Xenoraptor

Xenoraptor is a solo survival rpg about eluding a monster in space, partially inspired by Alien: Isolation.

It's 4 pages, with a slightly dense and technical layout. That said, it's not too hard to read, and it feels immersive---a bit like a manual that might be found on a space freighter.

Gameplay uses dice, tokens, and a map made of playing cards.

This card-mapping system is quite detailed, with number, color, and suit all giving game-relevant information. Furthermore, gameplay in general tends towards choice more than luck. You aren't alone on moving through the map, and face cards cause the monster to spawn. However, you can choose which direction you navigate in, and you can choose to interact with your environment or the monster in a few different ways in every situation.

Resources-wise, in Xenoraptor you have a meter to manage (Adrenaline,) an inventory, and sometimes a Wound.

Adrenaline sets the difficulty for your die rolls, and composed actions (searching, shooting a gun) are easier when it's lower, whereas frantic actions (enduring, fleeing) are easier when it's higher. Mostly, Adrenaline tends to increase, but interacting with the creature (such as shooting or escaping) randomizes it.

The inventory is a nice mix of single-shot and passive items that you can find by searching (which risks increasing Adrenaline and summoning the monster,) and fluctuates over the course of the game. The standouts are a gun (which lets you despawn the monster) and narcotics (which lower Adrenaline,) but there's also a flashlight, a computer that reveals more of the map, keycards, and healing supplies.

Wounding is binary, and puts you in a state where you have to roll to stay conscious before taking most actions. Fail and pass out while the monster is nearby, and you lose.

The game's win condition involves uncovering enough of the map that the end point (the deck's red joker) is drawn, and this is a matter of endurance as much as it is of good rolls. Mistakes will be made. The monster will spawn. And surviving repeated encounters with it is the key to completing the game.

Overall, Xenoraptor is an extremely neat, compact single-player, card-based board game. There *are* narrative elements, but this isn't a game that wants you to journal. You generate just enough story to give context to your actions, but the fun is in trying to survive. So if you like survival horror, and you're looking for something easy to set up and play solo, I'd strongly recommend giving this a shot. It's very well made.