Courageous is a co-operative card game, where you and your fellow players are an alliance of Heroes who must protect the Realm from Monsters that roam the lands.
Players battle one Monster at a time, taking turns attacking it until it is vanquished. Each Monster has eight openings which the Heroes use to make their Attacks. Attacks are made by spending Courage Tokens and playing a set of cards from their hands that defeat a revealed value on Monster Tokens.
Heroes have special abilities that aid them in the Battle, whether it is enhancing Attacks, sharing cards with other Heroes, keeping Courage up, or helping other Heroes with their actions.
Time runs out when all Monster Tokens have been used and the Heroes must Retreat, (only to fight this Monster again in the Nemesis round). The Heroes then move on to the next Monster. If they must Retreat a second time, the Heroes lose, the Realm is lost and the game ends.
When Heroes have vanquished the four Monsters, including the Nemesis Monster (if there was one), the Heroes are Victorious and have saved the Realm, and the game is won!