Final Girl: A Great Solo Game, But Do You Need To Be A Horror Fan To Enjoy It?

Can someone who doesn’t like horror movies really enjoy Final Girl? Or is it a game that’s only for horror movie fans? 

My favourite games are things like Meadow, Finspan, Harmonies, and Flamecraft Duals. 

So can someone like me really enjoy Final Girl? 

I thought I’d test it out and see…

I originally heard about Final Girl while scrolling through social media posts. 

My feed regularly includes posts from people asking for solo game recommendations… and the game I’d continually see recommended in the comments, was Final Girl.

As a fan of solo games, I was intrigued!

I looked it up and saw it’s a 30 minute or so solo game. Each game (which Final Girl calls “Feature Films”) is inspired by an iconic horror movie. You’re the Final Girl and you have to try to defeat the killer before they defeat you.

I’m not a huge horror movie fan - but there were a few things about Final Girl that made me curious.

People kept saying it was a 30 minute game. I love that timeframe.

People kept saying there were interesting decisions in the gameplay. I really love that feature in games.

And it’s a solo game. Which is great, because I like not having to rely on others all the time if I’m wanting to play a game.

It seemed to tick a lot of the boxes I liked. So it stayed on my “I want to try it one day” wishlist in my mind.

Then my (adult) daughter saw it while we were shopping while on holidays.

Now, she is a fan of horror movies. So the familiar pop culture logo designs of the titles caught her eye straight away.

Shriek looked just like Scream.

The Falconwood Files looked just like Stranger Things.

Bad Times at Buddyland looked just like Five Nights at Freddy’s.

The Marrek Murders looked just like Saw.

And Frightmare on Maple Lane looked like… well you can probably guess that one.

I saw her pick up one of the Final Girl feature films and I said “ooohh I’ve heard about this game! It’s supposed to be really good!” I then proceeded to tell her all I knew about Final Girl, based on what others had said.

My daughter thought it sounded intriguing too, so she bought a Core Box and a few Feature Films. 

It didn’t take long and she had played her first game and was already telling me how great it was.

“Mum, I know you’re not a horror movie fan, but I really think you’d like this game! It’s not just horror - there are some really interesting decisions! 

You have to try to save victims, because saving them can give you resources or special abilities which can help you win. 

But you’re also trying to survive, and sometimes saving the victims is too dangerous. So you have to work out whether you can rescue them, or whether you should leave them behind. But that can make the killer stronger. You have to try to work out if it’s worth the risk.”

I had to admit, those decisions did sound pretty interesting.

But the theme? Would it be too much for someone who isn’t a horror movie fan?

I asked her.

She said “Well the games ARE based on famous horror movies, so yes there’s a horror movie theme to them. But it’s more pop-culture-horror-movie-style rather than it being a gory game. I truly think you’d like the game anyway.“

My daughter knows me well enough to know I’m more of a “butterflies-and-nature” type of gamer. So her comment made me even more intrigued.

I looked up how mainstream reviewers were rating Final Girl.

It was listed in the Top 100 Games on BoardGameGeek. And it had received all 8.5-9/10 ratings on The Dice Tower.

Interesting!

So I tried it.

I started with Happy Trails Horror. I’d heard that was the easiest one.

The Setup.

The artwork of the killer on the box made me feel a bit cautious as to what was inside. And when I opened the rulebook and read the first paragraph, which introduced the Feature Film plot and killer (Hans), I thought “This game isn’t going to be for me!”

But still - I thought I’d give it a go before making a decision. Thinking back, that paragraph probably wasn’t really anything different to what murder mysteries, or other survival games might say in their intros. 

So I set up the game. The rulebook seemed quite thick for a short game, and I wondered if it was going to be worth it.

But I quickly realised that the rulebook is very easy to follow. You literally follow step by step instructions on where to put everything. I started out watching a tutorial at the same time as I was following the rulebook, but that didn’t last long - the tutorial just wasn’t needed.

