Publisher: Funko Games
Player Count: 2-5  Players
Game Length: 45-60 Minutes
Complexity 2/5

Back in 1974, 4 friends set out on a road trip across rural Texas. Along the way they stumble on what appears to be an abandoned house only to discover unspeakable horrors lie within. What started as an innocent road trip turns into a battle for survival. In this one versus many game, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Slaughterhouse allows players to relive the madness as the young trespassers or step into the shoes of the murderous Sawyer family. Play through a series of scenarios challenging you with different objectives and puzzles. But remember, in this game, there are no winners… only survivors.

ON YOUR TURN

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is both a cooperative game and a one vs many experience. You choose the side you want to play and then embrace the storyline, objectives and mechanics uniquely related to that persona.

So yes, you’re going to have to learn 2 sets of rules, but they’re pretty straightforward and TCM is any easy game to jump into. I’d liken it to the Horrified series from Ravensburger in terms of depth and engagement. There seems like just enough rules and choices to keep you engaged without overwhelming you.

Playing as the trespassers puts you in the shoes of the uninvited guests who have just happened to wander onto the Sawyer property. The game provides a series of unique scenarios that give the trespassers different goals to keep the game fresh. In truth, they all basically culminate with the trespassers trying to not end up dead, but you get to do different things along the way.

As the trespassers, your job will be to quickly, quietly and efficiently rummage through the game’s creepy 2-story house. In the first scenario, your goal is to repair a specific vehicle, grab the gas and the keys and get out of Dodge before the Sawyer family can beat you to death. In another scenario, you’re taking photos around the property to document the murderous activities. Choices are fairly limited: you either search a location in and around the house, walk to another location or run for your life! You may uncover useful tools to escape or items to help defend yourself. But, doing things in general creates noise and noise has consequences… which leads to one of the coolest features in the game…

As you take actions, you collect noise tokens. For anyone who’s ever seen a scary movie, noise is not something you don’t want to create. These noise tokens will both conceptually and physically become the fear tokens that fuel the antics of Leatherface and the crazy Sawyer family.

Playing as the Sawyer family is more of a process pulled directly from the pages of a movie script. Key characters are revealed, plot twists exposed and tensions rise to a frenzied pace. The Sawyer family consists of 4 members, each with their own special abilities, but they’re not all available to start the game. The Sawyer family will need to progress on the chainsaw track (a cube track shaped in a cardboard chainsaw) to bring out additional family members. The Sawyer family will move around the house chasing after the intruders, but they are aided in their quest with the fear tokens. These fear tokens can be spent on additional actions to gain bonus abilities or move forward on the chainsaw track. And this is key to amping up the pressure in the game. With more baddies on the board, the Sawyer family has a tactically heightened opportunity to make life difficult for the survivors… and if the survivors last long enough for Leatherface to make an appearance, they better make haste.

Damage is randomly assigned to the survivors through confrontations and a deck of death cards. Once a trespasser is assigned 4 unique injury cards they’re no longer injured… they’re dead. And that player gets to enjoy the terrifying screams of their companions from the sidelines for the remainder of the game. Now survivors can deal damage to the Sawyer family in a number of ways and cards drawn throughout can help balance the power struggle, but in my experience, survivors are running and Sawyers are chasing.

The game ends when at least 1 survivor has met their objective and escaped or all the survivors end up on the chopping block.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Slaughterhouse is a highly thematic experience and the overall look of the production is a huge contributor toward immersing you in this twisted experience. The artwork does a fantastic job fabricating an uneasy, fear-driven environment. This is a game that truly seeks to honor its source material and it doesn’t pull any punches. It’s gritty, brutal and nasty.

While I wish the survivors were more than cardboard standees, the Sawyer family mini’s look great and are fun to move around the board. (Deep thought: Perhaps it’s the frail, cardboard nature of the survivors that made cardboards standees a must for these terrified youth characters… I’ll have to ask my therapist about that).

Overall, the production, rulebook and materials used in the game create a visceral and tactfully good time.

PROS & CONS

 Wonderful thematic experience

 Simple rule set allows you enjoy the game and not get bogged down in unnecessary rules

 Player aids supplement ease of play

 Cool noise/fear mechanic instantly creates tension

 Flexibility to play as the Sawyers or the survivors as well as multiple scenarios creates plenty of replayability.

 There is a decent amount of luck in this game and bad dice rolls can affect your enjoyment

 No one really likes to sit on the sidelines and dying early can be a bummer

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

I’d say fans of the movie franchise are going to love the vibe of this game, but that’s too easy. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a game with tons of universal appeal. While the theme is incredibly macabre, the excitement, tension and unique one vs many/cooperative angle makes this a fun experience for groups at Halloween or anytime for that matter. This is a gamer’s party game and groups looking for a good horror experience are going to love this.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing is the noise/fear mechanic. I spoke about it above, but this single mechanic really elevates the entire game. Again, you collect noise tokens by taking actions. Some actions (such as running), create additional noise. At the end of the survivor’s turn, they roll a die in hopes of removing some or all of these noise tokens. Any remaining after the roll ends up in the Sawyer’s pocket and are almost guaranteed to come back and haunt you later. I love the tension of this mechanic and I can’t get enough of it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I had a blast with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Slaughterhouse. The tone, the tension and the mechanics make this a real immersive experience and I think it’s going to surprise a lot of people. The look of the game does an amazing job putting players in an unsettling position. The semi-cooperative, one vs many setup creates an almost party-style gaming environment that, paired with the theme, will be a unique addition to many gaming libraries.

