For this review I am looking at one of my all-time favourite games, Isaac Vega and Jon Gilmour's Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game. This game is one with a very high replay value to it, and it has a surprisingly high accessibility for a zombie horror/survival thriller type of game.

One of my favourite things about Dead of Winter is the fact that while setting up the game you can make decisions which affect not only the difficulty and playtime of the game; but also adjust the gameplay to suit the players and the atmosphere of play. Some of the decisions you make when setting up the game are pretty standard, choosing one of the main objectives, then whether to play the regular or hard variant. On the other hand, there are other decisions which can completely change the dynamic and atmosphere of the game. The most influential decision the players will make during setup is whether to play cooperatively or with the chance for a betrayer to be amongst the survivors.

If choosing to include betrayers in the game, there is a substantial shift in team dynamic. By introducing the non-cooperative element, you completely change the way that the players interact with one another. The way that the betrayers are introduced is well thought out, it makes the players question each other’s motives without there being anyone aiming to deceive for definite. To introduce betrayers’ secrets are drawn from the standard deck equal to the number of players and then a random betrayer secret is shuffled amongst these secrets. After this is done, the secrets are dealt out and the remaining card is returned to the box unseen. The chances are that there may not be a betrayer at all. Even just introducing the possibility heightens the suspense and leads players to question the motives of those they must rely on to survive. The fact that the creator made this an option a gang by element, rather than the default mode, highlights the level of thought put into making the game as widely accessible as possible.

Another feature the creators included to increase the access ability of their game is the clear demarcation of content for mature audiences. This identifying mark, present on some cards, provides the opportunity for these elements to be removed from the game to make it more suitable for teenage players. They have also marked some cards as unsuitable for use if betrayers are not currently in play. This helps keep a sense of cohesion and keep play moving by removing the need to assess the appropriateness of the content of the crossroads cards drawn each turn. They've taken care to consider the needs and expectations of a varied player base with different ages and experience levels.

One of the most influential game mechanics which provides replay value to the game is the crossroads deck. This deck provides depth and complexity to the experience of survival in the frozen winter of the zombie apocalypse. During each player turn, the player to the right of the active player draws a crossroads card. If the condition is met by the players actions an event is triggered. These represent the day to day decisions which shape daily life at the colony and the relationship between the survivors. With sixty-eight cards in the base deck, five each mature and non-cooperative cards plus one which is both mature and non-cooperative; you'd be hard pressed to have the exact same experience twice. The creators have provided an easy to understand format which succeeds in creating rich and complex storylines every time a game is played, all without employing a scripted narrative.

Alongside the story building elements of the game is an emphasis on chance and luck. Like in real life, things don't always go to plan. In this game you must plan ahead and try to prepare for whatever the future holds. As play evolves you must attempt to complete the main objective and feed the colonists whilst dealing with the events of the crossroads deck and also working to counteract the effects of the random crisis which occurs each round. Whether you can complete the actions necessary for survival is largely down to luck. Your ability to carry out actions is determined by the rolls on your D6's at the beginning of the round. The fighting and searching actions require higher rolls than clearing waste or building barricades. Even if you have high enough rolls you might not get the resources you need when searching.

Where the heavy reliance of chance can be a negative for a lot of games it works in the creator’s favour here. There is a careful balance struck in this game between what the players can and cannot control. One of the biggest ways the players can influence their chances of success is through choosing a balanced cast of characters amongst the players. When setting up the game each player is dealt four character cards and chooses two of them to keep. Each of the characters has their own unique ability and roll requirements for attacking and searching. Depending on the main objective certain characters are better than others for securing success. For example, for a search and research gathering scenario you would be best off making sure to have characters such as Janet Taylor the Nurse or Carla Thompson the Police Dispatcher who can look at and keep an additional card in their respective location. (For a more thorough evaluation of the abilities see below) Sparky the Stunt Dog is the best boy and should always be chosen, just saying. The game puts a lot of emphasis on the players decision making from the set up onwards that the influence of luck and dance is somewhat balanced out. It builds the suspenseful atmosphere, enhancing the thriller/horror aspect of the game.

Overall, I would highly recommend this game to anyone ages 13 and above. It is a complex yet beautifully simple game to play. It provides an immersive experience rich in detail where the players can feel the weight of their decisions. It challenges players to think ahead and work together to overcome the odds and survive the frozen wasteland of the zombie apocalypse.

Character types overview

Most of the abilities which characters have can only be activated once per round. Any which can be use multiple times will be marked with an asterisk*. The abilities with numbers in brackets require an action dice to be used for this action

Best Boy

·         Sparky the Stunt Dog – Bites on exposure are treated as wounds. Ignore sparky when bite spreading occurs.

o   Best Boy can have sniper rifles, snow shoes, night-vision goggles and more equipped to him. Need I say more?