It took me about 10 minutes to set everything up.

How To Play.

I really didn’t need to read all the pages in the rulebook before playing. I skimmed the rules so I understood basically what to expect, then I just started at the beginning. If I needed to know what to do at any time, the rulebook was there for me to look it up. 

Final Girl (me) goes first.

I followed the rulebook, choosing which cards to play. These cards allowed me to move around the board, find resources, and save victims. I did this until I ran out of my allocated time. It was easy enough.

Then I set up for my second turn… and that’s when I realised that planning is important! There were some great cards I could choose from - but would I need them now, or later in the game? Should I focus on building resources first? Or saving victims? Or should I just go ahead and try to defeat Hans now, since that’s the aim of the game anyway?

Ohhhhh… here are those decisions everyone’s been talking about!

I chose my next lot of cards.

Then it was Hans’ turn.

It’s easy to play Hans’ moves - follow the icons on his card, then flip a “Terror” card over and follow the instructions on the back. Easy.

Then, you do a couple of housekeeping steps at the end of that set - things like put recycled cards back in the card choices, and move victims if they need to “panic”. Again, it’s all written step by step in the rules. But it’s so easy that after a few turns, you won’t even need to check the rulebook.

Play continues like this - your turn, then Hans’ turn, then housekeeping, for the rest of the game.

But how do you destroy each other?

When setting up the game, both you and Hans are given a bunch of wooden heart tokens (above). These are your life tokens. When a card that’s played shows a 💥 or a 🔪, it means there’s been an attack. Sometimes the attack is on you, and sometimes you fight back against Hans. When this happens, you (or Hans) lose one or more of your life tokens.

Whoever has the last remaining heart token wins the game.

The Artwork. 

When I first got the game out to play, I saw the artwork of the killer on the box, and I wondered how prominent the horror theme was going to be.

It turns out that you can take on as much or as little of the horror theme as you’d like. 

For example, when I started playing, the interesting decisions in the game took over and the artwork wasn’t really something I looked at.

To play, there are three small boards which sit next to each other. 

The Final Girl board (above) has your scoring system on it. 

The Killer board (above) does have a picture of the killer on it. It’s the same picture that’s on the box. This board is used for keeping track of the Killer’s health and strength. 

The Location board (above) is the board you play on. In Happy Trails Horror, the location is a summer camp. 

The Location board is really the only board you look at while playing the game, unless you’re moving the health or strength scores as needed. But even when I was moving the health tokens on the Killer’s board, I never found myself paying attention to the artwork. I was too busy moving the components. 

The Components.

The Meeples are literally just that - little simple wooden meeples. Nothing out of the ordinary unless you buy the expansion sets separately. 

The Action cards (above) are what you use each turn as the Final Girl. You roll your dice and the amount of stars you roll determines how successful you are in that action. The Action cards consist of icon instructions for you to follow based on how many stars you roll. 

The Terror cards (above) are in a similar format to the Final Girl’s Action cards, but they instead determine what moves the Killer makes. 

The Resource cards (above), which you can gather while moving around the board, have pictures of the resources on them - things like a flashlight, pepper spray, a knife, an energy drink, things like that. And the cards also include instructions for when these resources can be used. 

The Event cards (above) explain an event or situation and tell you how it affects you or the gameplay. 

The two types of cards which do have a much more “horror” theme, are the Finale cards and the Dark Power cards. These are the Killer’s special cards, but they aren’t always used in every game (if you play really well, the killer won’t get a chance to use them!) 

You use one Finale card (above) per game. But you only see which one it is if the killer runs out of Terror cards. If that happens, the Finale card is flipped and the actions on the back are the instructions that are now used for the Killer’s turn for the rest of the game. These cards do have horror-themed artwork when you flip them over, and the card titles are things like “Bloodbath”, but it’s really just a dramatic action card which makes the killer stronger, and the actions themselves are still just icons. 

