Lifeform

In the vast, forbidden seas of space … terror stirs …

I may have mentioned once or twice I’m a big fan of (most of) the Alien films, and it doesn’t take too much imagination to recognise it’s a great theme for a boardgame. In fact, two have been released recently: Nemesis by Awaken Realms, and Lifeform by Hall or Nothing Productions. They are both excellent games, and luckily, they both approach the subject matter differently. In fact I think I can neatly sum up the difference by saying that nemesis is Aliens and Lifeform is Alien. Both classic films, but if you’re looking for that authentic original movie experience, this is the one.

Lifeform achieves this by making the game an alien player-vs-crew players experience, and recreating the tension of the film with semi-hidden movement (there can be 2 or 3 ‘sensor ghosts’ on the board, and the crew don’t know which is the actual lifeform) and by making the lifeform truly deadly. If you walk into the wrong room and you don’t have the right cards in hand, you’re alien food. Coupled with a rampaging robot, a deadly endgame aboard the ship’s shuttle, a self-destruct countdown, and even a ship’s cat, you’ll find yourself thrust into the movie’s exhausting and exhilarating blend of tension and horror in two shakes of an alien’s tail.

I particularly enjoy playing this game on the separately available play mat. It’s the same size as the gameboard, but there’s something about playing on that mousemat material that enhances the game, and the print quality is excellent.

There’s even more to explore after the base game though. The expansion Thirteenth Passenger adds some new characters, an endgame shuttle board, and the extra threat of getting the ship through an asteroid field. Dragon’s Domain adds extensive rules and components for a fully developed solo experience.

There’s a lot of icons in Lifeform, and the supplied reference sheets are rather large, so I think you’ll find this compact rules summary and reference particularly useful. Enjoy. And don’t, whatever you do, forget the cat.

Update Log



Date Version Changelog
Feb 2024 2.1 Added cat movement rule in 2 player game, fixed an action on the Lifeform action reference sheet, and generally cleaned up and reformatted everything
Oct 2020 2 Added Dragon’s Domain and 13th Passenger expansion rules
Feb 2020 1.1 Typos fixed: mining laser, lifeform move, flamethrower android action
Nov 2019 1 Original release

7 Comments

  • Mark T says:

    I suspect this rules summary & reference is going to make lots of Lifeformers very happy. This will become my go to version for checking rules etc, far fewer pages to flick through compared to the rulebook, (which I don’t have a problem with) so will speed up my plays. Many thanks for getting this out so swiftly, great work as always.

  • Duncan Jarrett says:

    Awesome!! Thanks soo much.

  • Jason says:

    Thanks for making this, it’s great! A couple typos I noticed.
    Shoot the Mining Laser has “shotter” instead of “shooter”
    Lifeform Move (up to 3) reads “Either 2, 3, or 3 lifeform images each make 1 move,” instead of “1, 2, or 3”

    Something that I think is just an omission . On the Flamethrower Android, the android like the lifeform can’t have the attack go through the security door, right?

  • Canje Studios says:

    This is fantastic! Will there be on for the solo expansions?

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.