An up-and-coming designer that has put out some really unique games is Jeffrey CCH from Ice Makes. The first game of his I’ve tried is Eila and Something Shiny. It was a wonderful solo game that’s a lot deeper (and darker) than the artwork suggests. Definitely worth giving it a shot if you like solo games. Then came Inheritors, a tableau-building card game that’s got some fun twists.
But the most impressive-looking game of his has to be Terroscape. It’s a 1 vs many horror-themed game that will have one player controlling a killer trying to take out one of the other players.
Gameplay Overview:
Once you get past its rather intimidating setup, Terrorscape plays pretty smoothly. The goal of the game is for the killer player to murder one of the other players. The other players team up to try and escape the mansion before one of them dies.
There is a giant wall/house in between the two sides, so this is a hidden movement game. The basic round structure starts with the survivors (always 3) each taking one action. These include moving around the mansion, searching for keys, repairing the radio, or using a special action. At the end of the survivors phase, one of them will draw from the discovery deck, and find either keys or useful items.
The trick is that some actions make noise, and it’s at this point the survivor players must let the killer players know in which rooms the noise was made.
The Killer turn begins with allowing them to play any fast skill cards. These let the killer move around the mansion faster or use other special abilities. Afterward, the killer can either use a skill card, or perform two standard actions: Move a room, or search the room for survivors. If the killer finds any survivors, a battle begins. The found survivors must roll four dice (minus any fear tokens) and try and get a number higher than the killer’s current strength. If not, they take a wound and the killer’s turn immediately ends. If any survivor takes a second wound, they die and the killer player wins.
If a killer player doesn’t injure a survivor, they can end their turn by playing a slow skill card, and then drawing 3 cards back into their hand. If the killer ever runs out of cards in their deck, they reshuffle the discard and level up their character.
The killer wins by killing a survivor. The survivors win in one of a few ways:
- Find 5 keys and get everyone to the main exit.
- Find 5 keys and get everyone to the secret exit (if they’ve found the secret map)
- Repair the radio (5 pieces) and use it to call in the police. They arrive after 5 rounds and kick in the door Law and Order style (I assume).
Game Experience:
With our gaming group, we rarely play 1 vs many games. Most of us would rather either play a coop game or just a straight-up vs game for when there are only 2 of us. However, Terrorscape caught our eye for a few reasons. The theme is pretty great, the designer’s track record, and it plays in around 30 minutes. Plus, I heard that both sides are equally fun to play. Many times, hidden movement games have one side having most of the fun while the other is doing mainly bookkeeping or other mundane actions.
And for the most part, all those rumors were spot on. Terrorscape is a big, imposing game with a massive wall that sits between the players. But in practice, its ruleset is very easy to learn, and turns are lightning quick. The survivors are only taking one action each, so be it moving or searching, they do their actions and then it’s on to the killer. The killer turn is a bit more complex, because they have a hand of cards to manage that can be played at specific times. Plus, they must hunt for the survivors using only noise tokens as clues.
I’m actually torn as to which role I like better. The killer is fun because you are the menace of the game. Your movements aren’t hidden (unless you are playing the stealthy Murderer), so you can easily traipse through the mansion on the hunt, terrorizing the players, and cackling with glee when you find them. The survivors need to be a lot more subtle and even play some mind games. Such as tossing a bottle in the room with the radio to make the killer think you are trying to fix it. And while he stomps over there, you are actually on the other side of the mansion searching for keys.
So, I’ve mentioned that big wall that goes between players and I must say, it does work really well. I have an unnatural aversion to board games with a screen. Mostly because they often get in the way, get knocked over, or are just too small to be useful. The wall in Terrorscape doesn’t have those issues. There is no way to accidentally see your opponent’s side of the board. And you aren’t going to knock this thing over on accident. However, it does take a bit of time to set up, so I wish there was a way to keep it mostly assembled.
All in all, Terrorscape is a really fun game that uses its them excellently. However, it does have a few misfires. First, the rulebook could be much better. I had a hard time figuring out just how much information the survivors needed to provide the killer. Eventually, I found out that it was just the rooms they made noise in at the end of their turn. But we weren’t sure if we had to say who was making the noise, when it was made, or what things had to be told. That bit could have been a lot clearer.
But that’s probably the most glaring issue with the game. The other thing is that there are only 3 killers in the core box. The variety of the killers helps to keep things fresh and interesting. They range from the straightforward Butcher who just moves around with his chainsaw causing havoc to the stealthy Murderer, who can disappear and reappear next turn somewhere else to the Spectre who thrives on causing fear. Playing a different killer definitely makes things feel interesting from game to game. There are a bunch of other killers, but you need to dive into the expansions to grab those. Without picking up at least one of the expansions, if feel like Terrorscape is going to get stale rather quickly.
Final Thoughts:
Terrorscape is a really good game, that uses its them extremely well. It’s probably my favorite hidden movement game, both from the unique way each side plays and also how quickly it plays. Although if this one interests you, you are definitely going to want to get at least one expansion just to up the variety of characters. But if you are a fan of hidden movement or the horror genre, this one should be on your list to check out. Designer Jeffrey CCH keeps cranking out the hits and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
Final Score: 4 Stars – A great horror-themed game that plays quickly and uses its theme really well.
Hits:
• Good production values
• Highly thematic
• Plays quickly with fast turns
Misses:
• Rulebook could be better
• Only 3 killers in the core box
• No way to store the wall assembled
