you can play.

[@BliskMyth]

They do not look like VHS tapes.

[@BrotherMingGames]

This game looks and sounds soooooo cool, I just have no interest in the theme since I never watched any sort of horror movies growing up. But man I love all the packaging and presentation.

[@Shelfside]

haha, it's campy goodness- I recommend trying some Dead by daylight before playing Final Girl if you can :) -Ashton

[@goldengriffon]

Intriguing, but it seems very similar to another Van Ryder Games product, Hostage Negotiator, which I also thought would be cool but in play I hated. Too much setup for a brief game, too random for my taste, and too often would chance just make the game unfairly impossible. Since you pointed out those out as similar cons for this game, I think I'll pass. Thank you very much for allowing me to not waste my money and time! 🙂

[@clydebarrow6701]

Hahaha the short film needs to be finished bro

[@Table.Fables]

Ah I thought I’d enjoy this way more than I actually did.. fiddly and clunky to setup and play. Nice idea in principle but didn’t translate into the physical play session.

[@ChaBox998]

This game is tempting, but whenever I see it, I always ask myself: why not just play a video game...

[@seanv42]

The best part of solo board games is you don't need to play them in a single go. You can let it sit there, doing a turn or two whenever you feel like it. The strategies can percolate as you go about your day.

[@TsuDymphna]

You can, but some people also like the tactile nature of board games. Or we stare at a screen all day at work and want to play a game without one. I think it does a pretty good job of working as a physical board game.

[@walkinginsingapore8548]

Nice cos play

[@wmarclocher]

Okay, so Halloween was yesterday, so, I'm guessing "got it out by Halloween" means got it out in time on your patrons channel?

[@Shelfside]

haha, filming and editing the intro took a lot longer than I expected. So I initially had it to publish before yesterday night, but just couldn't get it out! -Ashton

[@RvLeshrac]

For starters with that LCG comparison, Arkham LCG isn't a solo game. If you're not playing with at least two players (two-handed), the game is just absolutely godawful.

[@rockassassin64]

I have a good answer for the funniest. I once had a scenario Where Hans kept going for a swim and not doing anything productive because he's tracking kept putting him between very ambiguous siduation. I also once had a game also with Hans and happy trail. Where are starting set up with skinny dipping? The girl who is skinny dipping, never left the land did not know anything bad was happening. She was having a wonderful time. Hans kept going to her, but then the terror card would send him away. Like once Hans went up to her. Was about to kill her but then his terror card instead of sending him to kill her had him teleport to the other side of the map. Of me and my friend were playing that 1. And we decided that girls are girlfriend and she's having the time of her life. This was also a scenario where we kept running up. The haunts punching him the face and leaving.

[@agathianspy2469]

Ronald McDonald 🤣

[@zenster1097]

The cringe of the intro. Lol. Great review tho guys.

[@Shelfside]

:D

[@seemyjohn]

Hmm, idk. A solo board game doesn't really interest me.

[@thegreatyeti33]

Dude your complaint about the boards is dumb & misleading. You can easily bend the boards back a bit to lay flat. They will not stick up when you put them back on the box.. unless you do it wrong. If you look at your example you were trying to put a location board on the killers side of box. each board has magnets on what goes on the side but also on flat spot where the loacation/killer art is located. They snap perfectly into place every time.

[@sirhc8927]

I wish you put number of players and playtime in your video description.