By: Justin Hopkins

So, I had a lot of fun talking about Vampire Masquerade: Rivals last month. So, much so that decided to do it again. This time with Prospero Hall’s Horrified. Pitting you or a group of players against some of Universal’s Classic Monsters in the form of Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy, Creature of the Black Lagoon, Invisible Man, Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein. Seeing them on the cover was more than enough to sell me on adding the game to my collection. With a bunch of play throughs done, lets jump in and discuss.

The Game

The goal is pretty simple. You sit down by yourself or with others, and decide first, which monster, or combination of monsters you want to terrorize the village this fine evening, and set the board accordingly. The Monster with the highest Frenzy Marker. Then you pick you character, each with various abilities to help you move, pick up items and some can teleport to certain spaces. Along with a perk card. Place 12 random item tokens across the map and the game begins. A player starts their moves picking up necessary items and try to complete tasks that will allow you to defeat the monsters you have chosen. You need to break 3 coffins for Dracula, deliver evidence of the Invisible Man, find a cure for Wolfman, solve a puzzle for The Mummy, get the boat to the lair for the creature, and teach the Frankenstein’s to be human. After a player has taken a turn, it’s the Monster turn in the form of drawing a Monster Card. Which will tell you what to do, which monsters are moved, and some will place villagers on the board. All needing to go to a different location. If a player can get them there, they are awarded a Perk Card. If a monster is to land on the spot. They roll a number of dice dictated on the monster card to see if they are attacked or not. The good guys win, by meeting the achievements and defeating the monsters. While the monsters win because the terror meter has filled, from successful attacks on the players, killing villagers and Frankenstein and the Bride encountering one another before they are humanized. The monsters also win, if you have taken to long and run out of Monster Cards to flip over.

Discussion

The game’s biggest positives is it’s replayability. Trying to defeat different combinations of monsters and adding more to the mix the more you play. Not even when you play with other people, but when you play by yourself. Trying to think about what you are going to do multiple steps ahead to deal with the number games. Had multiple games come down to the last monster card and have squeaked out the win and suffered brutal losses that get me to readjust and think about what I did wrong while setting up for another game.

It has a real sense of lulling you into a sense of safety and security. Believe your team has everything in the bag and going you way. Before you know it though, the terror meter is getting dangerously close to filling and running out of monster cards. Regretting not detouring to grab a villager or playing a perk card and the victory you thought was certain is now slipping from your grasp.

They put a lot of time and love into making everything that comes in the box. The board coming with places you’d find in the various monsters world. Each character feeling special and unique in the challenges they present to beat them. While the miniatures feel a bit fragile, especially The Mummy, they do look gorgeous and absolutely loved being able to paint them. Which, was a first and I have a long way to go to get good at.

I don’t have any real negatives, but I do have a want. Cause this game does have the potential to be more. They can really make some fun expansion packs for it, and kind of surprised that they haven’t. Seen some people’s suggestions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Headless Horseman Elvira and such. Would love to see an 80’s horror slashers. Would be so much fun having a game, where you have Frankenstein and his Bride, The Headless Horsemen, and Freddy Krueger on the board at the same time. I love the seven we get, but I feel like this can just be scratching the surface and could get more from it.

With all that said though. It is not a complex game that you can play and have a good times with friends or family or even alone. Which is something I love the most. Since even when I can’t get people to play. I can still bust this out and enjoy myself and adore the fact that they did use the classic monsters and rekindle my appreciation I have for them and would gladly suggest picking this up and adding it to your collection.

As always, I hope you enjoyed and….

Thank You For Reading!