Outlive Board Game Review

Ever wondered how well you would survive in the apocalypse? Well Outlive is your chance to find out!

In this fun worker-placement game players try to 'outlive' their opponents and build the best settlements to survive in.

Living In The Apocalypse - How To play

Outlive is a tableau building, worker placement game with a board that reflects that game play.

Each player has their own shelter to develop during the game, and there is a main board where you can gather resources. On this main board there are 8 locations: the cargo ship, the forest, the mine, the fair, the military base, the dam, and the two cities (Blackwood and Silent Peak). Each location holds specific resources e.g. the forest holds wood and prey, the dam holds water. During each turn players gather these resources using their four 'heroes' (aka meeple) in the 'day phase'. Then they may use these resources to improve their shelters in the 'night phase'

But Outlive innovates on the usual style of worker placement games. In outlive each player has to move their four heroes around the board every turn. Heroes can move 1 or 2 spaces clockwise or anti-clockwise but they have to go to a new location every turn. Furthermore a player’s own heroes must not end up occupying the same locations at the end of their turn. But they can occupy the same squares as another player’s heroes. So, a player may need to spend a bit of time figuring out logistics that allow them to collect all the resources they need.

One further twist is that the strength of all the heroes is not equal. Of each player’s heroes two are valued 3, one is valued 4, and one is valued 5. These heroes’ values dictate how many resources that hero can collect. But more interestingly it also dictates the pressure that hero wields against other players. When two different players' heroes occupy the same square they will automatically 'exert pressure'. This pressure is equivalent to the difference between these heroes' values. So if Blue’s value 5 hero enters the square of Red’s value 3 hero, then Blue will exert 2 pressure on Red.

This pressure can be resolved two ways. 1) Red can choose to give Blue two resources of their choice. 2) Red can shoot bullets to the pressure value – here 2 – to defend against Blue’s attack. Equally a lower value hero can exert pressure on a higher value hero using bullets so a value 3 hero can use 3 bullets to exert 1 pressure on a value 5 hero. This means players are always interacting with each other while collecting resources. It can get a little hectic but it makes for a really fun twist on the resource collection stage every worker placement game relies upon.

Other than that Outlive follows a pretty typical tableau building, worker placement game style of turns. The aim of the game is to make the best shelter and gain the most points. There are six days (rounds) to become the best shelter, with each round having 3 stages: events, ‘day phase’, and ‘night phase’

Stage 1 – Events

Each round begins by revealing a random event card. These events are in effect from that round forward until they are solved by a player during a ‘night phase’. These events vary and range from limiting the main board's resources to reducing heroes' values.

Stage 2 – The ‘day phase’

Players take turns moving their 4 heroes around the main board. They collect resources and may collect broken equipment from the two cities.

Stage 3 - The ‘night phase’:

The players have the option of solving any events they have the resources to deal with, and solving these events gains points. Then they feed their survivors, make improvements to their shelters and fix any equipment they have gathered. Then players may recruit more survivors for 1 food/water per survivor. Then the shelters are cleared, getting rid of all food apart from canned food and all bar 2 water.

The round then repeats after a new event card is drawn.

After 6 rounds players score points. Points are gained for solved events, rooms built, survivors acquired and equipment fixed.

The Key To Survival

In Outlive there are many ways to win the game. You can change your tactics from game to game and will still be able to win even if you focus on different areas of your settlement each time. The only downside to the end of game scoring system is that it can be difficult to understand how well your settlement is doing during the game. So it can sometimes come as a bit of a shock as to which player has won or by how much.

Fun In The Post-Apocalyptic World

Overall, Outlive is an aesthetic game with a strong theme and great gameplay. But where it really shines is in its player interaction, replayability and innovation.

The events card at the beginning of each turn keeps Outlive fresh. The fact that their effects can stack in interesting ways if players decide not to use their resources solving events can be very fun.

Every move a player makes with their heroes effects and is affected by other players. In Outlive it is impossible to avoid player interaction. You are constantly putting pressure on one another and stealing each other’s resources. This is great for gamers who love a bit of antagonism when they play, but I can imagine could frustrate some gamers, and might upset some younger players. It also means that figuring out exactly where to place heroes to avoid or engage in fights can slow game play.

If you’re a fan of tableau building, worker placement games but want to add bit of spice to your repertoire then I highly recommend Outlive.

That concludes our thoughts on Outlive. Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts and tag us on social media @zatugames. To buy Outlive  today click here!