Disney’s Villainous – Should You Buy And Which Expansion Is Best?

 

Should You Buy Villainous? Is It Worth The Money?

Villainous is worth every penny I’ve spent on it. I originally played Villainous with my cousins. I really enjoyed the game, so I introduced it to my wife. It was a 2 player game that we both loved so we played it nonstop for about 2 months. We bought every expansion that we could. Eventually, we burnt ourselves out, but we always came back to play it.

My opinion is you should buy it. I grew up with a lot of the different Disney villain characters so it was fun getting to relive all of that in this game. Usually, my experience with “brand” games is not good. But Disney did a great job with this game, it’s unlike any other and brings back a lot of childhood nostalgia.

What Is Villainous About?

Disney’s Villainous has created a game where you get to play as the Villains. You get a selection of characters to choose from, each having a goal to reach for their victory. Each player is racing to complete their goal as quickly as possible.

Each character has their own set of heroes from the movies, to try and stop them from completing their goals.

Each character comes with their own deck of cards to help them progress through objectives, defend against heroes, and sacrifice for the greater evil.

General Information
Play Time: 2 Players (40 Minutes) – 4 Players (1 hour & 15 Minutes)
Designer: Prospero Hall
Recommended Age Group: 10+
Player Count: 2-6 Players
Difficulty 1-10: 6

How Do You Play Villainous?

I will briefly break down how to play Villainous, here we go. You select a villain as your playable character. The villain piece will move back and forth on the board to different locations in your characters’ world. Each location has a different set of actions. These actions will let you do things like, play hero cards against your opponent, play your cards to help progress towards your objectives, discard cards you don’t need, gain power (coins), fight your rivaling heroes, and more. There are many different card types, and they are played with coins called “Power,” and are the main route to victory.

How Do You Win A Game Of Villainous?

Winning in Villainous depends on what villain character you’re playing. Each character will have a win condition underneath their portrait. I will use Prince John as an example for a win condition. To win with Prince John you will need to start your turn with 20 coins total. Through the game, you will have cards that will help you progress to gain your 20-coin goal. Keep in mind, your win condition is visible to all players, and can make you a target. You’ll spend your game collecting as many coins as possible, till you gain that 20-coin goal. Once you start your turn with 20 coins, it’s game over and you win. 

How Difficult Is Villainous?

I didn’t think that Villainous was difficult to learn. There are some things that my wife and I, had to figure out with the core actions of the game, but once you learn those the whole game gets a ton easier. With the core of the game always being set and merely tweaked and adjusted for certain villains, it makes it feel like you already have a grasp on most of each villain. Then you spend the rest of your time just figuring out the villains themselves and seeing how best to play them. After learning the base of the game, everything becomes a breeze.

I know others who have learned and played the game have had similar experiences. It can be unclear in the beginning to figure out exactly how the actions work, but after watching a video and maybe a little Googling, you’ll be fine

Another aspect of the difficulty of Villainous is what villain you decide to choose. For a first-time player, some of the villains’ win objectives can be somewhat confusing at first. I suggest looking up any win objectives online if you’re ever stumped.

How Many People Can Play Villainous?

This is not the rule but rather my humble suggestion, keep your games to 2-4 players at most. Technically, you could play with more but as the number of players goes up, the quality of gameplay and overall fun goes down. Once you start to get into the 5 and 6-player games, you’ll run into issues with lots of downtime and brutal punishing of whoever is currently in the lead. Which can lead to a poor experience of getting ganged up on that everyone will get to experience.

With the recommendation of 4 people max, you’ll have an easier time keeping track of everyone else, while also giving everyone a chance to play and enjoy themselves. 

How Long Does A Game Last?

New players will add about 30-40 minutes per person. In comparison, experienced players will be faster at 25-35 minutes per person. Usually for a good 1v1, a Villainous game will last about 30-45 minutes. With 3 players total usually around that 45-1 hour and 15 minutes area. When you get to 4 players it starts to depend on who you’re playing with, but I’ve seen games last as long as 4 hours. Usually, in my experience with family, it never gets past 2 hours per game with 4 people.

What Character Should I Pick If It’s My First Time Playing?

Prince John, Maleficent, and Captain Hook are some of my suggestions for first-time Villainous players. My recommendation doesn’t necessarily mean the character is the easiest to play. None of my suggestions are very complicated to play. I mainly suggest them to help first-time players learn the game, and have a fairly simple objective to complete. I suggest playing every character you can at least once or twice.

What’s Your Thoughts On The Replayability Of Villainous?

