Remnants takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Each player builds a compound and fights to survive raiders and mutant creatures. The game is played in five phases: Scavenge, Build, Fight, Heal, and Clean-up. In the Scavenge phase, you send survivors into the Badlands to roll dice in a real-time race for resources. In the Build phase, you take turns spending those resources to buy weapon, defense, and special development cards that enhance your compound. When threats attack, you roll dice and use abilities from cards you purchased to survive. You'll fight a Level 1 threat, followed by a Level 2 threat, then finally face down the Raider Boss.

After the final attack, the game ends and the player with the most victory points wins. Victory points can be scored from development cards, survivors, specialists, defeated threats, and special bonus tokens.