Finally the Dead of Winter iOS app came out on the App Store. Last night to be precise about it.

For 79p of the realm or 99c of that funny money Americans use, you can buy this companion app for the hidden traitor, survival horror game Dead of Winter.

The companion app can be used instead of the crossroads deck of cards in the game. Crossroad cards are events that get triggered if the current player fulfills the cards criteria. However the current player doesn't know what those criteria are, only the player on the right of the current player who drew the card knows them. So the event may or may not get triggered.

The nice thing about the app is that it only presents the information as and when it's needed, which naturally the cards can't do. The place this is a great benefit is when it comes to deciding between the two options available. Players have to make a decision without knowing what the ramifications are. Which is cool, it makes the decision more authentic.

The other great thing about the app is that Eric Summerer from The Dice Tower reads all the flavour text. Eric has this incredibly rich voice that is made for radio and audiobooks, and is a delight to listen to. So your gaming group can be spared the poor attempts at amateur dramatics as the player reads out the flavour text of the crossroads card, trying to should like a Shakespearean actor.

For me this is how apps should be used with board games. If you remember I didn't like the fact that part of the X-Com game relied completely on having the app, no app, no game basically. Where as no Dead of Winter companion app, you can still play the game using the crossroads cards in the game. Having the app will just add to the experience of playing.

So a pretty cool addition for playing Dead of Winter, a must get really I would say.

Oh and for those misguided enough to own an Android device the app for your platform came out last weekend on Halloween.

Posted by me using my iPad and the Blogsy app