When I think of the replayability of Villainous my first thought is that it’s very replayable. Although if you only get the first base original game, you will play through each character at least once probably, then become increasingly tired and want more. As was my experience along with my wife’s experience. Which will lead you to buy more expansions that will fill the void. After you have obtained all the expansions, you will have an abundance of options for different characters to choose from. This is what I think of when I first think of Villainous’ replayability.

If you have all the expansions, you can play Villainous for many long days. If you’re only getting the base game, you will run out of “playable” fun in maybe 2 weekends. Keep this in mind before considering purchasing Villainous, because I will warn you now, you will love it and you’ll want all the expansions, and your bank account will cry.

What’s Your Thoughts On The Artwork And Game Pieces?

As a child, I spent lots of time watching many Disney movies. It’s phenomenal how they took old villains and customized them to fit into each aspect of Villainous. Each board is custom-made with locations that correlate to each Disney villain and their story. One of my favorites of the design is the unique villain pieces that come with each character. As I got more involved with Villainous, I started buying every Villainous expansion I could find. My wife and I always looked forward to seeing how they made each villain’s board and player piece.

As you get to play the game, it beautifully incorporates villains’ companions and rivals into the game. For each villain, there are 2 different sets of decks. The first is the deck that will have all your companions and items to help you complete your objectives to win. The second is the deck that has all the villain’s rivals (the heroes) of the story. Each card of both decks showcases another memory of what we all know and love from the movies. Which for me is the true amazement mixed with nostalgia, of Villainous, it lets you play as the “cool villain” but lets you relive that childhood world you spent hours watching as a child.

Is The Extra Content Worth It For Villainous? Which Expansions Are Your Favorite?

I have spent lots of my money and time playing Villainous, that said I don’t suggest going out and buying every expansion you find. There are plenty of Villainous characters that are just “meh.” My best piece of advice is to find your favorite villains or even heroes and buy their expansion. It will most likely lead you to enjoy more of your time for the price of an extra expansion.

I have many different expansions that are my favorites, here’s a few just to give you something quick. Just click on the names for the links to Amazon, trust me these characters are superb. Villainous: Wicked To The Core (Hades is my favorite), Villainous: Evil Comes Prepared (For Yzma and Kronk of course!), and Villainous: Bigger And Badder (For Lotso and Syndrome!) are my top 3 of all the expansions. 

Is Villainous A Good Game For 2 Players?

Most of my games playing Villainous have been with only 2 players. Usually, it was my wife and I, and we fell in love with Villainous. The games feel like they last the perfect amount of time. It doesn’t feel like you are getting ganged up on when you’re getting close to winning. Also, you only have one person to track, making it easy to try and sabotage them at critical moments in the game.

Can I Play Online?

Yes, there are 2 ways that I’ve seen while looking this up. The first and probably the obvious way is by playing remotely with a phone or webcam. It seems a little silly, but I have seen people do this a couple of times, and it works well. Keep in mind, that both players will need some kind of copy of the game and will need some things to read out loud.

The second way is by playing on Tabletop Simulator, I was mind-blown when I saw it was on Tabletop Simulator. So all of those with a PC can enjoy long-distance Villainous fun.

What Villains Come With Disney Villainous?

Here is a list of what villains are included in the base game of Villainous:

1. Captain Hook
2. Jafar
3. Maleficent
4. Prince John
5. Queen Of Hearts
6. Ursula

Can You Play All Villainous Variations Together?

Each Villainous series is meant to be played in the same universe they’re set in. Marvel expansions are grouped with other Marvel expansions, Disney expansions are grouped with other Disney expansions, and Star Wars expansions are grouped with other Star Wars expansions.

Is Disney Villainous Or Marvel Villainous Better?

My short answer is that I personally like the Disney Villainous better…for now. There are 4 Marvel Villainous out currently, and I think as time goes on, they will get better and better. I have spent more time on Disney so keep that in mind. When I first played Marvel Villainous, I was so pumped to see all the Marvel villains I loved come to the Villainous universe. Unfortunately, I did not have as good of an experience when it first came out. 

I played as Thanos, because who wouldn’t want to play as Thanos! It was awesome getting to play as the purple titan, but I was having a really hard time completing his objective. It seemed as if there was just too much to do while trying to fend off 3 other people. By the end of the game, I think I had maybe 3 stones total. For fans of Marvel, this game is a no-brainer. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want you to think the game isn’t good, I just have my preference between the two. One day that might change, if so I will let you know.

My Wife’s 2 Cents

3 Games We Recommend

Here’s A Link To Ravensburger For Their PDF On The Rules

Thanks for taking the time to look over my review. I hope that it brought you some value. God Bless.