Sooooo… I did a very spontaneous thing the other day….

Browsing the interwebz, I saw a post on Facebook by an independant board game developer (Thomas Jansen) who just recently developed a new single-player board game.
That’s right. Not a single-player mod. A complete solo game.

Solely on a hunch, I contacted Thomas on Facebook after seeing his post about a new zombie apocalypse game that he created.
Being a sucker for these kinda things, I instantly bought it and couldn’t wait to get started.

To quote Dr Denzil Dexter (extra credit to those that don’t have to look up this name) : “The results weren’t disappointing”.
I mean, just look a that lovely artwork, first of all !

The game sets you as a sole survivor (or are you, really?) in a nearby future, where the classic zombie rampaging has just started.
You have a house of your own and need to follow certain mission directives to complete 4 missions in total (in the base game – there’s some bonus content, that I’m not going to spoil right now).

You slowly reveal a map of the area by moving around and identifying building, while drawing the actual map yourself (the picture above is just a photocopied version of the original map format. Those that know my OCD, will understand ;))

Afterwards, you can search through these buildings, rummage in the rubble, find extra weapons and even rescue extra companions that help you on your way.
There’s also a nifty side-mission system built in.
Zombies will eventually attack your house, which is something you need to prevent at all cost, as well as dying obviously.
Regular zombie attacks may occur when you move around or search areas as well.

There’s a certain stress level that rises when exploring as “the mob” grows every time you run about the place or when you rest.

I’m not going to ruin the story a lot as there’s a limited amount of missions available, that have a good replay value though, were you to pick up the game again after a few months of finishing it. The random factors are just the excellent amount of… well… random.

One thing took a bit of convincing to get me started at first : the 28 page manual that missed the structure I look for in an unknown board game.
Luckily there’s always a “Let’s Play”, in this case by the developer himself.
Huzzah !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbvI_s-JHhU if you’re interested in a developer who seems to have a cold :p
Also crank up the volume a bit 😉
The explanation is done on a prototype version of the game, but the playthrough actually explains the game a lot better than the manual.
The latter comes in handy during your own first playthrough, when you need to look up the necessary steps for resting or moving.

All things considered, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like a full single-player game.
Until I started it.
The manual was a tough nut to crack at first (not as tough as “Warcraft the board game”, lol), but once I got past that, Everything Lost was an incredibly fun adventure to play.
I’m not even sure if I’ve followed all rules to the letter.

Some question that came to mind :

– Do you need to remove the mob cards after you fought them?
– When exactly is it allowed to add the level 2-5 zombies?
– Do I need to play a move card when I move on already discovered territory?

Thanks again, Thomas, for creating this great adventure in a little box.
This keeps our hopes up high for other small developers.

Good job and can’t wait to see your next game !!

Thomas’ webshop (Elven Ear Games) can be found here :
https://www.eegamesshop.nl/

Some pictures in this article were taken from Boardgamegeek, as my own cell phone is a potato.