horrified board game review

Okay, so I finally got around to playing Horrified, this board game I’d heard so much about. Everyone says it’s a great cooperative game, and, you know, I’m always looking for something new to play with the family.

First thing I did was punch out all the cardboard pieces. There are a LOT. Monster standees, little item tokens, hero movers… it took a while. I was a little worried about bending some of the thinner pieces, but I managed. Pro tip: use a flat surface and go slow!

Then, I tried to make sense of the rulebook. Honestly, it was a little overwhelming at first. There’s a lot going on, with different monster abilities, hero powers, and how to move around the board. I read through it once, then again, and finally, I felt like I had a basic grasp of it.

I decided to play a two-player game with my wife. We picked our heroes – I was the Explorer, she was the Archaeologist – each comes with a slightly different special ability. Then we chose two monsters to fight: Dracula and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Seemed like a good starting combo.

• The goal of the game is that the players should defeat the classic Universal monsters.
• Each monster has a completely different way to be defeated.

We started moving around the village, collecting items, helping villagers, and trying to avoid the monsters. Man, those monsters are tough! Dracula kept draining our health, and the Creature was super fast, always popping up when we least expected him. We used up our starting items pretty quick just staying alive.

The battle finally began

It took us a couple of rounds to figure out the best strategy. We realized we needed to work together, sharing items and using our hero powers to help each other out. Like, I could use my Explorer ability to move extra spaces, grabbing items for my wife, while she used her Archaeologist power to get bonus actions when she was in the lab.

We finally cornered Dracula in the crypt. It took a few tries, but we managed to stake him (that’s how you defeat him in the game). Felt pretty good! Then we went after the Creature. That one was trickier, we had to lure him to a specific location and then use a bunch of items to trap him. We almost lost a couple of times, but in the end, we pulled it off!

We won! It took us about an hour and a half, but we actually managed to beat the game. It was definitely challenging, but also a lot of fun. I can see why people like it. It’s really satisfying to work together and finally take down those classic monsters.

I’m definitely gonna play it again. Maybe next time we’ll try three monsters… or even four! Might need to bring in some reinforcements for that, though. I’m thinking pizza and game night with the neighbors are in order.