“Did You Die Though?”
NEWB REVIEWS
Hello, and welcome to NEWB REVIEWS! This is an article series with one singular goal: FUN! We will explore some popular things and some underground things then I will assess them based on their approachability, difficulty, time requirement, replay factor, and most importantly, the fun factor. All of this is in hopes to help you find something awesome that is worth your investment of money and time. I am not an expert on the topics discussed, oftentimes I am a newb. Whether you’re a newb like me, or just curious about our topic in this review, thank you for stopping by My Geekology!
Newb Review Grading System
10 Possible Points
2 Points Can Be Earned In Each Category
Higher Scores In Difficulty And Time Requirement Are Better and Indicate Flexibility
Why Ravensburger’s Horrified?
My wife and I remiss about the decline of couch co-op experiences in gaming. We will get excited about a game and discover we cannot play it together. We both love many of the worlds, narratives, and general adventures video games provide. However, those experiences are less and less common. Even for companies like Nintendo this can be an afterthought at times. For this reason, we find a lot of joy in a good board game.
One that caught our attention was Ravensburger’s Horrified. The cover of the box featured the Universal Studios’ monster lineup. A cast of characters very near and dear to my heart. As the spooky season is nearly upon us, it felt like a must buy! After confirming that two players could play it, we picked up the game and gave it a try!
How the Game Works
The game can be played with any number from one to five players. This, we thought, provided a lot of gaming flexibility depending on different peoples’ situations. Especially in a time when people might find themselves having to quarantine, the possibility of having a full board game experience as a single player is commendable!
The game is also co-operative, in the sense that all the players are working together towards a common goal to defeat the monsters! This was absolutely awesome. My wife and I see things differently and problem solve differently, so when we can work together we are pretty unstoppable!
Our first impressions were off the charts! The board has an incredible amount of detail. It features favorite location types you’d hope to see in a board game you might play around Halloween with your friends. Places like a museum, a lagoon, an institution, and a mansion, with many others.
Per the game manual, we randomly selected our characters; I received MAYOR, and my wife received the ADVENTURER. Each character has their own special moves. Each character has their own corresponding art card that is very beautifully rendered. The art throughout this game was just top notch!
The monsters of the game feature the iconic Universal Studios lineup. Our first game was against both Dracula and the Creature from the Black Lagoon! They also had their own figurines and art sheets. They also each must be defeated in their own, unique way! One thing this game deserves a ton of credit for is how much variance the game can take on upon replay.
You increase difficulty by adding more and more monsters that you must defeat, and perhaps choosing a character with a somewhat less overpowered special move. This can create unique themed combinations of villains and heroes! The game can be as hard or as casual as you feel like making it, which is a fantastic feature!
After assembling the pieces and following the directions to set up the board we went about learning the directions. This is the only place we really had to take off a point from Horrified. There was some contradictory language in the written instructions of possible move choices in a turn in the game manual and the move choice language in the reference cards each player is given before the start of a game.
Further explanation: The reference card omitted an important detail about movement. One of the possible moves in the game is GUIDE. This allows the player to move a VILLAGER. The reference card reads as if they can move independently, however, the game manual explained VILLAGERS must be moved with HEROES. This led to about 10 minutes of confusion. We had to dock off a point on approachability for this, unfortunately.
The Game Experience
After a few rounds of moves we really developed a rhythm. Overall, the learning phase only lasted about half of our first game. This was a big plus for us, because once we got our rhythm going the fun really began. One of the factors you have to take into account with your turns is the safety of VILLAGERS. These characters, when killed off by monsters, raise what the game refers to as the TERROR LEVEL.
The TERROR LEVEL also rises if one of your HEROES is defeated. Avoiding and when ready, defeating the monsters is vital. A part of protecting the villages is navigating them to their SAFE ZONE. This typically involves moving them across the map. This part of the game being important is why we had to tick off a point for the contradictory direction. However, us not thinking ahead lost us MALEVA and DR. CRANLEY (R.I.P.).
We ultimately were victorious! We each got attacked by the monsters several times (which led to the ongoing “did you die though?” joke). I also played a solo game and found it just as fun! I played against THE MUMMY and WOLFMAN! Again, they each had their own unique way in which the player had to defeat them.
Final Scores
So many laughs were had during our gameplay that we highly recommend Ravensburger’s Horrified! I also recommend that, once you understand turns, playing with a fun Halloween themed playlist! The final scores are below, and we hope to see you again soon in the next NEWB REVIEW right here at My Geekology!
Approachability (1/2)
Difficulty (2/2)
Time Requirement (2/2)
Replay Factor (2/2)
Fun Factor (2/2)
This is the most important
NEWB REVIEWS SCORE: 9/10
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