Does your family love to play cooperative board games? In our household, we have tried having at least one game night during the week. It is the perfect time to relax and experiment with a variety of new board games. While I have always had a soft spot for deckbuilding games, I also love playing games that encourage competition and the occasional cooperative play. From my experience, most games have one or the other. Not that I view this as a problem, but usually, if a game gets overly competitive in our family with these types of games, it is due to a handful of players who love being cutthroat (my husband and his brothers, for example).
By combining all of these elements, I thought it would always have been a blast to play. Our problem has been finding the right board game that combines all of these elements in a balanced way. We were recently introduced to a new game that seemed like something we had been looking for – Deranged. Once our review copy arrived, we couldn’t wait to start digging into the rules and start playing!
Deranged Board Game: What is It?
Are you looking for a fun board game that encourages cooperation, competition, with a bit of sneaky suspense? If so, we think you will love Deranged! Here is what the manufacturer has to say about this new semi-cooperative adventure board game:
Deranged is a semi-cooperative adventure game in the vein of a dark fantasy. The Heroes end up in a small town driven by evil forces, and in order to survive several horrible nights and leave the town at the break of dawn, they will have to fight unimaginable monsters, each other, and … their own inner demons.
Players take on the roles of travelers through this cursed town. During the day, they work together to battle back the evil forces, but at night, as their sanity slowly drips away, they become cursed and deranged! As Deranged, players revert to their animal instincts. Will the players make it through the night? Will you help your fellow travelers to return to a state of sanity? You and your fellow travelers will decide the fate of this sleepy hamlet… and who will survive.
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Deranged is a semi-cooperative adventure game in the vein of dark fantasy.
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The Heroes end up in a small town driven by evil forces, and in order to survive several horrible nights and leave the town at the break of dawn they will have to fight unimaginable monsters, each other, and… their own inner demons.
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Players take on the roles of travelers through this cursed town. During the day, they work together to battle back the evil forces, but at night, as their sanity slowly drips away, they become cursed and deranged!
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As Deranged, players revert to their animal instincts. Will the players make it through the night? Will you help your fellow travelers to return to a state of sanity? You and your fellow travelers will decide the fate of this sleepy hamlet… and who will survive.
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High replayability: modular, 2-sided game board, 3 extensive scenarios and open World mode.
Deranged Board Game: Our Thoughts
As many of you know, I love deckbuilding board games and loved the idea of a game that was semi-cooperative. Though I will freely admit, I was a bit intimidated at first checking out the rules, especially since it had a recommended playtime of 90 – 180 minutes. Luckily, the rules including a starting scenario that plays through in about 30 – 60 minutes, quickly teaching you the rules of the games. The introduction scenario has you playing through one day and night, bringing you through almost all of the game’s mechanics in an engaging way that will leave you wanting more. Everyone was genuinely disappointed we couldn’t go on to the first full scenario the first night since we were under time constraints.
After a couple of days, though, everyone was hooked once we started the first complete scenario. The scenario also adds ‘role’ cards, where everyone has a secret character trait affecting play in the city. While a single card may not seem like a big deal, it completely changes the dynamic of the games. For example, my secret role in that game was fantastic, giving my character the objective of killing another character. If you do that task, you get a special treasure that you can only get when you accomplish that goal. As you can guess, this very quickly changed the game’s dynamics, with everyone trying to achieve their hidden objective while also trying to survive the game’s open threats. Before it sounds too cutthroat, don’t worry, you do resurrect the next turn, so everyone gets to continue playing.
During the day part of the first round (this scenario finishes after three full day and night cycles), everyone was competitive and working together. Once night hit and someone went deranged, everything changed. It was doing everything you could to survive, including killing the deranged player. With monsters also appearing on the board, everyone was busy, having to decide if you were willing to help or only worry about your own survival. Even better, there are a variety of different scenarios, and the difficulty increases if you flip the board over.
Overall, everyone had a blast with the game, and we’re now hopeful they add an expansion at some point. If you love board games with a lot of flavor and a mix of play types, I highly recommend giving Deranged a try! Deranged has quickly become our new favorite game if we have company visiting since it allows everyone to quickly stay engaged and have fun during the entire game. The only downside for us is that it has a minimum of three players, so it can’t come out all the time.
Deranged Board Game: Where to Purchase
Would you like to purchase this brand new board game for yourself or a board game lover in your life? You can find the Deranged Board Game on Amazon.com for under $45. Who knew that playing competitive, cooperative games could be so much fun?
About Susan Bewley
Susan Bewley is a professional writer who has been writing content online & in print format for over 10 years. As well, she is an alumni of the University of Louisville with a Masters Degree in Special Education. When not working as an online business consultant or ghost writing, she can be found writing on Budget Earth, on her own novel, or working with various entities in the pet industry.