Horrified: Classic Monsters Invade Family Game Night
It’s October, folks! The wonderful time of year when I start wearing sweaters and enjoying all of the spooky things I can get my hands on. The scary decorations are going up around the house at this very moment, and I couldn’t be more excited about the whole thing. It’s time to talk about Halloween!
October’s Game of the Month obviously needed to be something spooky, because all 31 days of October deserve to be one big Halloween celebration as far as I’m concerned. And if you’re looking for a family game that truly captures the joy of Halloween, it’s very hard to do better than Horrified.
Horrified is a cooperative board game that features the classic Universal monsters like The Invisible Man, Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and The Wolf Man. It was also published by the very capable hands of the famous German company Ravensburger - by far one of our favorite publishers for family games. And if for some reason you still need to know more about Horrified than that to know that it’s the spooky game for your family, by all means read on.
On the box you’ll see that the game is recommended for ages 10+, but, as is so often the case, you need to take into consideration how experienced your kids are with games. We play Horrified with our 7-year-old and he has zero issues navigating this game completely independently. Although it also undoubtedly helps that the game is played cooperatively against the monsters - so you also get to talk openly about your ideas and help each other as you play.
The first time I pulled out the components for the game, I was treated to an incredibly creative black and white warning that fans of the classic monster movies will appreciate very much. Then I had a slight moment of worry that it might end up being too complex for our son. There seemed to be an awful lot of pieces, but I quickly learned that a great portion of them aren’t even used for each game. Each game only sees you facing off against 2 or 3 monsters, and the extra pieces you don’t need just go back in the box. Gameplay actually turns out to be much simpler than you might imagine.
When setting it up for the family and reading the rules for the first time, I had the whole game figured out in no more than 10 minutes. We set the game up, and were facing off against the recommended first duo of Dracula and the Creature from the Black Lagoon in no time at all. And we successfully bested the monsters and saved the village in just over 30 minutes.
One of the coolest things about Horrified is that the game is going to change significantly each time you play. There are 6 different monsters to face off against (well technically 7, because Frankenstein’s Monster and his bride are a duo) and each monster has their own mechanics and win conditions. Before destroying the monsters, there are different tasks you have to complete depending on your enemy. For example, Dracula has coffins scattered around the board that have to be destroyed before he is.
There is also a lot of variability with the heroes you play with. At the beginning of the game you get 1 of 7 random heroes - each with their own special power and number of actions available. For instance, my son loves the Explorer - who can zip quickly around the board, but has very few actions each turn. It’s just another example of the very enjoyable variability present that keep the game very fresh.
You are also able to very easily customize the difficulty of the game - a must-have feature for family games as far as I’m concerned. Kids learn things very quickly, and the ability to ramp up (or lower) the difficultly as needed extends the life of games by a great deal. In Horrified, not only are you able to mix and match monsters for new combinations, but you can choose to face off against 3 monsters at once, or even 4 if you’re up for a terrifying challenge.
Horrified was an unexpectedly huge hit with our family. My wife, my son, and I all really love it. It’s one of the rare handful of games that will inevitably compete for the ultimate crown of most-played game in our house. And a lot of that can be attributed to the variability of the gameplay and the joy of fighting the monsters off together.
As I said, if you’re looking for a spooky theme to spice up your family game night this October, it quite literally doesn’t get any more “classic scary” than Horrified and its stable of Universal monsters. The only thing that could make the experience any better is finally introducing our son to all of the classic films it’s based on.
The monsters are so famous he’s certainly heard of them all, and even seen them in some Alvin and the Chipmunks specials. And that’s the cool thing about these monsters. They’re so famous that they have permeated pop culture in many innocent ways. And our son is pretty familiar with the bad guys without needing to see the original movies he’s probably not ready for. And it will also bring the game to life in a new way when he is.
Have you pulled out any spooky board games for October yet? Have you tried Horrified? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