I mentioned how much I enjoyed the mechanics. There is really a nice tension in your choices and it always makes you a little unsure of how things are going to work out. It’s not terribly heavy and it’s relatively easy to jump into, but the mechanics paired with the theme give it a nice, thick feeling. For reference, this is a game that really matches up well with the hugely popular game Horrified. The weight, complexity and game length hit a lot of the same notes. It is its own game, but It also provides an equally satisfying and exciting experience.

Where TCM: Slaughterhouse might struggle is with the IP. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre the movie is a grindhouse-type film that originally marketed itself as a true story. The gritty, violent, realistic approach made it a hit with a limited audience paving the way to its cult status today. In addition, it was made almost 50 years ago. There’s been some sub-par sequels, but I imagine there are a number of potential players who have never even seen the original. Where Horrified evokes an almost campy-vibe, Slaughterhouse is edgy and dark and may not appeal to everyone.

The final point I need to address is the game’s luck factor. Yes, there are a lot of dice rolls in this game and that means a lot of luck. In fact, you can lose this one thanks to poor die rolls. Certain cards will mitigate some of that luck, but not enough to sway the outcome in my experience. This didn’t sit well with everyone who I played with. While I typically like to control my own gaming destiny, I think the luck element really lends itself to the tension of the entire experience. These classic horror films are a roll of the dice. We never know who’s going to make it out alive and the somewhat swingy nature of a die roll provides those unexpected plot twists. Sadly, it might be you who takes the brunt end of this mechanic, but all the more reason to come back again for another try.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Slaughterhouse has “hidden gem” written all over it. While players might be apprehensive to give this one a roll initially, word-of-mouth is going to catch on. This is an exciting, satisfying, tension-filled game that sets the tone early and doesn’t let go until the survivors escape or the Sawyer family gets the last laugh… just like a good horror movie. If you’re looking for the next great horror game for your gaming group, you definitely need to give Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Slaughterhouse a serious look.

Publisher: Tettix Games
Player Count: 2-6 Players
Game Length: 15-30 Minutes
Complexity 1.75/5

Competitors gather yearly at a secret location unbeknownst to the common man to participate in the Global Abomination Association’s monstrosity creation contest. Why do they do this? It’s simply: to create the most hideous abomination the world has ever seen! Muuuhahahaha!

Hideous Abomination is a fast-paced, family-friendly, tile-laying and set collection game full of bizarre creatures, underhanded interaction and Frankenstinian achievements and awards.

I had the opportunity to review the game’s first edition a couple of years ago and I was truly curious to see what upgrades, changes and enhancements have been made. You’re welcome to read my original review HERE, but I’ll cover all aspects below for players new to the game as well as those looking to see if this new edition demands a place in your collection.

ON YOUR TURN

I was originally drawn to Judson Cowan’s Hideous Abomination thanks to the silly theme and strange artwork. Cowan’s providing double duty here serving as both the design and illustrator. The game features a monstrous 190 card deck featuring tons of different illustrated monster styles broken down into heads, hands, tails and various other limbs and structures. While this might seem disgusting… it is, but in a cartoony, humorous and family-friendly sort of way.

Light on rules, Hideous Abomination provides easy access to a game that can be introduced in less time than it takes to read this entire review.

In Hideous Abomination, you’re constructing your own unique creature out of spare monster parts and earning end game awards for a variety of things such as having the most attached eyeballs or fingers.

On your turn you roll the monster dice and do 1 of a series of actions ultimately ending with the opportunity to add a spare part tile card to your creature (or possibly an opponent’s).

The primary die roll actions mainly revolve around gaining new monster parts. This can be accomplished by drawing from a community pool or from the tile deck.

Additionally, you might roll the opportunity to dig through the discarded tile deck or steal a part from an opponent. There are limitations on what you can and can’t steal, but this can definitely cause trouble for your opponents. The final die action is to draw an award card.

Award cards introduce new end-game scoring objectives throughout the game. Each game starts with 3 grand prize scoring objectives, but it’s not crazy to have 7, 8 or 9 new awards to pursue before the end of the game. These awards are awarded to the player with the most of something. The most hands, heads or ears for example.

Stolen body parts can lead to embarrassing holes in your creation that you’ll want to repair. Having a part stolen earns you bolts to help anchor down other parts to keep them from being swiped later on.

