Verdict
Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons is a step-up in complexity from the original board game, offering new challenges in the form of thematic and interesting monsters. Despite the wonderful theme and solid core gameplay, Horrified: D&D still suffers for its simplicity. The lack of complexity, inefficient design, and heavy reliance on luck add up to an hour-long game that drags on just a little too long.
- Unique monsters and classes
- Lovely components
- Strong, simple core gameplay
- Pacing that drags
- Heavy reliance on luck
- Inefficient map design
Dungeons & Dragons is a treasure trove of iconic creatures, so it makes perfect sense for monster mash board game Horrified to dream up a crossover. Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons is the brainchild of that collaboration. It’s a thematic co-op game that’s light on strategy and goes hard on unique, memorable monsters.
Publisher Ravensburger was kind enough to provide a Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons review copy, so I’ve had enough adventures with this game to fill a whole D&D campaign. Here are the heroic highs and dramatic lows explained in full.
What is Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons?
Horrified: Dungeons and Dragons is a low-complexity co-op board game where players work together to defeat iconic monsters from the tabletop RPG. Said monsters are terrorizing (or perhaps horrorizing?) the famous city of Waterdeep, and only your adventurers can rescue its citizens before time runs out.
You’ll often face multiple DnD monsters in a game of Horrified, with the number you go against deciding the difficulty level. Each creature has a specific way it must be weakened before you can land the killing blow, and this typically involves gathering and spending the game’s key resource, items. Items can be found all over Waterdeep, and more are drawn and placed between turns, so the landscape changes constantly.
Each player has four actions to spend on their turn. This can be used to move, usher innocent bystanders to safety, weaken or attack a monster, pick up items, or use a ‘special action’. Everyone has a player board based on one of the DnD classes, and this features several special actions you can perform. You only have so much control over which you can use, though, you must roll a D20 to determine the result of your special action.
Once a player’s turn is over, you must draw from the Monster Deck. This decides which monsters move, how many new items appear, and what special events take place. Play can be further influenced by Perk cards, which players can gather by helping citizens to desired locations.
Horrified is a race against the Monster Deck, which ends the game if all its cards are played. It’s also a battle against the Terror level, which goes up any time a citizen is killed or a hero is temporarily defeated by a monster. If the panic in Waterdeep climbs too high, the game ends in defeat. Only careful inventory management and movement – along with a bit of puzzle solving – can win you the day.
Who is Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons for?
This game is a safe bet for fans of the original Horrified who are looking for a new challenge. The core gameplay loop feels very familiar, but the monsters are so distinct that they bring something fresh to the series. Plus, while still not immensely difficult, Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons is a significant step up in complexity from the base game.
The game is still suited for players aged 10 and up, and it has great potential as a family board game. Adults who enjoy an ultra-crunchy strategy board game won’t find much to get excited about, but those who seek a more casual gaming experience will get plenty out of playing.
This version of Horrified may be a Dungeons and Dragons board game, but that doesn’t mean it’s a must-buy for TTRPG fans. The link to D&D is mostly surface-level. There’s no roleplaying elements, and the combat in no way resembles fifth edition.
On the other hand, if you just enjoy the flavor of moving tiny Beholders and Dragons around a board, then Horrified will serve you perfectly well. Plus, this is a board game stuffed with standees and minis of characters and monsters that could be repurposed for a DnD campaign. Heck, some of these even depict famous figures from official adventures.
What’s good about Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons?
Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons is a breeze to learn, teach, and play. Its gameplay is simple yet satisfying, with some light puzzles and strategic choices to keep players on their toes.
Each class offers slightly different abilities that create intriguing ways to plan your assault on the monsters of Waterdeep. Some are better at collecting and sharing items, while others excel at attack and defense. A well-timed special action can send you half-way across the map or force monsters to skip their turn entirely.
The real star of the show is the monsters. Each poses a unique and interesting threat, and they offer variety in spades. Each also does the game’s theme justice, with play styles that mimic (pun intended) the typical behavior of the creature.
The Beholder can strike with its many eye rays, each powerful but distinct. If you want to fell it, you’ll need to disable these first. Meanwhile, the Mimic hides from sight until you’ve gathered enough items to flush it out of its hidden location.
The Displacer Beast can disappear to a new location on the map, striking when you least expect it. If you want it gone, you’ll need to cover various parts of its monster board with items of the correct strength. Lastly, at the top of the complexity scale, the dragon can only be defeated by obtaining the Orb of Dragonkind from behind a sliding tile puzzle. After that, you must lure the drake to its lair to weaken it with the artifact.
What’s bad about Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons?
Despite its strengths, Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons often outstays its welcome. Its simplicity means that the game feels easily solvable, even at the highest difficulties. This can mean that repeated playthroughs begin to drag. Plus, when games can last around an hour, it’s all too easy for your attention to wander away from Waterdeep.
There’s also another Beholder in the room we need to address: wasted space. The map feels larger and less claustrophobic than in the Horrified base game, but that comes with many downsides.
It’s far too easy for players to camp out and avoid danger, even when certain monster cards allow them to teleport across the map. There are also too many dead-end locations that often get ignored, meaning randomly-drawn items accumulate there until someone takes the inconvenient journey to bring them back into play.
Speaking of ignoring, there were many instances where my fellow players completely forgot about their special class abilities. The risk that rolling for the result poses is off-putting, and the game is easily playable without them, so they regularly fell out of use. In an attempt to make Horrified feel more like D&D, this standalone has weakened itself.
Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons also relies heavily on luck. The Monster Deck, attack dice, and the D20 all take control out of the hands of the player. This, when combined with the fact that up to five of you are collaborating on decision-making, can turn Horrified into a very passive experience, closer to a roll-and-move than a strategy board game.
Roll-and-moves, of course, can be great fun. People are still playing Monopoly after many decades, despite the reputation it has among tabletop fans. There is still a place in our hobby for games that are full of theme but lacking in strategy. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that place is in my collection.
I harbor an intense love for D&D and thematic board games. However, when it comes to Horrified, I’d prefer to remain casual friends – the kind that see each other once in a while, but not often enough for the relationship to grow stale.
For tabletop recommendations, check out our guides to the best board games and couples’ board games. Or, if you’d like to chat more about the Horrified games, join us in the Wargamer Discord.