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The Plum Island Horror box art
2023 Ranked #3,186

The Plum Island Horror

The storm broke the island. The laboratory unleashed something worse. Rally the survivors, hold every road, and keep the Horror from reaching shore.

Horror Wargame Cooperative Game Solo / Solitaire Game

Players

1-4

Play time

45-180 min

Age

14+

Complexity

3.22/5

Rating

7.71

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.0/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 4.5/5

High replayability

Interaction 5.0/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 3.5/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

Player control 3.5/5

More strategic control

Setup time About 20 min
Teach time About 30 min
Table footprint Very Large
Campaign commitment No campaign
Recommended edition The Plum Island Horror – GMT Games English Third Printing (2025)
See all 18 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

Coordinate island factions, draw an unpredictable activation order, rescue civilians, and contain mutating Horrors before the outbreak reaches the mainland.

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

The Plum Island Horror is a cooperative tower-defense game with the scale and detail of a tactical wargame. Players control distinct civilian and security factions on an island devastated by a superstorm and biological catastrophe. Each round, cubes drawn from a bag determine whether a faction acts, the Horrors advance, or an event deepens the crisis. Teams must move units, search for supplies, rescue civilians, manage toxicity, and decide when a risky follow action is worth another chance to intervene. Faction strengths overlap without becoming interchangeable, so coordination is essential and solo play asks one player to command two groups. The enormous map, comic-book presentation, and steadily escalating outbreak produce a long, dramatic survival story in which victory means holding every loss condition at bay through the ninth round.

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Videos (1)

How to play

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Photos (4)

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Editions

Language and publisher variants currently recorded in the catalog.

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
The Plum Island Horror – GMT Games English Third Printing (2025) 2025 English GMT Games / US

Game and edition data

All specifications (18)

Play and group

Players
1–4
Play time
45–180 min
Age
14+
Complexity
3.2/5
App
None app

Practicalities

Setup time
About 20 min
Teach time
About 30 min
Teardown time
About 20 min
Table footprint
Very Large

Campaign and continuity

Campaign commitment
No campaign
Group continuity
Fixed Group Preferred
Resettable
Fully Resettable

Edition and product

Recommended edition
The Plum Island Horror – GMT Games English Third Printing (2025)
Language
English
Region
US
Availability
Current
Edition type
Standard
Current edition
Yes
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
Hermann Luttmann

Artists

1
Terry Leeds

Publishers

1
GMT Games

Linked items

No published linked games yet.