Cerebria is a dynamic, team‑based, objective‑driven area control game. Players play as Spirits — powerful entities representing Bliss or Gloom, the two opposing forces of the Inside World.

Players take turns performing Actions to manipulate Emotion cards within Cerebria. Points are scored in two ways:

Intentions are publicly known minor objectives. When a player accomplishes an Intention, their team scores it immediately.

Aspirations are major objectives. Unlike Intentions, the Aspirations will change dynamically during the course of the game. Each team has a Hidden Aspiration, and both teams compete to be the one who fulfills a Common Aspiration. Players can trigger scoring events called Revelations, which cause Aspirations to be revealed and evaluated. This allows the teams to build Cerebria’s Identity by stacking point‑scoring tiles called Fragments.

At the end of the game, the Fragments in the Identity are scored and added to the points scored for Intentions. The team with more points wins, having become the dominant force in Cerebria.