Ravensburger Horrified: Universal Monsters Strategy Board Game | Age 10 & Up | Co-Operative Gameplay | Unique Monster Challenges | Perfect for Family Game Night

OVERVIEW: Horrified is a 1-5 player cooperative family board game, created in 2019, that takes an hour or two to play. Players assume the roles of heroes attempting to rescue a village from famous Universal Studios monsters, reminiscent of their classic movies. Achieving success requires dedicated communication and cooperation to manage character actions efficiently and effectively toward common goals. The game mechanics are very easy to understand and the cooperative nature of the game allows for the rules to be taught as you play. Both the player and monster turns are quick to resolve, improving the overall pacing of each game. Difficulty can be adjusted by including more monsters in the game and character special abilities offer variety, lending to the replayability factor. The theme is globally relatable to all ages, and the mechanics are easy to understand. Horrified is a cooperative gateway game with enough depth to satisfy a middle weight game enthusiast.COMPONENTS: The game board is bright and well marked, while the cards and dice are good quality as well. The player badges, tokens, and standees are thick cardboard, but the monster mats are much thinner and flimsy. The plastic miniatures are durable, with slightly less detail than on a common RPG miniature. I upgraded my personal copy of Horrified with Funko Universal Monster Minis (photos included) which improved the table presence dramatically. The miniatures included are serviceable, but shorter and less dramatic in comparison.SCALABILITY: Although the game allows for five players, any more than three can complicate strategies quickly. The turn pacing is relatively fast, but monsters act after every player. This can thrust a player into danger multiple times before having the ability to react. Solo play or two players is ideal, but three players can succeed with communication and dedication towards common goals. Difficulty is scaled by the number of monsters included in each game, adding to the complexity of completing each monster's mini game algorithm.SPECIAL ABILITY MECHANICS: Every character is differentiated by abilities unique to that character. These involve taking actions, moving heroes, moving villagers, and manipulating items. These abilities can be combined to have a dynamic impact on the success or failure of game objectives. Special abilities are a key part of Horrified's game variability and replayability.MONSTER MECHANIC: The monsters win if they reach the end of the Terror Track by killing Villagers and putting heroes in the hospital, or by running out of cards in the Monster Deck. The Monster Deck involves cards which indicate items and villagers to place on the board, events, and monster actions. Mosters are activated by icons that show how far they move and how many attack dice they roll. Attack dice either hit with the monster's unique attack, activate the monster's unique power, or miss. It all fits on one card and makes for a quick Monster Phase, but you only have so many cards in the deck. One monster is always designated with the Frezy Token, which can change according to the Monster Card in play. The Frenzy monster receives additional actions indicated by the current Monster Card.ITEM MECHANIC: Red, blue, and yellow items fuel the algorithm of the game. They include pitchforks, garlic, and other thematic references, but the item color and item strength are what is important to the mechanics of each situation. These are blind drawn from a drawstring bag, according to the Monster Card in play. These items can be discarded to prevent monster attacks and used to defeat the monsters. Monster attacks that succeed in killing a villager or injuring a hero advance the Terror Track.VILLAGER MECHANIC: Monster cards will occasionally place Villagers, who come out into the monster infested streets heading for a specific destination. If the monsters start killing these people you will lose. Heros can escort the villagers to safety, but it can mean going out of your way to protect them. For their effort, every hero that guides a villager to their destination successfully receives a Perk Card. Perk cards offer special bonus actions that do not require action points from that character. These Perk Cards can be played during any player's turn, but not during the monster phase.MONSTER MATS: The monsters are each driven by special rules on specific monster mats which include how they attack, their special attack, a mini game in which you advance upon the monster, and how to ultimately defeat them. The upper portion covers their Frenzy level, unique attack and special ability. The lower half includes their unique mini game that must be completed before the monster is confronted, and the conditions to finally defeat them. Players must navigate through the Black Lagoon to face the Creature in it's lair. They must destroy four coffins to corner Dracula. Players must discover the cure then administer it to the Wolfman. They must prove the existence of the Invisible Man to the police before he can be apprehended. They must solve the Mummy's sliding puzzle before he can be put to rest, and players must teach Frankenstein and the Bride about their humanity before they can fall in love and live in peace.PROS: This is a very inexpensive gateway cooperative game that is easy to learn, doesn't take much time to set up, relatable to all ages, and is well worth the cost. It is ideal for solo play and comfortable with three players. Horrified provides an hour plus of classic movie entertainment without overstaying it's welcome, yet has the versatility to offer replayability and difficulty modifications. It is the type of game that you can ask someone to help you defeat the monsters instead of challenging an opponent to a duel. It is quick to set up, easy to teach, and incredibly accessible to a wide range of players.CONS: There is very little negative I have to say about this game. The price is hard to beat considering the content and value. I think the miniatures included could be more impressive, but I personally compensated for that with Funko Universal Monster Minis. Some have argued that Horrified has a diminishing return after eliminating monsters becoming progressively easier towards the end of a game. However, the Frenzy mechanic and the diminishing Monster Deck effectively maintain pressure until the last turn in my experience. Four and five player games can be unforgiving as monsters have four or five opportunities to act between a player's turns. The mechanics can be somewhat simplistic for some seasoned gamers, but still enjoyable on some level.CONCLUSION: Horrified is an invitation for non-gamers to join the hobby. It has a relatable theme, is easy to learn, easy to set up, and not competitive. You win or lose together as a team. Horrified is a balanced puzzle similar to Pandemic but reduced in scale and game pieces. With six monster options available (The Bride and Frankenstein work together) and seven character choices, it offers a fair amount of variety and replayability. A second stand alone version called Horrified: American Monsters was released, but it is not designed to combine with this version in any way. I understand that the two games are incredibly similar with different mini games for the monsters, so owning both is only practical for die hard fans. Obviously fewer people are familiar with the Chupacabra than the Wolf-man. The original version is the game you can convince your grandparents and your mom to play. Everybody relates to these monsters and quickly become invested in the theme. Aside from upgrading my monsters with the Funko Universal Monsters Minis, I also obtained the Funko Hero World Scooby-Doo Target exclusive miniatures to replace the player standees. I find that the miniatures increase both player relatability to the characters and the tactile experience overall. The original Horrified is an easy recommendation for any novice or light to medium weight cooperative or solo strategy game enthusiast.NOTE: The photos include Funko Universal Monster Minis and Funko Hero World Scooby-Doo Minis that I upgraded my personal copy of Horrified with and are not included with the original game.

