You know those heartwarming episodes of Walking Dead where the gang has to decide to kill another human being – once thought an ally – not because he or she was a zombie but because he or she might be losing their mind? Yeah, Dead of Winter is kind of like that, only with more paranoia.

You control a couple of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world, as does the other players. You will, semi-cooperatively, work together to scrounge for food, find gas and ammo, solve crises (randomly created every turn), protect survivors, and do mundane things like take out the trash. Oh, and there are zombies from time to time, too. Not a lot, though. Much like Walking Dead, the zombie threat is rare and the real threat is man’s inhumanity.

Interesting Mechanic: Personal Goals. A lot of coop games have hidden traitors (including some on this list). This game takes it a step further, by giving every player a personal goal to aspire for. That goal may be minorly squirrelly, such as collect the most cans of food, or it may be full on betrayal of the compound. The hidden nature of these goals makes it hard to tell — why WON’T that guy give his soup to the survivors?

Bonus Interesting Mechanic: Crossroads Cards. This mechanic is a real treat. Before each turn start, one player will draw a crossroads card and remember it for the rest of the turn. Crossroads cards have a trigger on them (for example, stop play and resolve this card as soon as someone first searches for food this turn). The triggered result brings some story, and may also provide players with harsh choices with effects on the game.

Bonus Bonus Interesting Mechanic: Noise. If players don’t get what they want when they scavenge, they can dig deeper — but the rustling might draw in more zombies. A really elegant, thematically cool way to solve the design problem.

Much like video games, board games are currently awash in a sea of bad zombie games. Dead of Winter is one of those, but one that also really focuses on the human elements at play. By focusing on the story and leaning into clever design, it brings something new and welcome to cooperative gaming and the zombie genre.

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(Photo Credit: Board Game Geek)