Dead of Winter
Dead of Winter explained: colony objectives, secret goals, Crossroads cards, crises, movement, zombies and morale.
Manage survivors in a winter colony while searching nearby locations for food, medicine, fuel and other supplies.
The group shares a main objective and recurring crises, but players also receive secret objectives. Crossroads cards can interrupt turns with narrative choices and consequences.
Why We Love It
Dead of Winter puts personal incentives inside a shared survival problem. Even when there is no betrayer, players may value different risks because their secret objectives pull in different directions.
About Dead of Winter
Manage survivors in a winter colony while searching nearby locations for food, medicine, fuel and other supplies.
The group shares a main objective and recurring crises, but players also receive secret objectives. Crossroads cards can interrupt turns with narrative choices and consequences.
Game at a Glance
Protect the Colony
Maintain morale, food and defenses while zombies accumulate.
Search Locations
Move survivors out to gather scarce supplies.
Resolve Crossroads
Narrative triggers can interrupt a turn with difficult choices.
Meet the Objective
The colony can fail collectively even while personal goals compete.
Who Dead of Winter suits
Groups that enjoy story-driven cooperation with uncertainty, resource pressure and the possibility that personal incentives do not fully align.
Rules overview
Each round, players roll action dice for their survivors and spend them on actions such as attacking, barricading, searching or using abilities. The colony must also satisfy a crisis contribution, manage food and morale, and avoid being overwhelmed by zombies. The main objective and personal secret objectives determine success.
Key decisions
Editorial analysis: Separate colony survival from personal optimization. A move that advances your secret goal is worthless if it causes an immediate shared loss. Coordinate crisis contributions without revealing more private information than necessary, and consider whether moving a survivor is worth the exposure risk.
Common questions
Is there always a betrayer?
No. The game can include a betrayer depending on setup, but secret objectives can create conflicting incentives even without one.
Can the colony lose before the main objective is completed?
Yes. Morale, zombies and scenario-specific conditions can cause collective defeat.
What do Crossroads cards do?
They watch for specific triggers during another player’s turn and introduce narrative events when those triggers occur.
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Sources and edition notes
Facts checked September 16, 2026. Strategy sections are editorial analysis based on the identified rules rather than measured win-rate claims.