The game, Do Not Die, is a tile game that focuses on managing player vitals and resources while simply trying to stay alive and find rescue.
Players can build shelters, loot cabins, hunt and fish for food, even cozy up to a nice campfire. But make no mistake, the goal here is survival. Players must stay alive and find their way out, even if that means player vs. player combat.
"Do Not Die" is fast paced and exciting with deep complexity and many available strategies. It makes all players compete against each other but also has the game itself as the primary challenger.
The mechanics involved push the players forward and if they lose sight of their primary objective, survival becomes impossible. It can also be played cooperatively, eventually joining player tiles. The game even has a vast and engaging solitary mode for single player action. (Game length = 60 minutes / Players = 1-5 / Ages = 10+)
This turn-based game uses Player Boards where each player manages four individual vitals; Temperature, Hunger, Thirst, & Fatigue. At the end of their turn, each player adds up the HP damage associated with each vital and subtracts it from their health meter. The Health Meter starts at thirty and once the player reaches zero, they lose.
The game also has a Main Game Board. The Main Game Board has Player Cards that sets the environment for each player and Weather Cards that control the weather for the day. Distributed in the Weather Deck, there are six Exposure Cards that increase the Exposure Level. This Exposure Level lowers each players vitals at the beginning of each player turn. The player must perform six actions each turn to try to counteract this effect and manage their vitals to avoid dying.
There are sixty-four tiles in this game that the player uncovers by using actions to explore their surroundings. They consist of the following:
Frozen Ground Tile - Used for hunting Varment for food +1
Frozen Lake Tile - Used for Fishing for food +1
Forest Tile - Used for hunting Small Game for food +4
Mountain Tile - Used for hunting Large Game for food +6
Cabin Tile - Used for looting Tools and Items
Fire Tower Tile - Used for Rescue
In order to gain helpful resources in the game, the player can craft things like campfires, shelters, water, and some simple tools using player actions. Other Items and Tools can be found in the game by revealing a Cabin Tile and looting it. Each player can only loot a revealed cabin once. When a cabin is looted, the player rolls one black die (for an Item Card) and two white dice (for Tool Cards). If they roll an even number, then they select the corresponding Tool or Item Cards from the decks. The goal always remains, Do Not Die.