Got this as a birthday gift for 11 year old nephew. It was close to Halloween so the theme and timing were in sync. Played it with my brother and other nephew aged 6. My brother is pretty good at picking up game rules quickly so he helped teach us all how to play and we had fun! The game is complex but the rules were easy enough to grasp so the kids caught on quickly and even I did too. There are a lot of variables and you can pick different combinations of monsters as opponents. Each monster requires different methods and strategies to defeat them and you can raise difficulty by playing against more monsters as you get better at the game and seek more of a challenge. It was fun working together as a team and even though we started in the “easy” mode, it was not a slam dunk… it was definitely a challenge. Seemed to be a hit with my brother’s family and I think they will play it a lot.

The title says it all - this just might be the perfect game. Why? Well...•It's similar to Pandemic, but better in my opinion - in both theme and in concept of gameplay.•There is a lot going on at all times during the game, but the instructions keep all information readily accessible, concise, and easy to understand and implement - but I will say someone who seldom plays games may take longer to grasp the concept. I was impressed at how the rulebook proactively addressed questions they assumed players might have regarding clarification around the rules. They really left no stone unturned, in my opinion.•It keeps you on your toes. Sticking to your strategies is key, but some level of adaptability definitely needs to come into play as unexpected events (for better or worse) are always around the corner.•You can control the difficulty level of your game, and adding/removing one monster truly makes a difference! It can be set up to be relaxingly easy, or punishingly difficult - and everything in between.•The abilities/special moves among the heroes (playable characters) and the monsters are creative and all have their own positive and adverse effects. Depending on the Monsters you're playing against, the heroes you choose to play as can make or break you!•There is SO much variety... Some monsters aren't difficult but are incredibly annoying to defeat (Frankenstein & Bride), some have complex objectives (Mummy) while some are straightforward (Dracula), some monsters follow you and hunt you down (Wolfman) whereas others are less predictable (Creature from Black Lagoon), some succumb to brute strength while others require very specific items to defeat instead (Invisible Man)... Etc. The same goes for the special abilities of the players. You can have dozens upon dozens of scenarios so replayability is high.•This is a cooperative game if I've ever seen one. There are no secrets between the players, discussion about all things to consider (current items in possession and yet to be picked up, keeping an eye on the villagers, the Monster objectives, etc.) Is highly encouraged, and necessary to succeed. Groupthink atmosphere runs strong in this game.•In addition to it all, it looks great! The theme of the board, the cards, the player/non-playable-character tokens, is very appealing and only adds to the experience.My friends and I can't quit playing. This game is a MUST - even if you're not a horror fan. I'd give six stars if I could!