Feral State: Revolt
Ever been an unpaid intern?
Let me rephrase that. Ever been an unpaid intern for a gang of raiders in a zombie apocalypse?
That’s your life now. You and your sibling, once free, are now trapped in a crumbling petrol station, breaking your backs to pay tribute to overlords who barely see you as human.
You’re not a survivor. You’re property.
A workhorse under watchful eyes. And yet, when the raiders wander too far from the gates… you slip out. You scavenge. You fight. You grow stronger.
How long can you keep your head down before the fury boils over?
When Denis reached out to me earlier this month about a 90-minute game, I was instantly intrigued. That’s well above my usual game session length, but I’ve recently started enjoying longer plays. And I have Denis to thank for that!
I still revisit Doomsday Manager now and then, another apocalypse-themed game he created that was successfully funded on Kickstarter just a month ago. Those sessions often stretched to two or even three hours. With that in mind, I jumped right into Feral State: Revolt without hesitation.
About the game
Feral State: Revolt throws you into a crumbling world where survival isn’t enough.
You play as Max and Alice, two siblings enslaved by a gang of raiders, forced to scrape together tribute from inside a ruined petrol station. You work under the watchful eyes of the raiders, but while they are away, you sneak out to scavenge, slay the undead, and slowly grow stronger.
It is a solo or co-op roll-and-write game with a comic book flair and a heavy focus on combat.
Survival meets worker placement, resource management, zombie combats, and exploring locations- all in a neat loop!
It’s the fourth entry in the Feral State series, and after browsing through the three that came before, Revolt stands out as the most advanced of them all.
Questions that lingered my feral mind before playing the game
-I’m aware of its duration, but will the game feel too long?
-Fast-paced intensity the whole time, or is it a slow burn?
-Will I enjoy the game solo, or in co-op?
Preparing the game
Print six pages in color, laminate them, grab nine d6 dice, three pawns or player pieces and a whiteboard marker. You’re ready!
The six prints represent one map, one reference sheet, three location sheets, and one token sheet. The reference sheet is super handy, it will save you trips to the rulebook for sure.
The token sheet is optional, but if you want to make standees for the 2 characters in the game, then go for it!
I recently played Cinderella at Midnight, which incorporated a standee, and loved it! So I decided to try them out in this game as well. The ones I built were a bit flimsy, so I also tried the game with the gaming pieces I have.
So, after 2 weeks of going all feral in an apocalyptic world, here are my findings:
Findings
Movie-like flow
As I played the game the first time, I said to myself- classic Denis. It gave a movie-like feel, just like Doomsday Manager did, though the emotions were different. While Doomsday Manager involved handling chaos all over the place while charting an asteroid, Feral State: Revolt was all about tolerating the raiders who had near full control of my life, till I couldn’t take it anymore!
And speaking of movies, the game gave me a Mad Max vibe! Maybe the wastelands, scarcity of resources, and the tyranny of raiders made me feel that way.
The RAGE!
Ah, the sheer raw rage!
What’s weird is I barely felt like this during any game I’ve played lately. I felt mad. Not at the game, but at the raiders!
You’re barely coping with life, working every day to stack resources. Eating the bare minimum to survive, and risking your life by attacking zombies to fetch anything you find. Just when life feels tolerable, the raiders will come in and take everything from you! You can hide the bare minimum, but that’s not enough. If you are unable to give anything, then they issue a warning, and the last warning comes with a full-on attack.
How can you not feel frustrated about the raiders?!
You can attack them anytime they come to raid, but that’s the end game. There’s no returning from this. So you also have to keep your emotions in check before unleashing that last strike. So yeah, more containment. More rage!
Amazing how games can make you feel things.
Packed with interesting mechanisms
Denis is known for his refreshing game mechanics, and Feral State: Revolt is no exception. Here are a few of my favorites:
+ The combat wheel: it easily could have been a wheel of 6 sectors, where each represents an action. Fully relying on luck. But it isn’t! Rather, the opposing sectors are connected, and you can pick any one of them. This makes zombie combats all the more strategic.
+ The zombie attack: You’ll encounter plenty of zombies as you explore the sixteen locations on the map, and the combats will feel pretty intense. Each zombie has its unique stats of HP (head, torso, and leg damage) and also the respective speed at which it will approach you. The speed of each zombie denotes how many turns you have left before it reaches you. If you fail to kill the zombie? It will begin its attack. Each hit costs you one precious medical kit. Ouch!
+ The player stat and its power: The two players in the game have their respective XP, weapon effects, and attributes: strength, agility, and intellect. The more you gain XP, the more these attributes will increase. They will not only help you to produce resources efficiently, but also have an upper hand in taking down zombies. The unique weapon effects available to each player help you decide who’s best suited for specific locations and attacks.
You call the shots
Other than the timeline loop that represents what you have to/can do on each day, the rest is all up to you. You are in charge!
Pick which locations to explore, resources to produce, attributes to increase, stocks to hide from raiders, and the end game– where you go all blitzkrieg on the raiders. It’s all on you. Be the director of this movie!
And make sure it has a good ending!
Verdict
Too long?
Speaking (typing) for myself, I’d rather take my time. If you don’t feel the rage coming onto you from the wrath of the raiders, then you are not playing it right! And you can only feel that if you are spending enough time on each round. Feel the pain. Plot the revenge. Wait for the perfect time. Make sure the raiders are destroyed!
I played the game solo for close to two hours. It didn’t feel that long, though. It’s quite immersive.
Fast-paced or slow-burn?
Neither. The game has a mixed intensity with many mini-climaxes (zombie attacks and the raiders’ tribute night) and one big showdown- the final attack. Which is why I compared it to a movie.
Solo or Co-op?
I tried and enjoyed both. The experience with each varies a lot, though.
With the solo mode, I took my time, made coffee, took breaks, had the Mad Max playlist in my headphones the whole way through, and stepped out two hours later from the movie theater (my room). With a victory, of course!
Playing with my friend brought a different vibe to the game; more conversation, more analysis, and even a few moments of disagreement. We also tried the game with a time limitation, to have the final battle within 90 minutes. With a timer in the equation, every move felt more urgent, which brought more intensity to the table. Try it out!
Join the Revolt!
The campaign is on day 5 already, and it’s blazing all guns! Like it should. For me, games are all about bringing unique experiences to my life, and Feral State: Revolt has certainly done so!
Are you ready to go beyond surviving zombies and immerse yourself in the war that happens after? Then you know what to do! *click click*
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Game Overview
Publisher: Nuka Zombee Games
Designer: Denis Kurdiukov
Artist: Denis Kurdiukov
Number of players: 1 or 2
Difficulty level: Medium
Rounds of gameplay needed to learn: 1 round
Game duration: Up to you! 90-120 minutes for me
Available on: Kickstarter
Theme: Roll and Write | Post-apocalypse
Number of pages and color: 6 (color print)
Assembling difficulty level: Super easy. No Assembly required
Lamination: Recommended for replayability and longevity
Additional elements required: Nine D6 dice, 3 playing pieces, and a whiteboard marker.
Time to learn: Within 20-30 minutes
Travel-friendly: 9/10
Shelving friendly: 10/10
Rating from PnP Time: 9/10
Tasliman is a board game developer based in Bangladesh, with the dream of exploring the world of games and introducing it to anyone new to it. He is the founder of Kraftz, a brand that develops board games commercially, as well as with reputed entities like BRAC and The Gates Foundation.
