Zombicide

An informal division into game categories has been introduced in board game circles. The funniest thing is that the main division is geographically inclined, ie "Eurogames" and "Ameritrash". In Latvian, it would be strategic and thematic games, and so far the best description of these types is that the first ones you play with your mind, and the second ones with your heart, or the first ones have essential mechanics, the second one is the story. I'm definitely a fan of strategy games, but sometimes I like to play a themed game as well. This time the description of one of them - cooperative game "Zombicide".

Subject matter

The name already includes the theme, of course, another apocalypse has happened, a virus has spread, because of which there are full of zombies around, who are slow, flexible, but, despite this, have pushed the whole world to the brink of destruction. Players traditionally manage a group of survivors who must complete various missions, search for weapons, food and most importantly deal with an unfathomable amount of zombies.

Components

Game components are excellent! In the box you will find several double-sided parts for a modular play area representing apocalyptic streets, two kava cards, a stack of dice, various tokens and, yes, I almost forgot, 65 plastic zombie figures and 6 human figures. The components are of very high quality, thanks in part to the extremely successful Kickstarter campaign. Zombicide has released multiple versions of the game, totaling over $10,000,000 in crowd funding. But due to such components, the game is in the expensive price category.

Mechanics

Players have options for 3-4 actions that they can spend to move around, fight zombies, search houses, or switch weapons. Once all players have completed these steps, new zombies will move and spawn, gradually taking over the playing field more and more. As with themed games, there is a lot of luck involved, and expect the dice to roll a lot. But there are a couple of neat ways to modify your luck. Depending on the number of zombies killed, players gain experience, and upon reaching certain levels, players will gain different abilities, but the number of zombies that will join the game board at the end of each round also increases significantly. One of the funnest parts of the game is opening doors, because you never know who's staying in the house you're about to search.

Multiplayer

The game consists of scenarios that you will hardly want to replay after playing it, but you don't have to worry about that, because there is a strong and active community of fans of the game on the Internet, which regularly creates and publishes new and very different scenarios for all versions of the game. The availability of these scenarios keeps the game fresh even after the 10th playthrough.

Rating

It's hard to give this game a specific rating because many playthroughs have been very different. I've played scenarios where the mechanics felt ill-conceived, silly. But at the same time, the game has also created moments when we all discussed the amazing story we lived together for a long time after the game. Since the latter is more common than the former, I give the game a 7 out of 10. But note that a lot depends on attitude, if you try to create a story, live for the characters you control, then you will enjoy the game much more than if you will simply calculate how to optimize the best moves.