Resident Evil: The Board Games are a series of tabletop board games designed by Steamforged Games Ltd., best known for working on board game versions of Devil May Cry and Dark Souls, among other projects. Based on the Resident Evil series of video games (particularly the first three entries), one to four players can survive the horror of the Spencer Mansion or Raccoon City together, re-creating the main events of the series.
As of now, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis have been recreated, and a version based on the Resident Evil remake is in the works, set to be released in the first half of 2023.
Given the nature of the board games, all spoilers involving the first three entries of the game series are unmarked. You have been warned!
- Abnormal Ammo: Just like the classic games, Flame, Acid, and Freeze rounds can be found for the grenade launcher.
- Advancing Boss of Doom: Birkin Stage Five plays out in this matter, just like the games. If he isn't killed before he makes it to the end of the train car the players are fighting on, it's an instant death.
- All There in the Manual: As to be expected of a board game. Without looking into the scenario briefs or Narrative Cards, you won't have too much of an idea of what the stages are about.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Solo Mode has multiple benefits, (higher inventory box capacity, the inability to die unless you're on danger, and lower boss health just to name a few) so completing the game alone is a more feasible challenge if you're all alone.
- Arrange Mode: RE3 in particular has several. Hard and Nightmare modes give the players more difficulty, Arrange Mode shuffles the player's path through Raccoon City, and Knife-Only mode gives the players a souped-up knife, but removes all other weaponry.
- Ascended Extra: Just about every character from the original games are playable with their own distinct movesets, so characters as obscure as Ben or Dario have their time to shine in the spotlight here.
- Bittersweet Ending: RE3's endings have the potential to play out this way, as the main focus on many of them is the deaths of characters, should anyone not make it out alive.
- Boring, but Practical: Barry Burton's skills more or less boil down to giving the team an extra item at the start of a scenario if he isn't in the party, and having a more powerful handgun, the Samurai Edge. While not as interesting as Tyrell's extra actions, or Dario's ability to use free Ink Ribbons, his Samurai Edge is an extremely useful weapon, outclassing the handgun in every way, to the point where it's feasible to take on late stage enemies with it if you play your cards right.
- Chekhov's Gun: The System Disc in RE3's City Park areas initially seems like a waste of inventory space. Later in the Dead Factory scenarios, however, it becomes the key to avoid a specific narrative event, and thereby save a member of the team from certain doom.
- Co-Op Multiplayer: As to be expected of a board game, while solo modes do exist (and give the player benefits for taking the journey alone), the game is designed with up to four players in mind.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Sherry in RE2 plays much, much differently than the other survivors. She has less health, less actions per turn, and can't make attack actions, so players going from most survivors to Sherry are gonna have a rough time adjusting.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Nemesis Stage Two in the Clock Tower serves this role for RE3, and can even play the role of final boss should the players not be using the City of Ruin expansion.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: RE2 is the only board game to have weapon restrictions for characters (for example, Leon can only use the handgun, shotgun, and magnum.)
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Arguably the case for any survivors that manage to complete the game, especially for those who didn't survive in the original series, like Brad or Mikhail.
- Equipment Upgrade: Practically a staple of the series. Your handgun and shotgun can be upgraded to more powerful variants, and the magnum even got in on the fun in RE2.
- Friendly Fireproof: Player characters can't take damage from explosive barrels, so if you shoot an explosive barrel and a friend is caught in the blast, they'll be perfectly fine.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: RE3's Hospital 2 scenario can be entirely skipped if the players choose to. And as to be expected of abandoning a mission involving finding a cure for the T-Virus, doing so sets the players up on the worst possible ending.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Quite a few possible instances of this. Depending on whether or not you picked up the System Disc partway in the City Park area of RE3BG, a team member may need to stay behind in Raccoon City to ensure the team's escape by keeping the Dead Factory's lights on. To get the best ending, someone needs to stay behind to kill Nemesis Stage Three as well. Advanced Leon also has a skill allowing him to take blows for the team, potentially setting up this trope.
- Heroic Second Wind: Both Jill and Advanced Leon are capable of automatically reviving the first time they're knocked out during a scenario.
- Joke Character: Tofu returns from Resident Evil 2, and his restriction to only the knife has him as just an impractical character as ever. Possibly subverted, however, given that his skillset (running away from enemies, gaining an extra evasion dice when close to death, and having a 1/3 chance of taking no damage from an attack) has the potential to make him an oddly effective survivor.
- Multiple Endings: RE2 uses "Epilogue Cards", which change the ending you get depending on your actions. Between implying that Nemesis survived the missile strike, or revealing the player became infected, there's a lot of variance in how the team's fates play out.
- Mythology Gag: Steamforged seems to be fond of adding winks and nods to classic Resident Evil titles. Barry's skill allowing him to use the Samurai Edge, for example, is called "I Have This!", referencing a particularly narmy line from Resident Evil.
- One Bullet Clips: Averted with special ammunition, like the enhanced pistol rounds or different types of grenade launcher ammo, as any ammunition inside of the weapon beforehand is wasted.
- One-Hit Kill: Certain bosses are capable of this, using attacks that knock the target player down instantly.
- Suspicious Video-Game Generosity: Especially in RE3, if the game seems to be getting generous with different ammunition types or new weapons, you'll be needing them fairly soon.
- Taking You with Me: Should Advanced Mikhail go unconscious, he dies, and every enemy on the same tile as him goes with him.
- Too Awesome to Use: First Aid Boxes in RE3 completely restore the player's health, and can even revive them. You'd better use them right, however, as you'll only be finding two in the campaign.
- The Rocket Launcher in the RE3 campaign qualifies, too. An all-powerful weapon that's virtually guaranteed to wipe out any enemy and deal serious damage to bosses. It only has a single rocket, though, and is discarded immediately afterwards.
- Wound That Will Not Heal: Advanced Mikhail cannot heal in any way.
