Terrorscape 2 Review – A killer new version

If you were following board game social media a couple of years ago, you might remember a deluge of photos of a game that has a huge, cardboard building in the middle of the table. That game was Terrorscape, and the demand was so big after that first outing that they’re back with a new, improved version – Terrorscape 2.

The theme of the game is something out of a Hollywood horror flick. One player is the killer. The rest of the players are the survivors. The killer’s job is simple: kill just one of the survivors. The survivors task is more difficult. They have to either find all five keys to unlock the main exit, and escape, or repair the radio to make an emergency call, then await rescue. Their job is more difficult, for sure, but there are more of them. Failing that, they can try to repair and refuel the vehicle to escape, or even turn the tables and kill the killer! Plus, the killer can’t actually see any of them. The survivors are hiding out of sight. The killer needs to use their skills and abilities to track them down. To hunt. To kill.

A house divided

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. More accurately, let’s talk about the big, cardboard house in the room. In fairness, it’s the size of a bloody elephant, but talk about table presence. If you’re looking for a game that’s going to catch the eye of everyone at a busy game night or a convention, Terrorscape is the game that’s going to do it.

Now you could argue that the building is overkill, and while technically you’d be correct, sometimes there’s more going on than meets the eye.

Firstly, and most importantly, it’s a screen. The killer sits on one side of the table, the survivors sit on the opposite, and the imposing edifice splits the space between them. In a hidden movement game, which Terrorscape is, one person being able to track their own movement while the other can’t see it, is super important.

Secondly, it’s hugely thematic. Games like Terrorscape live and die on their ability to convey their theme and feeling. We’ve all seen films like Halloween, Friday the 13th, Scream, and countless others that play on the feelings generated by the idea of being trapped in a place with something bad. The building is big, moody, and exudes a sense of grandeur. You haven’t just come along to game night for a quick game – this is an experience.

Thirdly, and least importantly, but still pretty awesome, the house has a built-in dice tower. Nice.

Fun and games

So now we’ve covered the theme and the massive thing on the table, let’s talk about what really matters – the game. You can have all the glitz, glamour, bits & pieces in the world, but if the game is no fun, then it’s all for naught.

The survivors move around the map out of sight of the killer. They can move around, search for items (cards), and try to make the repairs they need for escape. Unfortunately, most of the things they do are noisy, so they have to tell the killer where to place noise tokens on his map. It’s not enough for the killer to just think, “Oh, there’s a noise over there, there must be a survivor too”, because there are all kinds of things they can do to muddy the waters. They might find a bottle, for example, which they can throw into an adjacent space as a distraction.

The killer, too, can move around in secret if they happen to be in stealth mode. It lets them spring up, unexpectedly, and sniff out the fear of a survivor. The killer has a tricky task, for sure, but through a deck of different action cards, they can tip the tables in their favour. Clever use of the killer deck is the key to doing well as the One in the One vs Many battle of Terrorscape. If you manage to completely cycle the deck, you level up and unlock new skills and abilities. It’s an awesome feeling when you have to tell the survivors you can now kick their asses in a new, cruel and unusual way.

You hear the term ‘beer & pretzels’ thrown around when you’re talking about games that are more theme than convoluted mechanisms, and Terrorscape takes the term and runs with it. It’s theme, theme, theme, all the way down. The survivors planning and conspiring in hushed whispers. The killer stalking them and trying to make their lives hellish at every turn. It’s great. It feels like a film, and that’s just about the biggest compliment you can give a game which is striving to give you the slasher experience on your table.

Final thoughts

If you’ve been reading Punchboard for any time, you’ll know that a game like Terrorscape isn’t really in my wheelhouse. I’ve played games like Mind MGMT and enjoyed them, but that was a subdued experience in comparison. Terrorscape is unashamedly bold, brash, and in your face, and I think that’s what makes it so good. It sets out to be this tabletop experience, this horror film brought to life, and it delivers.

Despite the enormous box and the outrageously big building you need to put together, it’s a much easier game to learn and play than you might worry about. There are a few things worth bearing in mind on top of the sheer size of it. Firstly, Terrorscape is built around the idea of one player being the killer and them always being pitted against three survivors. The game’s balance is baked in. If you only have three players at your game night, the two survivor players need to play three characters between them. It’s not the end of the world, but it feels a little janky.

I can’t comment on longevity or how all the different killers play, because the demo version I was sent only came with a limited sample. I can tell you that what I have played was great fun, and that it’s genuinely as much fun playing as a survivor as it is being the headline act – the killer. I strongly suggest introducing new players to the survivor role first, though, so someone can hand-hold them and help them understand the flow of the game.

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Terrorscape is an in-your-face, brash, box of cat-and-mouse nonsense of the very best kind. Ice Makes have done a phenomenal job of making this game, so if you’ve played something like Final Girl and thought “This is good, but I was there was something more”, go and check out the campaign page right now.