The game ends when the first player has closed off all open part tiles protruding from their monster. Now, these tiles can be played on your monster, but it might be more fun to play them on an opponent’s to mess with their hideous plans. Either way, once a creature is complete, players add up awards and any additional points and a grotesque champion is crowned.

WHAT’S NEW IN THE 2ND EDITION?

For the most part, Hideous Abomination looks very similar to the 1st edition. A new monster die has been added, but the main changes have to do with the game’s actions.

The biggest game changer is how end-game awards are revealed. Previously, you randomly chose a number of awards to go along with the standard grand prize awards. Here new awards are revealed throughout the game challenging you to pivot and adjust your plans. I think this makes the steal action a bit more relevant here than in the previous edition. Quick upgrades might be necessary to earn those last few award points and this may mean stealing from an opponent. While this might seem mean, we’re stitching random body parts together to form an abomination… so checking your moral compass at the door is sorta mandatory. Overall, this new addition forces you to be aware of your opponents progress and results in more player interaction.

The stealing action now provides bolts to the victim to minimize future thievery. This is a nice change to the eyeball and piles of bolts used previously. While it stinks to lose a critical monster part, the bolts are a fine consolation providing security and peace-of-mind towards other valued parts.

The potential for an increased number of end-game awards also increases the time spent on end-game scoring. This was a small issue in the previous version and can possibly expand here. While this can be annoying, it certainly isn’t a deal breaker and, in some cases, provided nice suspense when determining a winner. There are simplified rules that ignore awards and give victory to the first player to complete their abomination as well as an even more simplified version where you just draw tile cards blindly from the deck.

Lastly, the box has been reshaped from the previous cube to a flatter, more traditional shape. I do kinda miss the previous cube – it was certainly unique, but I can see the new shape finding a more comfortable place on your gaming shelf.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The silly and strange monsters created by designer and illustrator Judson Cowan are the heart and soul of the game. There are 190 different illustrated monster parts and they all carry unique personalities. Stitching these random parts together to form your own abomination is a visual delight for both young and old.

Component-wise, there isn’t a whole lot in the game besides the creature and award decks. The cardboard bolts do a fine job anchoring down your tiles and the cards aren’t too thin. The monster die is a uniquely crafted die that rolls a bit funny, but adds to the aura of the game.

The rulebook is a breeze to read and digest guaranteeing quick on-boarding to your first play.

PROS & CONS

 This is a quick game that appeals to both gamers and families with kiddos

 Easy rules and an easy to read rulebook make learning a breeze

 The creative monsters provide a lot of personality

 The number of different monster cards along with the numerous end-game awards encourage lots of replay-ability.

 Plenty of opportunity for a bit of “take that” player interaction

 Seeing your completed abomination is equally hilarious and satisfying

 Small box game fits on any shelf

 End-game scoring can take a minute

 Stealing monster parts from your opponent could be upsetting for younger gamers

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

Players looking for a simple game with endless replay-ability and an incredibly fun theme are going to find the most enjoyment here. Hideous Abomination is great for families and kiddos.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about the game is seeing your completed hideous abomination. Every monster is going to be unique making it fully your own—pursue your own monstrous style. The wonderfully silly artwork brings every monster to life—telling its own story.

FINAL THOUGHTS

On the surface, Hideous Abomination is a simple tile-laying, set collection game. It’s easy to teach, quick to play and works for gamers of all ages. What elevates Hideous is the wonderfully creative, whimsical and engaging monster illustrations. Suddenly I’m motivated to see what kind of strange creature I can build this time around. Scoring based on the number of fingers my monster has? How many tails I’m able to attach? Pure genius!

The added interaction is just enough to keep everyone on their toes between short winded turns while the finished product is truly satisfying whether you win or lose. The dice rolling element adds variation to the turns, but never really creates a true, luck-based advantage.

The 2nd Edition does a good job upping the interaction as well as providing added surprises throughout the game by randomly revealing end-game scoring awards. I wouldn’t say it’s 100% necessary to upgrade from the first editions, but it does tighten things up and creates a more enjoyable experience overall.

My 7-year-old daughter LOVES Hideous Abomination. With a library of hundreds of games at her disposal, she regularly drags Hideous Abomination to the table. Sometimes it’s to engage in a battle… Other times it’s just to sort through the tiles to find the right combination of monster parts. So I’m probably biased for that reason alone, but Hideous Abomination is a delightful game for our family that’s full of fun and delicious monster surprises. I whole-heartedly recommend this one!

Designed by Dan Blanchett | Published by Plaid Hat Games
2-4 Players | 90-180 Minutes

Your unique set of skills only outweighed by your questionable moral character brought you to his attention. It’s been 20 years since the scientist Victor Frankenstein met his end. Now the creature has summoned together a suspicious group of participants capable of competing to deliver the one thing the mad scientist never could: a companion. Travel to the year 1819 as you scour the streets of Paris seeking the means… and the flesh to bring another abomination to life.