Searching Utility

·         Alexis Grey – Librarian – Look at and keep 1 additional card at the library

·         Andrew Evans – Farmer – Look at and keep 1 additional card at the Grocery Store

·         Arthur Thurston – Principle – Look at and keep 1 additional card at the School

·         Carla Thompson – Police Dispatcher – Look at and keep 1 additional card at the Police Station

·         Janet Taylor – Nurse – Look at and keep 1 additional card at the Hospital

·         David Garcia – Accountant – *When performing a search look at one additional card anywhere

o   Lower efficiency for searching for specific cards than Jenny and not as useful as the look at and keep addition cards abilities

·         Jenny Clark – Waitress – When Performing a search look at three additional cards

o   Great ability for when you are looking for specific items rather than collecting resources in bulk. More useful in certain scenarios but is often overshadowed by the other more location specific searchers.

·         Gabriel Diaz – Fireman – Turn over the top four cards of the deck, keep one survivor card and shuffle the rest back into the deck. This does not count as a search.

o   Great ability to implement in the early game as it allows the user to gain more survivors quickly. However, it can destroy the balance of the game by introducing too many useless-ahem-helpless survivors to feed at the colony

Offensive Abilities

·         Daniel Smith – Sheriff – (4+) kill two zombies instead of one for one attack

·         Maria Lopez – Teacher – (1+) Kill one zombie at the school without rolling exposure

·         Mike Cho – Ninja – *Do not roll for exposure when attacking

o   Possibly one of the most overpowered abilities in the game as it is unlimited unlike the use of weaponry

·         Thomas Heart – Soldier – (5+) Kill 2 zombies at the colony without rolling exposure

o   High cost high reward crow control ability

Colony Bases Characters

·         Bev Russel – Mother – (1+) Kill two zombies at the colony if there is at least 1 helpless survivor. Do not roll exposure

·         Brandon Kane – Janitor – Remove 5 waste instead of 3 when clearing waste

o   Waste accumulation is a problem that can sneak up on you and suddenly begin to significantly lower moral. Being able to clear the extra waste efficiently leaves more scope for using medicines to heal frostbite or fuel to lower exposure risk

·         Edward White – Chemist – (1+) When performing an attack spend a medicine to blow up three zombies instead of one. Do not roll exposure

o   Resource cost and a die of any value for a high reward of zombie murder but has to be done in moderation because of waste and crisis needs

·         Loretta Clay – Cook – (4+) Add two food tokens to the supply

o   This is an incredibly useful ability as it both reduces the accumulation of waste and allows for people to search for items other than food and focus on keeping the undead horde at bay

Utility Characters

·         Ashley Ross – Construction Worker – Build a free barricade without an action die

o   Very useful ability especially when paired with the hammer. Barricades are better than killing zombies. They prevent them spawning at all.

·         Brian Lee – Mayor – Increase an unused action die by one

o   Tilts RNG in your favour a little. Ability isn’t necessarily better than most other abilities

·         Forest Plum – Mall Santa – At the beginning of the turn remove him from the game to increase moral by one

o   Good at killing zombies and a game saving ability on occasion by raising moral. The cost of loing a die for future turns is not worth it usually though

·         James Myers – Psychiatrist – Reroll and unused action die

o   Great RNG trickery but terrible in combat and moderate at searching

·         John Price – Student – Has the abilities of all other characters at his location when he is not at the colony

o   Very useful character to have out and about. Can help kill zombies safely with the strong ability of Mike Cho or can help burn through search decks at location with any of the search utility characters

·         Olivia Brown – Doctor - Remove a wound or frostbite wound from a survivor that shares her location

o   Always useful though tends to get stuck at the colony or is sent to the front lines at great risk. Not great combat and marginally better searching

·         Talia Jones – Fortune Teller – Look at the top two crisis cards and replace them in any order using exactly two words tell the group what you have seen

o   In my opinion Talia has been a very under-utilised character. She has great values for her Search(1+) and Attack(3+) and can stave off impending doom by selecting the more easily dealt with crisis for the next round

Other Characters – most of these are pretty meh and I wouldn’t take them if given the choice

·         Buddy Davis – Fitness Trainer – Can take an additional wound before dying

·         Harman Brooks – Park Ranger – Receives wounds instead of frostbite wounds

·         Rod Miller – Truck Driver – Does not roll exposure when travelling

·         Sophie Robinson – Pilot – Can look at the top card of a single item deck once a round

Non-cooperative Characters

·         Annaleigh Chan – Lawyer – Colony - Look at one card at random in a player’s hand

·         Gray Beard – Pirate – colony – Take a random card from a player’s hand