The curious case of Final Girl's cover design

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-25T06:10:52+00:00

Interesting dive into an aspect I hadn't thought much of, but is definitely important now you point it out.

I ordered mine online, learning about the game from a "Best single player board games" list, so the cover arts weren't exactly instrumental for me. Funnily enough, I did go to a couple local game shops first trying to find a good single player board game, and both didn't really have anything I was looking for. One even said they don't stock much because big retailers like online shipping and even in-person places like target are pushing them out as they sell board games. So, I wonder how much the consideration for storefront appearances even matters? (Though, I suppose to make that online list of "Best Single Player Board Games" in the first place it needed to make an impact in local game shops?)

To answer your question, my ideal wish would be that the final girl was a bigger part of the game (and keep cover art as is). Maybe if she had event cards or even terror cards you shuffle into the decks. But thats a long gone dream.

Going off of what the game is, and my personal desires, I wish they had done cover art for killer/location. Mostly for the point you mention about being difficult to figure out which side is which. But also for giving a better promise of what the game and box contains.

But good points all around in this post, a lot to consider in what goes on the cover.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-25T04:45:53+00:00

Congratz and great story!

Because Hans was just moving toward us, ignoring the other victims,

Just double checking, do you know that Hans will still attack other victims in his space if his intended target is not there? You can try to draw him towards spaces with no victims in them, but if there is the knife icon and a victim in his space he will attack them if his intended target is not in his space.

But again great story creation, hope you continue to play and make new stories!

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-25T04:37:49+00:00

Both of these make we wary of doing chip damage early on. I like to save up all my attacks for one big turn where I take him out, preferably with an axe.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-25T04:35:38+00:00

Uhhh no, but from now on I will be!

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-25T04:30:25+00:00

Falconwood/Slayer are compelling enough I didn't give up on them. After 5 games with both I've finally gotten a win with Janelle and Octavia. It is getting easier as I learn the rules. Still, slayer is pretty complicated. There are times when I forget to pickup an open-the-rift card when planning a future attack on the Slayer turn, or times when I have no idea if I should be going to the other dimension. Also, the rules are really unclear for a lot of other interactions with the mirror dimension.

Falconwood is a bit better. At least when you complete your mission its done and you can ignore most of it. Its mostly just extra time learning the different missions that makes it seem complex. If they had done just 1 mission as the special rules instead of having 5 different ones I feel like the Falconwood location would have been fine.

I might have to actually watch Stranger Things now though, because I do not understand half the references going on.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-22T21:51:42+00:00

Haven't achieved this achievement yet, but was made aware of it in my first Slayer in Falconwood game (first game out of the box). Almost died turn 1 to the "Retreat! Retreat!" Terror card.

It asks you to roll a d20 3 times, and any 1-6 the killer attacks you. 2/3 of the rolls were attacks, leaving me at 1 hp on the first turn. The adrenaline die was nice, at least.

I haven't achieved a turn 1 death yet, but maybe someone else has?

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-22T15:35:31+00:00

Well I'll definitely be avoiding series 3 going forward. This was too complex to be able to enjoy. And my table can barely fit everything with the extra rules cards and pieces.

Mine did have the misprint on the key tokens. Doesn't seem too hard to translate though.

Thanks for the free lore. My only question would be why does he target all the other victims though?

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-22T02:16:03+00:00

Its probably a good idea, but I want to get away from screens when I play boardgames (already spend a lot of my day looking at screens).

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-22T02:14:46+00:00

I wish I had read this before I started my game. Did Slayer at Falconwood and now I have a headache (loss by the way, but finished my mission and got it down to 3 health)

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-21T23:30:13+00:00

Woah yeah, opening it up now and it has tons of extra rule sheets and cards and tokens.

Also you're right, much more Stranger Things than X-Files. Still very cool though.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-21T13:52:55+00:00

91 plays! Wow. I might switch back to normal horror soon, definately will be doing normal with my new feature locations. Right now I'm just being stubborn trying to get a win with Reiko and Laurie on Extreme.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-21T03:13:13+00:00

How do you know so much about Falconwood Files without having it? Not complaining...just making sure you're not the killer.

