The original Creepshow from 1982 is hailed by many as among the greatest horror films of all time. It’s the main reason why the TV series had quite a lot to live up to. While we’ve found the show to be hit or miss at times, it looks to be quite the commercial success, having received four seasons so far and even spawning a comics anthology series. In fact, it’s gotten popular enough that they’re even releasing a tabletop game in the form of Skybound’s Creepshow: The Suspense-Building Game.
Billed as “a ghoulish storytelling game,” the tabletop horror game casts players as “Creeps” who will weave their own twisted tales of horror with the intent of leading the villain to a satisfyingly unfortunate ending. The goal is to fill your story with as much suspense as possible, while derailing the flow of story for other players. Basically, you need to be the creepiest Creep of the lot in order to win.
In Skybound’s Creepshow: The Suspense-Building Game, two to five players can take turns building out their stories and filling it with suspense in an attempt to fashion the most twisted story that ends with their villain encountering a terrifying and blood-curling demise. Players build out their hand with up to seven Story cards, which they can either play or discard, depending on what action they choose during their turn.
If a player chooses to “Creep,” they can discard any of their Story cards and replace them with new ones from the deck. However, choosing this action also compels them to play a Suspense card towards any villain’s stack, placing it face down so other players do not know whether you’re trying to increase or decrease the impact of that villain’s storyline. Alternatively, a player can choose to “Show,” which requires you to play a Story card from your hand, placing it on a villain’s story chain. Doing this will have different effects. Sometimes, you earn points; other times, it lets you play a Suspense-Check card (you can guess the amount of suspense on a villain); and others still, you get to add Suspense cards from your set.
If a villain is in the third act of their story, Creepshow: The Suspense-Building Game lets you play an Ending card to finish off the story. If the story has enough suspense, you can earn big points doing this. However, the villain card will go to the player with the most suspense on that particular card, which earns them bonus points. Do note, playing an Ending on a villain without enough Suspense in their story allow that villain to escape (you get nothing), with only players that have suspense in them scoring any extra points. There ate a few other kinks that make gameplay just a little more fun and challenging, including branching story paths and a major villain at the bottom of the villain deck.
If you enjoy horror stories, creepy tales, and erstwhile disturbing accounts, you’ll definitely love spending the time playing a round (or two or four) of this game. You get to be a Creep for the night, without actually having to end up looking like one.
Skybound’s Creepshow: The Suspense-Building Game is now available for preroder, priced at $19.99. It ships mid-September.