The object of the game is to collect six different coloured "Keystones", face player's worst fear and thus beat the "Gatekeeper".

The game board is made up of a central hub and six two-sided interchangeable "Provinces" which fit together, creating a hexagon.

[7] If a player fails to make it to a headstone within ten minutes, they become Soul Rangers for the rest of the game.

[17] The six Harbingers in the game are: Gevaudan the werewolf; Hellin the poltergeist; Khufu the mummy; Baron Samedi the zombie; Anne de Chantraine the witch, and Elizabeth Bathory the vampire.

[18] Soul Rangers, players who have failed to become Harbingers, are described as miserable, skeletal scavengers, the scourge of The Other Side.

[24] The game board is made up of the Central Hub and six two-sided Provinces which fit together creating a hexagon.

Located along the paths are the six Keystones for that colour Province, and three different game symbols: the black holes, the lightning bolts and the compasses.

The game includes six boomerang-shaped slabs which allow players to store their character card, Numb Skull and collected Keystones.

[15] To move around the game board, players use their own character's playing pieces:[30] a vampire bat for Elizabeth Bathory, a cobra for Khufu, a top hat for Baron Samedi, an "H" building block for Hellin, a fang for Gevaudan, a cauldron for Anne de Chantraine and a Numb Skull for Soul Rangers.

[30] The videotape begins with The Gatekeeper – played by Wenanty Nosul[31] – starting the game with "On your marks...Get ready...Get set...Go!".

[17][30] During the sixty minutes the Gatekeeper will appear on screen, to give players instructions or a choice between receiving a prize or imposing a penalty on an opponent.

[39] During the rules presentation a game is played by actors who are dressed as three Harbingers – Baron Samedi,[40] Anne de Chantraine[41] and Elizabeth Bathory[42] – and three Soul Rangers.

There would be a later version of the video where the rules would actually be presented at the start of the tape, rather than at the end, with the instruction that the Chosen One should rewind the video said by the narrator being completely removed and replaced by a countdown till the time the actual game begins.

With the feedback received from players after the release of Nightmare, Brett Clements and Phillip Tanner started work on the major update to the series.

[43] They struck a deal with J. W. Spear & Sons,[44] to use publishing experience and market research with Nightmare to help create the new game.

The add-on was released because the creators found out that players enjoy causing damage as The Soul Rangers.