7 Horror Board Games You Should Play This Spooky Season

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While scary stories can be enjoyed year-round, Halloween is the ideal moment to play some frightening horror board games. Just like horror movies, these games have become increasingly popular recently. The excitement of escaping danger works really well as a board game concept, and so do things like investigating gruesome mysteries or preventing a terrible disaster in a quiet town. If you’re hoping to try a horror board game this season, here are a few to consider as Halloween gets closer.

Dead By Daylight: The Board Game

As a big fan of both board games and horror, I recently tried Dead By Daylight: The Board Game, and it’s a blast! Basically, it captures the feeling of the video game really well. You play as a group of survivors trying to fix generators to power your escape while a seriously creepy killer is hunting you down. Each turn, we move to a new room, flip over a token – it could be a useful supply, a hiding spot, or even one of the generators we need to repair – and then hold our breath, waiting to see what the killer does. If the killer catches you, you get ‘bloodied’ and hooked! Surprisingly, that actually *helps* the killer, giving them resources to use special abilities and change their path to find us even faster. It’s a really accessible game – easy to learn and quick to play – so I think both existing Dead by Daylight fans and people completely new to the series will have a great time with it. Definitely worth checking out!

Final Girl

Final Girl is a delightful tribute to horror movies, and it’s also one of the top choices for a single-player board game experience. In the game, you play as the Final Girl, working to rescue other Victims and confront a Killer (often inspired by well-known horror franchises). Each turn, you have a limited amount of Time (which is a game resource, not a real-time limit) to spend on various Actions. The Final Girl becomes more powerful by saving Victims, while the Killer gains Bloodlust by killing Victims or attacking the Final Girl.

The game features lots of expansions, introducing new Final Girls or Killers, which creates a flexible and customizable gameplay experience. Final Girl is a challenging game. You’ll often face tough losses and find yourself trying desperate strategies to win. But when you *do* win Final Girl, it feels incredibly rewarding and will keep you hooked throughout.

Spooktacular

The new Level 99 game puts you in the middle of horror films come to life, where the monsters hunt and eat terrified audiences! Players pick from 20 different, unbalanced movie themes, each offering unique gameplay and scoring. These monsters move through the theatre, gaining points by frightening moviegoers between rooms or by consuming a collection of differently colored audience tokens (meeples).

The game playfully imitates many low-budget horror films, and the wide range of movies available means you can enjoy playing it again and again. Spooktacular is an enjoyable and fast-paced game, and part of the excitement comes from discovering the unique abilities of each monster you select.

Cthulhu: Death May Die

Cthulhu: Death May Die is a fast-paced and exciting dice game where players unlock new skills as they descend into madness. It’s a fresh take on the Lovecraftian horror franchise. Players team up to finish the objectives of each chapter and summon a Great Old One-there are several to pick from, and each one has different ways of playing. Once chosen, this cosmic monster causes trouble for the players every turn, becoming more powerful as the game goes on.

As a big fan, I find one of the coolest things about this game is how they handle madness – something you see a lot in Lovecraftian horror. Instead of being purely bad, as your character descends into madness, you actually add more dice and abilities to your pool! It’s really unique. This is easily one of my favorite horror games, and I’m always on the edge of my seat because so often the outcome comes down to that final round of play. It’s so tense! You can find more information about the game here.

Horrified

I’m a big fan of the Horrified series! It’s a cooperative game where you and your friends team up to battle monsters drawn from all sorts of stories – everything from classic myths and legends to well-known franchises. What’s really neat is that each game has a different set of monsters causing trouble in a town or area. (They started with the Universal Monsters, then did a version based on Greek mythology, and most recently a D&D one!) The cool part is that every monster isn’t defeated the same way; you usually have to find specific items and bring them to certain spots on the game board to win.

The game is made more challenging by helpless bystanders who can be easily defeated by monsters. Players must carefully manage the board, both guiding these bystanders to safety and collecting the necessary items to win. It’s a simple, fast-paced game that demands thoughtful planning to prevent a swift loss.

Zombicide

As a big fan of zombie flicks, I’ve tried a lot of zombie board games, but Zombicide really grabbed me. What I love about it is how fast-paced it is, and honestly, the sheer number of zombies they throw at you! It’s a cooperative game where you and your friends are trying to survive a zombie apocalypse and complete objectives. Basically, you’re shooting and chain-sawing your way through endless hordes of the undead. It’s a blast!

I have to say, while it’s a blast taking down zombies wave after wave, they just *keep* coming, and they get tougher too – some of them are seriously hard to beat! This game isn’t just about surviving, though. It’s about finding the right balance between clearing a path through all those zombies and actually making progress towards your objectives. It’s a real challenge!

The Night Cage

Imagine crawling through mud, using only a single candle to guide your way. Can you solve a dangerous maze and escape before the creatures that hunt for light find you? The Night Cage is a tile-laying game where players race against time – or, more specifically, a dwindling pile of tiles – to find keys and reach the exit gate. Each turn, you can only see the tiles right around you, forcing quick reactions. Tiles disappear quickly once you move away, adding to the challenge.

When monsters are revealed, they’ll extinguish players’ candles, limiting vision to only the tile they currently occupy. Once all the tiles are gone, players must make a desperate final dash for the nearest gate, or they’ll be permanently trapped in the darkness. The Night Cage is a chilling and suspenseful game, offering endless replayability for groups that enjoy a challenge.

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2025-10-01 16:04