The other cards which have this horror theme are the Dark Power cards (above). Again, there’s only one of these used each game, and you only see it if the killer gets strong enough. 

As the Final Girl, if you save victims, they give you resources and abilities, but if you fail to save them before the Killer gets to them, this gives the killer more strength, and that strength is something that can cause him to gain whatever ability is displayed on the back of the Dark Power card. The titles on those cards are horror themed, such as “Sledgehammer Massacre” or “Dark Obsession”, with artwork of the Killer. But the instructions on the card are all just gameplay instructions.

So what did I think of the horror theme? 

In my opinion, the horror imagery isn’t something that overpowers the game. 

Of course, if you love horror movies, you’ll love everything about it. 

But if horror movies aren’t your thing, definitely don’t let it put you off playing Final Girl!

Is there horror storytelling involved? 

I’d heard a comment that there’s horror themed storytelling in Final Girl. Not being a big horror fan, I wondered if it might mean the game wouldn’t really be my thing. 

It turns out, I didn’t find any issues with this side of things. I found the game is more about the strategy, planning, and decisions than storytelling. There’s definitely a horror movie theme. But even the cards that did have descriptions (such as Event cards and Resource cards) weren’t an issue. 

If you love the storytelling side of things, I’ve heard there are optional expansions, as well as a supplementary app that can add to the experience. But none of those are included in the base games, and they’re not necessary to play the game itself.

The Feature Films. 

Final Girl has released four series of “Feature Films” (a.k.a. Games). They’ve got a strong following and I can see why. 

Each Feature Film has slightly different quirks and gameplay, and each one is inspired by different horror movies.

For example:

Don’t Make a Sound is inspired by A Quiet Place, and gameplay involves trying to move around the board without making noise that would attract the alien creature.

Frightmare on Maple Lane is inspired by Nightmare on Elm Street. In this feature film, you can only attack the killer while you’re asleep. BUT falling asleep also makes you vulnerable to the killer's attacks, so the decision to fall asleep is a risk.

The Marrek Murders is inspired by Saw, and the gameplay involves trying to escape from traps yourself, while also trying to rescue victims from traps before it's too late.

Even as someone who’s not a fan of horror movies, these all do sound interesting from a strategic gameplay angle!

I could only imagine how much you’d love this game if you are a horror movie fan!

There’s a great range of iconic horror movie inspiration in this series. There’s even a Feature Film inspired by Terminator!

What do I need to start? 

To play Final Girl, you need a Core Box, plus at least one Feature Film. 

The Core Box consists of a board and some components that are needed for each game. 

The Feature Films each include 2 Final Girls (each with their own unique abilities), a unique Location Board, and a unique Killer. 

Something I find pretty cool about this setup is that you can mix and match the components between Feature Films. This allows you to create a unique, personalised experience each time you play!

Would I play again? 

Sure! The horror theme isn’t something that would draw me back, but I’m intrigued enough by the strategy and planning, and also the features in the other Feature Films that I’d definitely try more. I think there’d be some really interesting challenges. 

And now I know the basics of how to play, and I also know that the horror theme isn’t something that takes over the interesting gameplay, I’d be interested to try some others! 

People were right - the strategy and decisions in this game are very well done. 

I think after you’ve played your first game, both solo gamers and also horror movie fans would likely end up wanting a nice little collection of Final Girl feature films. 

Or if you’re both a horror movie fan and a solo gamer, just buy the whole set and ask for forgiveness later. 😜

Where can I get it? 

We currently have a great range of Final Girl feature films in stock here at Brain Spice, along with the Core Boxes.

If you’re just starting out, I’d recommend starting with Happy Trails Horror. It’s the simplest to learn, so it’s a nice one to start with. But any Feature Film can be played at any time, so if you have a favourite horror movie, feel free to start there and add more as you become a fan of the series!

Final Girl is available in store and online at Brain Spice.