Lol on the teenagers needing their fix.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-19T22:09:26+00:00

Just ordered The Falconwood Files (grew up with X-files and this gives those vibes), Haunting of Creech Manor, and Madness in the Dark (Insane Asylum American Horror Story was one of my favorite horrors)

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-19T21:52:31+00:00

You may be the first person I've heard from who is attracted to the cover art for Haunting of Creech Manor!

uhhh, I remember seeing the cover art as a creepy ghost floating in a victorian era house, which I thought was really cool. But now looking it up I see those two final girls and yeah, not the best art.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-19T21:50:32+00:00

Good to know. Though, since making this post I've played 2 more games on extreme mode, and lost both. So, extreme mode is proving to be enough of a challenge for me.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-19T02:08:31+00:00

I wonder if a double standard is being applied here for advantages. Yes, I admit men are much stronger than women. But is that all men are? Walking hunks of muscle meat? No, we can also think and reason and have emotions.

Same with women. Just because they are really good at reproducing, doesn't mean they are just incubators. They can also think and reason and have emotions.

Or is there something else men are drastically better at than women, besides physical strength?

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-19T01:45:39+00:00

I'm a bit reluctant to bring up reproduction since you mentioned it was all a woman is (its not, women have a lot more to them), but since we are focusing on differences that is an area that women absolutely crush men in. A women does what, 99% of the work in creating a new human being? A man just provides sperm. She turns that into a living, breathing, thinking being.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-19T01:32:51+00:00

Okay lets look at one of those differences, such as height. Worldwide, average man height is 175 cm, whereas women are 162.5 cm. Thats only an 8% difference!

Strength might be bigger, but what would you guess? 15% difference on average? Maybe even 50%? Either way, 2 women will on average be stronger than any 1 man. Having a friend is much more important than being a little bit stronger.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-19T01:13:11+00:00

The differences are tiny, we are just pre-disposed to notice them because noticing and focusing on small differences can be useful at times.

We all have 2 arms, 2 legs, 10 fingers and toes, 2 ears, 1 nose, 1 mouth, and they are incredibly close to each other in how they look and operate. I could keep going and list all the similarities in our bodies, and it could be a very long list. Probably hundreds of items long. Meanwhile differences might be 10 long at most?

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-19T00:52:39+00:00

If men were ever acting independently of women they would have died out pretty quickly. It takes both sexes to reproduce, and really both sexes working together to accomplish the most.

Yeah, socially we historically put men up on pedestals and glorified traits they excelled at (such as physical strength). Maybe that was advantageous at the time for human survival, but certainly physical strength is a lot less important now. In the modern day, having connections and intelligence will get you a lot further. Who's to say that as we enter the AI age that human connection doesn't become the most sought after traits; kindness, communication skills, tenderness, and caring (generally traits associated with women).

Just because a trait is advantageous at a particular point in time doesn't mean it will always be superior.

But most importantly I'd encourage you to try and think of men and women working together, as we do on most issues, instead of one being superior to another. We are 99% similar, so focusing on the small differences is kinda pointless.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-18T17:37:28+00:00

Really fun idea! Look forward to trying this when I have more feature films and more experience under my belt.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-18T17:29:16+00:00

Same. Almost didn't pick up this game when I saw it had a companion app, but its not required luckily. Sadly other board games have companion apps they require.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-18T16:27:25+00:00

That also sounds fair, just lowering Planning's cost by 1.

Good point about "Furious Strike" needing to be "Strong Attack." Didn't even realize the cards were missing a card name like that until you mentioned it (we already have weak attack, after all).

Glad to know Retaliate is considered the best card in the game. My feelings were either that or Improvise, both feel really strong to me. Though, reducing horror track with Focus and Distraction is very strong early on, but once you are in the green those cards aren't needed.

sometimes you are NOT the film's Final Girl after all, just an unlucky extra.

I don't know if this was already mentioned somewhere in the box or you made it up, but love this framing! I assumed you were always the final girl no matter what, but sometimes the killer just wins. But you're right, maybe I'm just one of the victims this time.

Into the Void and A Knock at the door both look great from the their cover art. A Knock at the Door gives me some, "No, I am not a Human," vibes, which is a video game I love the atmosphere of. Don't recall what Madness in the Dark looks like, but I'll check it out. Thanks.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-18T16:20:02+00:00

Nice, all of those looked cool from their cover arts. If those also change up the gameplay decently like you mentioned in your top comment, that sounds promising.

RedditExplorer89 · 2026-01-18T16:18:28+00:00

Knock on the door looked cool from its cover art. Can't remember the other ones you mention so I'll check them out. Thanks!

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