Horrifyingly Innovative

On Tie-in Games

Games like these were everywhere when I was younger and most of them were awful.

This may be a holdout from when I was a kid/teenager, but I tend to be very wary about anything that has some sort of vague movie/TV series/video game tie-in theming. Without attempting to date myself too much, many video games that were around when I was growing up were often thrown together to tie in with the release of some major franchise, be it movie or television series, that was being pumped out by Hollywood.

There were absolutely some total wins that came out during that era. I spent so many hours playing Return of the King on PS2, taking time to get each and every character to their max level so I could unlock secrets and enjoy the movies again from the perspective of a gamer. But for every Return of the King, you had a dozen more games like Rambo: The Video Game or Fight Club. Absolutely horrid games that were shoved out the door to capitalize on the movie of the same name in a cash grab that turned off many to any tie in video games. The crash of movie tie-in games the next decade showed how awful the business decision to make games like that turned out to be and nowadays we hardly see anything beyond a tie-in character offered as DLC for a game rather than a full game made for the movie.

Unfortunately, with the advent of board games, there have been quite a few games that have come out that have followed the same trend. Shovelware that has been pushed out by major companies to capitalize on the popularity of a franchise and will be purchased only because the name has been attached to it. One unfortunate example of this is the Oregon Trail Card Game that came out in 2016. While the original video game is beloved by most everyone who grew up in that era, the card game is significantly worse and does an absolutely horrid job of mimicking the source material it's based off of. Throw in multiple versions of Monopoly and even a random game like Jumanji (which for all intents and purposes could be such an awesome game done right), and you've got a market that's been flooded by mediocre to awful games that are often tied into other IPs. While there might be some fantastic applications of using an IP well (Disney Villainous: The Worst Takes it All is a really great example of this), I have found that those tend to be few and far between.

Horrifyingly Clever

The double image artwork is fantastic and is present all over the box.

When I initially found out about Horrified, I was skeptical about how good the game could actually be. I had a long history of games that I had played that were absolutely awful and had nothing to do with the source material they claimed to represent. I had been burned in the past and there was going to need to be some significantly stronger confirmation before I purchased the game for myself.

My first clue with how good the game was initially came from quite a few articles that had come out about the game itself. There were several major websites that I tended to peruse that gave the game glowing reviews (this was before I got sucked into the hole that is BGG) and highly recommended it. I was intrigued, but hadn't really been convinced enough to purchase a copy of the game for myself, and thus I threw it on my Amazon wishlist for some enterprising individual to (hopefully) purchase for me for a gift.

Several years went by and I was content with letting the game sit on my wishlist. I played games off and on with my wife, but there was never any time that I really felt the need to pick up Horrified and add it to my collection. A "sequel" (not entirely certain if calling the game a sequel is correct, but that's the term that I'll use) to the game was announced, Horrified: American Monsters, and while it reviewed well, the general consensus across the vast web was that the original game was better in theme and gameplay. I once again resolved to pick a copy of the game up for myself and redoubled my efforts of being content to sit on my wishlist.

Late in 2018, my wife and I were able to connect with a couple that had a love of board games as much as I did and was introduced to several games that I had never played before. This reignited my love of board games that had lain dormant for some time and I began slowly but surely adding a few games here and there to my collection. Unfortunately with the advent of COVID and the dumpster fire that was 2020, my collection stagnated and I added hardly any new games.

I was able to connect with a friend and developed a strong bond with my friend over board games and even went so far as to join BGG, something that I had held off on due to not wanting to plunge headlong into the black hole that is this website. I began to dive into more and more board game related items and eventually started looking into solo games more (previous post here about that journey). To my surprise, I found that Horrified was on that list of excellent solo games, so I began to increase my efforts to obtain a copy of the game.

As a side note, I love the old monster movies (and even some of the "remakes", especially the Brendan Frasier Mummy) and the campy spirit of them. There's just something so fantastic about seeing Dracula played by Bela Lugosi in that old-style black and white film style and seeing the villagers having to come up with a way to defeat the titular monster. Something just has been lost with that filmmaking style and while we've gotten a few recent movies in that style (Werewolf by Night was fantastic and totally captures the old style of filmmaking with a modern twist), there's nothing that has truly recaptured the feel of the old monster movies.

It was late last year that I was able to find a used copy of Horrified at a local used bookstore. I immediately hopped on BGG to see what the current rating was for the game since I was getting very picky about the games I chose to add to my collection. To my absolute surprise, I found that the game had a solid 7.7 rating on BGG (which I tend to weight about a point or two higher since the highest rating here is an 8.47 for Brass: Birmingham) and was even listed in the top 200, ranking at 190 over both Welcome to the Moon and Castles of Mad King Ludwig which I knew for certain were excellent games.

