1-5 Players
Designer: Michael Mulvihill
Artist: Victor Maristane
Publisher: Ravensburger
About the Game
In the third installment of the Horrified series we go to Ancient Greece to deal with Gods, face monsters from tales and meet legends. How much this changes from the formula of the game?
Gameplay
If you are not familiar with Horrified, basically you have 2-4 monsters to defeat, each with their unique mechanisms. On a players turn, they use their actions to collect items, move around, guide people to their safe places and do monster specific actions. Then a card is turned for the monsters which adds more items, some event happens, then some of the monsters activate and may attack the heroes. You win the game by defeating all monsters, or lose if the monster deck runs out or if the terror rises to 7.
If you are familiar and wondering what are the differences, there are mainly two. First, events and activations are not tied to a specific monster, but to symbols present on each one. Each symbol is present twice, and each monster have three. Second, monster specific locations are not static, instead there are 4 lairs in every game, and you have to fine the lairs to your monsters in one of 4 locations.
Solo Gameplay
As with previous entries, solo game is exactly the main game, except that the terror level starts at 3. But, unlike American Monsters, Greek Monsters feel well adjusted for solo play, even with the additional tasks such as the lairs and the legends needing to go farther.
Components
Ravensburger really nails the high quality low cost niche. The cards have good quality, the tokens are good, clear and thematic and work well. The exception is the Minotaur’s maze, there are some ambiguous spots. But nothing too bad.
A big improvement is the rulebook. I like bow even though the theme is different, they kept the same main concepts. But the monsters are clearer in their specific rules, and there is little ambiguity.
Conclusion
First, let’s discuss the whole Horrified system. All three games are, mostly, the same mechanically, and even somewhat redundant. Is this better than adding expansions for the base game? I’m not sure. Horrified is a great gateway game for co-ops, and adding expansions would increase complexity. This way you have variety, and they can keep exploring entirely new themes and settings.
But how is Greek Monsters when compare to the rest of the series. Well, I have good and bad things to say.
On the good part, the change in the activations and events is excellent. Every monster feels more a part of the game, and cards never seem out of place. It’s a simple change, but one that works like a charm. Also, the monster complexity is closer to the original than American Monsters, and that is good. Every monster feel natural and intuitive.
However, I do feel like there was room for more, specially considering the theme. One big miss for me thematically is the Legends. One thing is having innocent villagers that you need to save and don’t have anything going for them. Another is having mythology heroes like Circe and Chiron, and they don’t do anything. They should.
I still feel like if you want just one Horrified game, just pick whatever theme seem more fun to you. But, comparing on the series, I feel like this one is just as good as the first. There is a bit more randomness and challenge this time around, but the game is balanced well for new players and veterans, big groups or solo.
Score: 8/10
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