🕑 8 min read
Welcome once again, to our 'What Did You Bring?' segment!
For the purposes of this post, player names have been changed to protect the innocent and the murdered.
In Fearsome Floors we have been kidnapped by a wicked scientist and fed to their monsters! Our entire party has been dumped at the entrance to dingy dungeon hallway filled with stone blocks and slippery pools of blood (fresh from the last party of guests?). The only hope of escape is a thin slither of day-light in the distance and the fact that we have protection in numbers. So, I don't need to run faster than the monster... just faster than that weakened old man or the defenceless child. HA-hahahaha!
As we all enter the hallways and apprehensively advance towards the exit, we hear a horrifying howl in the darkness... and just like in the Squid Games, the race is on to survive!!
This game was designed by Friedemann Friese, and was originally meant to incorporate his 'friends' escaping from him on a dance floor. I have 2 problems with this. 1. Why were they running away from a green/blue haired games designer on a darkened dance floor? And 2. Where has all this congealed blood come from!!?
Joking aside, apparently Friedemann landed upon the revised theme of escaping a horrific basement monster, more than 5 years after his original idea had landed on the play-test table. I for one am glad he did; because the new theme is so enjoyable and engaging. Let's talk about the game play and why you might want to try this game should you get the opportunity.
Firstly the game screams family fun, even if the theme is horror, it's not really gruesome. It's more like Scooby-doo and the Mystery Inc. gang being chased through a haunted house, full of teleporting portals that only the vile villain can use. Before I speak more directly about movement and mechanics, please take a moment with me to bask in the glory of the wonderful monster token in this game. Rio Grande Games has given to us a multitude of printed card-board arms, legs, bodies and heads to assemble as we see fit. Slotting them together to create the strange standee is really easy and satisfying.
At the start, we are all given several counters of our chosen colour. Depending on how many players there are you will either have 4 coloured counters (1-4 players) or 3 counters (5-7 players). Turn order is very simple, each player gets to move one of their escaping 'party member' counters in turn until all players have moved their entire party. The maximum number of spaces a counter (party member) may move is shown on the top of each one. This number ranges from 1-6. Once a counter has been moved, you flip it over to the opposite side, which does 2 things. It shows us which player counters have been moved this turn, and it reveals a new number for the next turn. Because in a brilliant turn of events, each party member has 2 different speeds! Remember that, as it will haunt you and possibly trip you up when you least expect it later.
Once we have moved all our party members, then the fun can truly begin when the monster activates and starts shambling towards us all. To move the monster, all you do is shuffle the monster's 'tombstone tokens' and randomly pick one off of the top. This will tell you how far it will move, usually between 5 and 10 spaces. The cruel creature will continue to proceed forwards until it finishes all of it's move, capturing victims as it proceeds. HOWEVER, as it callously creeps towards us, it will also take a look down intersecting corridors, and as soon as it perceives a prey, it will immediately change direction and head towards them for the remainder of it's moves. The monster cannot see behind itself, around corners, or past stone walls. It will keep moving, only changing direction as it catches a glimpse of a party member.
From a safe distance you may want to run one of your party into the line of sight of the gruesome giant, just so that it changes direction and eventually captures one of your opponents! A risky move... as they can hide around corners just as the monster reaches their corridor, leaving the murderous monster to eat one of your very own family instead.
This game does not overstay it's welcome, and is full of extra little details which make the game worth your time. For example, if the monster is forced to simply walk into a side wall, it teleports to another area of the basement and continues it's ravenous rampage. Plus this sadistic savage can push stone blocks into players pieces and even crush them against walls! Perhaps that's where all the blood came from? If one of your party members is captured (eaten), then it is sent back to the start, where it's race begins again. The game ends when a player manages to escape 3 of their counters (1-4 players), or 2 of their counters (5-7 players).
Why do I like this game? Maybe I should have started with this, so here goes.
Even though Fearsome Floors is 23 years old, and the mechanics come from a different board gaming era all together, they are still incredibly engaging. As players you have the option to simply run your party members as far away as you like, hoping to escape the gaze of the monster, or perhaps goad it into doing your dirty work for you. It's hilarious. Sorry, did I not say that enough already?
Since this game only lasts between 30-45mins (player number dependant) you can easily play through it twice, or drag out another board game to quench your appetite for crunchiness. Your choice.
See you all at NoBoG later!