I snatched the game immediately and brought my prize home, but not before first showing the game to my father-in-law, who expressed interest at learning how to play the game. A review of all the pieces showed that there was one card missing from the monster deck, but getting games used always comes with a possibility of that. I resolved to reach out to Ravensburger to see if I could get a replacement card, but before I did, I found that the card was just sticky and had accidentally stuck to another card. I had a full complete version of Horrified that was ready for me to learn and play both solo and with others!

Trope-ing Along

The board is really pretty and does an excellent job of keeping things compact, while also adding in some length.

After an initial read through of the rules and seeing how solo mode differed from the multiplayer variant, I found that the rules themselves were not difficult at all and there was even suggestions on which monsters to play against during the player's first game as well as ways to introduce new monsters and increase the difficulty of the game. I was highly impressed as the game itself seemed to have quite a bit of thought and care put into it, despite being based on an already established IP.

As I began diving into the various components of the game, I found that each of the characters, miniatures, and even the items had been designed with the movies in mind. Items were divided into three separate categories: red - physical, blue - intellectual, and yellow - spiritual. Items like the torch from Frankenstein, or a gun from The Invisible Man are part of the red category. Blue items include rotenone from the Thing from the Black Lagoon, research from Frankenstein, or a magnifying glass from The Invisible Man and the yellow category included items such as garlic from Dracula, a cross from the same movie, or a charm from The Mummy. Each item is thematic and comes directly from the movies that inspired the game. Even the villagers were pulled directly from the movies, including Renfield (Dracula), Fritz (Frankenstein), and Maleva (The Wolfman).

It was apparent that there was much more than a thin veneer of using the movies as a theme for the movie the more I dug into the pieces of the game and that excited me all the more. I even found that each of the monster boards were thematically appropriate, requiring the players to defeat each monster in a thematic way that matched how they were defeated in the movie. Players had to smash Dracula's coffins before defeating him, find the lair of the Creature, and put together evidence about the Invisible Man's crimes to name a few. Each different monster had a specific set of requirements to defeat and all were different.

Monster boards are well designed, large and have reminders of how to defeat them directly on the boards.

The cards themselves were also references to the events in the movies such as the appearance of certain side characters, the monster performing an action, or even giving the players an item or object that would cause them to move towards the active monster or vice versa. It was all extremely well put together and the theming was very well done to the point where it absolutely was apparent that the game was a labor of love.

After looking through all the components and getting an idea of how the game was played, I launched into the first game of Horrified and won fairly easily. My initial thoughts on the game were that it was a tad too easy, but I held off on judging the game too harshly as the rules had specified that the initial game versus Dracula and The Thing from the Black Lagoon were designed to introduce players to the game. I was also a little worried that the rules were a bit too easy, but I again held off on judging the game too harshly.

I wanted to play the game more, so I even threw it on my 10x10 Challenge List to play through the year (or at least the first half of the year seeming as I'm powering through that challenge). Eight games into the challenge and nine total plays both solo and with others, I'm finding that Horrified is just the right amount of strategy and balance for a night where I'm needing a lighter game. I've lost only two games so far, but there still is some challenge when playing the game, despite being a (in my opinion) fairly decent board game player.

So far I've only played with two monsters active for most of the games, having lost with one extra turn needed with three monsters in a two-player game, and I've got the feeling that I've barely scratched the surface for how deep this game can get. It has turned out to be an excellent addition to my collection and I can solidly rate the game as an 8-8.5 depending on how I'm feeling at the time. I can highly recommend the game for anyone who is a fan of the older movies and for those looking for a lighter cooperative game to play with friends and family that can have the difficulty increased as needed. It was an excellent find and I find myself looking forward to the next play after I finish each game.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Horrified does an excellent job of really taking the theming of the old monster movies and making it work very well on the table. I've not had an opportunity to pick up either Horrified: American Monsters or Horrified: Greek Monsters, but from what the consensus about the games has noted, I think that I've gotten the best version of the game with the original game. I'm thrilled that the game itself is very well thought out and has a great level of depth to it that will probably lead me to bringing it to the table anytime I'm wanting a good cooperative experience.

Add in the multiple fanmade monsters that can be found here on BGG (I even found a fanmade campaign!) and there's so much to keep me coming back to the game for more and more. I have a hard time saying that the game isn't worth adding to the collection since there's so much in it that can be utilized and if I had one complaint about the game, I would note that the components that are included in the game, while decent, do lead a bit to be desired with how they feel. I might upgrade some of the monster miniatures and get some minis for the players as well, since the cardboard cutouts seem to be a bit flimsy.

Give your thoughts: What are some other games that have come out recently that do an excellent job with their source material and represent the franchise well? What games (board or video game) have you come across that have been absolute trash, and were only made because it coincided with the source material's release? What franchise would you like to see come out with a game that is based on it if it could potentially be done well?

Thanks for reading this blog everyone and keep on playing those board games! Remember, you matter and your contribution here is absolutely worth it, no matter how small.

*Originally posted on BoardGameGeek on 8/3/2024*