Scott’s Toy Box: Villains Take Center Stage
In most games, you play as a hero fighting villains. But there are a few games where you play as the villains. In this spooky month, I found a few where you take on the role of a villain.
Disney Villainous
Villains of your favorite Disney movies are here, each vying to be the first villain to succeed in their goal. The game comes with 6 villains: Ursula from The Little Mermaid, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, Jafar from Aladdin, Captain Hook from Peter Pan, Prince John from Robin Hood, and Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. Each villain has an objective, and each has his or her own realm board, villain deck, and fate deck. There is also a guide for each villain to help players understand the cards in both decks and instructions to win. Each realm board has four locations, each with four actions the villain can do. On each turn, you will move your villain to a new location, perform the actions that are available, and then draw enough of your villain cards to bring your hand up to four cards. One of the actions is the Fate action. It is played against other villains. It gives you the option to play one of two fate cards drawn from that villain’s fate deck and played on that villain’s realm to impede that villain’s progress. The fate deck has many heroes that cover up actions in each location which the villain will need to defeat with allies from their own villain deck. The villain completing the objective first wins. You can find Disney Villainous on Amazon for $35.
One Night Ultimate Super Villains
Back in September 2016, I wrote about a game called One Night Ultimate Werewolf; this is a new edition of the game. Players either take on the roles of heroes trying to catch the villains or the villains trying to escape. At the beginning of the game the role cards are passed out, one for each person playing and three in the center of the table. After looking at them the players place their card face down in front of them. The game has two phases: the night phase and the day phase. During the night phase, players close their eyes and the roles are called in a certain order. When a role is called the player opens his or her eyes and does an action depending on the role. These actions range from just looking to see who is on your team to switching players cards or looking at them. You can have a person who isn’t playing call out the roles but there is also a free downloadable app to do the job. Once the night phase is over, players try to figure out who is who. Although some players get information at night, it’s hard to know who to trust because the villains will say anything to avoid getting caught. There are even roles for characters who win if everyone votes for them, who aren’t heroes or villains. The game is pretty quick as players only have five minutes to discuss until they have to point at another player. The person who has the majority of fingers pointed at him or her reveals the role and the winner of the game is determined. You can mix in any roles from previous One Night games to really add variety to the game. One Night Ultimate Super Villains will be available for purchase in December on the website beziergames.com but you may be able to pre-order one now.
Lego DC Super Villains
When the heroes are away, the villains play in the newest Lego video game. Lego DC Super Villains puts you in the shoes of a villain in the DC Comics universe. You can make your own at the beginning of the game or choose from pre-set villains to be the main character. In the game your villain teams up with Legion of Doom as DC heroes have gone missing and replaced by counterparts from a parallel universe calling themselves the ‘Justice Syndicate’. This syndicate might look like the heroes of that world but there is something odd about them and it will take the villains to uncover their true intentions. The game offers couch co-op allowing parents and children to play together. It’s rated E10+ and will be available for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. It will be available in stores on October 16th for about $60.
