Horrified: Greek Monsters review — A new coat of paint

Horrified: Greek Monsters, from Ravensburger, is the third version of the popular cooperative Horrified game. This time, instead of Hollywood movie monsters, players will face off against creatures from Greek mythology. What makes this new edition different than the previous two? Let’s find out.

The gameplay in Greek Monsters is, by and large, identical to previous versions. The players choose a character, with each one sporting a powerful special ability, and a couple of monsters to face off against. The board and locations match the new theme but set up with items filling each location is again the same as before. 

The monsters have a range of difficulties and abilities to keep you on your toes. Boiled down though, you will have to pick up and deliver items to specific locations, roll dice, and bait monsters into traps to defeat them. You’ll do this while worrying about the Legends (civilians) getting gobbled up by the likes of Cerberus or Medusa before you can guide them across the board to their destinations. 

There are six monsters in total and you will choose three or four in each game depending on the difficulty you want. The players will work cooperatively to defeat the monsters before the Terror Level reaches 7. Terror is gained when either a player or a Legend is defeated by a monster. Cooperative games need to be challenging to remain interesting over multiple games and Horrified delivers. The monsters will constantly hound you and can be devastating when multiple get triggered at once. The players will need to strategize and work together to come out on top. Making the most of each turn and staying one step ahead of the monsters is essential. Like a lot of cooperative games, Horrified can be subject to quarterbacking. Meaning one player is bossing everyone around and telling them what to do. That is going to depend on your group though.

Besides the new theme, and player and monster powers providing some new mechanics, Greek Monsters is the same game as the other Horrified entries. For me, the Legends are a big miss. Ravensburger could have leaned into the Legends to introduce new mechanics to freshen up the game and tie in the theme better but they act just like the random civilians in Hollywood. Having Achilles or Hercules join you in your fight against the Minotaur would have been really cool but all you get to do is escort them across the board to draw a special perk card. I suppose you could abstract the perk cards to be a benefit or impact from the Legend contributing to the fight, but it’s disappointing to be honest. 

The production value is great. The board is beautiful and vibrant. The card artwork is fantastic and the monster minis have great details. All of the cardboard is good quality and the monster tokens especially are unique and well done. It looks great on the table, is fun to look at, and play with. The monsters included in the game have some noticeable absences. I would expect a hydra and a cyclops at the very least, but a basilisk (the chicken thing, not the snake) and a harpy take their place.

Overall, the Horrified system is still great. It’s a strong cooperative game at a good family weight that gets to the table easily. Despite my disappointment at the lack of innovation, it remains a great game. Choose whichever theme you like best though, they all play the same.

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