How to Play Resident Evil Deck Building Game: Nightmare

Game Objective

In Resident Evil Deck Building Game: Nightmare, players build their decks throughout the game, representing their Inventory with Items, Weapons, and Ammo. The goal is to earn more Decorations than your opponents before the Boss Infected in the Mansion is defeated. The game ends when the Boss Infected (such as Uroboros Aheri, Albert Wesker, or Osmund Saddler, depending on the expansion) is defeated, and the player with the most Decorations wins.

Setup

1. Determine who starts: Randomly choose the first player.
2. Choose characters: Each player receives 2 random Character cards and selects 1 to play.
3. Set up the Resource Area: Place 18 stacks of Basic Resources (such as Ammo x10, Handgun, Combat Knife) in the center of the table.
4. Build the Mansion: Choose one of the predefined Mansions (like "The Cult," "Tribal Technology," or "Majini Rock"), shuffle the listed cards, and place them face down in the Mansion Area.
5. Prepare Inventories: Each player receives 7x Ammo x10, 1x Handgun, and 2x Combat Knife (or equivalents in the Mercenaries expansion), shuffles these 10 cards to form their Inventory, and draws 5 cards for their starting Hand.

Game Flow

Each turn follows this structure:

1. Start of turn: The player gains 1 Action, 1 Purchase, and 1 Exploration.
2. Available actions: The player may (in any order):
   • Play Action, Item, or Ammo cards.
   • Activate Character Effects.
   • Explore the Mansion (face Infected enemies).
   • Purchase Resources from the Resource Area.
3. End of turn: Discard all cards from the Hand and Play Area (except those attached to the Character), draw 5 new cards from the Inventory, and pass the turn.

Actions and How to Play

1. Play Action Cards

Each Action card consumes 1 Action. When played, apply the Bonus Icons first, then the Effects described on the card.

2. Play Item or Ammo Cards

These do not consume Actions. Items heal or increase Health, while Ammo provides resources to use Weapons or buy cards.

3. Activate Character Effects

Effects with the word "may" can be activated once per turn, at the time specified on the card.

4. Explore the Mansion

1. Declare Exploration.
2. Play the Weapons to be used (each can only be used once per turn).
3. Pay the Ammo Requirement for the weapons.
4. Sum the Total Damage (Weapons + Character Base Damage + bonuses).
5. Reveal the top card of the Mansion:
   • If it's an Infected, compare the Total Damage to their Health. If equal or greater, the Infected is defeated, and the player earns Decorations. If not, the Character takes the Damage from the Infected.
   • If it's an Event, Item, or Symbol, apply its effect.

5. Purchase Resources

Spend Gold to buy cards from the Resource Area, adding them to your Discard Pile.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends when the Boss Infected is defeated. The player with the most Decorations wins. In case of a tie, the player with the least Damage on their Character wins. If the tie persists, all tied players win.

Tips to Win

• Spend all Gold and Ammo each turn: These resources are lost at the end of the turn, so use them to buy cards or attack.
• Prioritize leveling up your Character: As you accumulate Decorations, your Character unlocks more powerful abilities.
• Be cautious in the Mansion: Stronger Infected grant more Decorations but also deal more damage if not defeated.