Why do you think it was that Bowser hated Mario? Constantly foiling his
attempts to steal the princess or retrieving said princess, storming his
castle and wrecking up the place? Whatever the reason I’m sure we can
all empathize with his grievances in some form, kind of, and now there’s
a game where Bowser could enact his revenge on that smarmy plumber in
the most gruesome ways he could think of.
Boss Monster is a small box game brought to us by Brotherwise Games where players act as a big end boss and attempt to stop various heroes from completing their dungeon. This is achieved by using room cards that either damage or hinder any heroes traversing your dungeon - crushing spike rooms, bottomless pits, fire filled broiler rooms, the typical evil boss setup. There are also spell cards that provide your rooms with a bonus or make things worse for other players: boosting a heroes vitality or lessening the damage opposing dungeon’s rooms can do to those heroes.
Boss Monster is a small box game brought to us by Brotherwise Games where players act as a big end boss and attempt to stop various heroes from completing their dungeon. This is achieved by using room cards that either damage or hinder any heroes traversing your dungeon - crushing spike rooms, bottomless pits, fire filled broiler rooms, the typical evil boss setup. There are also spell cards that provide your rooms with a bonus or make things worse for other players: boosting a heroes vitality or lessening the damage opposing dungeon’s rooms can do to those heroes.
So we’ve covered trap rooms, spells and heroes but what about the minions that all big bosses have working for them? Monster rooms are an alternative to trap rooms and usually offer bonuses to other rooms in your dungeon.
At the beginning of the game each player is randomly assigned a Boss card. Each boss has a unique “level up” ability that can activated at a point during the game.
Boss Monster is split into three phases: the build phase, the bait phase and the adventure phase.
At the beginning of the turn the top card of
the hero deck is flipped and put to one side, this is called the “town”
and hero’s are put here before their adventure. There are two types of heroes: Ordinary and Epic.
The number in the heart at the bottom left of the card is the heroes vitality, indicating how much damage they can take. The amount of drops on the bottom right hand side of a hero card represents how many souls that hero is worth.
In the build phase players can place room cards from their hand into their dungeon, each player has five spaces to fill. This is where players can start manufacturing a diabolical combination of trap and monster rooms. Additionally any advanced rooms can be played in this phase, on top of an existing room. Advanced rooms are harder to build but are much more effective and can have better abilities.
The next phase is the bait phase. This is where heroes decide which of the players dungeons they will adventure to, players can draw heroes to their dungeon with the treasures that your different rooms offer. Different heroes are attracted by promises of their preferred loot represented on room cards.
When a hero dies via a room in your dungeon that hero turns into a soul, 10 souls and you win. If a hero makes it through your dungeon to the boss that boss takes a wound, if your boss accrues 5 wounds then you’re out of the game.
And that’s the game. In essence it’s a pretty straight forward dungeon builder mixed with hand management and take-that style game play reminiscent of Munchkin. Boss Monster is incredibly easy to pick up and teach and is great for some quick punchy games.
The gameplay lends itself well to players that are looking for a more fun and casual experience as Boss Monster isn’t a super competitive game. It can also lead to some funny political situations where you can pick and choose which of your opponent’s you want to point a spell at. Because of this there can be alliances made which can serve you well throughout the game with another player giving you a hand if you’ve been dumped on. However, as in most games those players aren’t to be fully trusted as they can turn around and stab you in the back for their own gain. This is again very relevant to the theme (all players being evil boss monsters and all) and gameplay mechanics as I mentioned earlier with Munchkin, a game in which a player is punished for playing well and getting ahead.
One of the things that really stands out for me is the design of the game. Not the mechanics or game play but the actual assets and box design, all of the components of Boss Monster are inspired by the SNES games of the 80s and 90s. Giving a game an intentional pixel art/8bit style is something that really appeals to video gamers like myself and it keeps in theme with the rest of the game.
As I was saying earlier, Bowser would’ve tried everything to thwart Mario and has been trying for years now. Throughout that time the look of the characters and backgrounds may have gotten smoother but back in the good old days the graphics weren’t as forgiving and players liked that. The retro video-game art style creates a lot of charm and, like I said, will draw a lot of players in just for the look. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.
There are a handful of expansions for Boss Monster along with a stand-alone expansion, so as far as longevity and replay-ability goes Boos Monster offers a lot. One of the more appealing things about the expansions is again the design. They come in Gameboy game cartridge style boxes which is both practical, putting a small box product in a small box, and to me is adorable.
Boss Monster is a great game for an evening. Assemble a couple of friends, do you’re best Donkey Kong or Kraid impression and start building your dungeons. I think it’s a great way to showcase an incremental mechanic to a newer player without it being intimidating by punishing them too much. The theme and style are great along with some good writing on the boss cards, for example one of the Bosses is called Hellcow with a subtitle is Bossy Monster or another boss Seducia, Sorceress Of Sexiness.
All in all I think Boss Monster is a game that will appeal to newer and more seasoned players alike. It has a lot to offer and provides a lot of variety game after game. If you’re looking for a small box game at a reasonable price to fill a couple hours of gameplay at a time, Boss Monster is definitely a good choice.
If you want to try Boss Monster for yourself head down to your local games store and ask them to give you a demo. In the meantime though, keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates.
In the build phase players can place room cards from their hand into their dungeon, each player has five spaces to fill. This is where players can start manufacturing a diabolical combination of trap and monster rooms. Additionally any advanced rooms can be played in this phase, on top of an existing room. Advanced rooms are harder to build but are much more effective and can have better abilities.
The next phase is the bait phase. This is where heroes decide which of the players dungeons they will adventure to, players can draw heroes to their dungeon with the treasures that your different rooms offer. Different heroes are attracted by promises of their preferred loot represented on room cards.
When a hero dies via a room in your dungeon that hero turns into a soul, 10 souls and you win. If a hero makes it through your dungeon to the boss that boss takes a wound, if your boss accrues 5 wounds then you’re out of the game.
And that’s the game. In essence it’s a pretty straight forward dungeon builder mixed with hand management and take-that style game play reminiscent of Munchkin. Boss Monster is incredibly easy to pick up and teach and is great for some quick punchy games.
The gameplay lends itself well to players that are looking for a more fun and casual experience as Boss Monster isn’t a super competitive game. It can also lead to some funny political situations where you can pick and choose which of your opponent’s you want to point a spell at. Because of this there can be alliances made which can serve you well throughout the game with another player giving you a hand if you’ve been dumped on. However, as in most games those players aren’t to be fully trusted as they can turn around and stab you in the back for their own gain. This is again very relevant to the theme (all players being evil boss monsters and all) and gameplay mechanics as I mentioned earlier with Munchkin, a game in which a player is punished for playing well and getting ahead.
One of the things that really stands out for me is the design of the game. Not the mechanics or game play but the actual assets and box design, all of the components of Boss Monster are inspired by the SNES games of the 80s and 90s. Giving a game an intentional pixel art/8bit style is something that really appeals to video gamers like myself and it keeps in theme with the rest of the game.
As I was saying earlier, Bowser would’ve tried everything to thwart Mario and has been trying for years now. Throughout that time the look of the characters and backgrounds may have gotten smoother but back in the good old days the graphics weren’t as forgiving and players liked that. The retro video-game art style creates a lot of charm and, like I said, will draw a lot of players in just for the look. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.
There are a handful of expansions for Boss Monster along with a stand-alone expansion, so as far as longevity and replay-ability goes Boos Monster offers a lot. One of the more appealing things about the expansions is again the design. They come in Gameboy game cartridge style boxes which is both practical, putting a small box product in a small box, and to me is adorable.
Boss Monster is a great game for an evening. Assemble a couple of friends, do you’re best Donkey Kong or Kraid impression and start building your dungeons. I think it’s a great way to showcase an incremental mechanic to a newer player without it being intimidating by punishing them too much. The theme and style are great along with some good writing on the boss cards, for example one of the Bosses is called Hellcow with a subtitle is Bossy Monster or another boss Seducia, Sorceress Of Sexiness.
All in all I think Boss Monster is a game that will appeal to newer and more seasoned players alike. It has a lot to offer and provides a lot of variety game after game. If you’re looking for a small box game at a reasonable price to fill a couple hours of gameplay at a time, Boss Monster is definitely a good choice.
If you want to try Boss Monster for yourself head down to your local games store and ask them to give you a demo. In the meantime though, keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates.
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