Kingdom Death: Monster is a fully cooperative tabletop horror game set in a unique nightmarish world. Players control survivors who must hunt monsters and build settlements while managing resources and crafting gear from defeated creatures. The game features intense boss battles and settlement management phases across campaign years.
The Verdict
based on 23 reviews
“Kingdom Death is an instant classic. No game before has done what it does, and it's hard to imagine any game willing to take the risk to try to outdo it.”
The reviewer highly praises Kingdom Death: Monster, calling it a genre-redefining dungeon crawl that has inspired many imitators. Despite its controversial and grim aesthetic, the reviewer considers it one of his favorite games, even though it is difficult to get played often.
The reviewer highly praises Kingdom Death: Monster as an immersive campaign game, highlighting its impressive miniatures, boss-battling gameplay, and particularly the captivating artwork and event system within its dark and mysterious world.
“In conclusion, Kingdom Death: Monster delivers a gaming experience like no other. With its captivating gameplay mechanics, stunning artwork and design, immersive story and setting, and top-notch component quality and presentation, this game leaves no stone unturned in providing an unparalleled experience for board game enthusiasts.”
“Kingdom Death: Monster is lauded as one of the most ambitious cooperative board games ever created, offering an unparalleled combination of scope, difficulty, and thematic commitment that makes it an 'endgame purchase' for groups seeking a challenging campaign experience.”
“It is a hard sell at that price but man, once you play it, there is nothing else in this world like it. It is addictive.”
The reviewer enthusiastically praises Kingdom Death: Monster as an ambitious, thrilling, and immersive game, highlighting its engaging combat system, terrifying gameplay, and deep storytelling that thoroughly draws players into its unique world.
“Polygon considers "Kingdom Death: Monster" a masterful and challenging board game, describing it as the "Everest of board games," despite some of its grotesque and explicit imagery potentially diverting attention from the gameplay.”
The reviewer highly praises Kingdom Death: Monster for its deep immersion and abundant content, acknowledging that it is a beast of a game that earns its place at the top of many players' lists, despite its high cost, mature themes, and demanding bookkeeping.
“While it’s not for everyone, with a good understanding of what you’re getting into, Kingdom Death: Monster is definitely worth trying. Give it a shot, keep an open mind, and be ready to experience a game that, I promise you, is unlike any other game you’ve experienced before.”
The reviewer highly praises 'Kingdom Death: Monster' as a great game, specifically highlighting the combat as their favorite part and noting the incredible interaction between combat and settlement phases. They suggest that players who can overlook the steep price and mature imagery will find it to be an exceptional experience.
The reviewer finds Kingdom Death: Monster to be an epic and highly engaging game with outstanding combat and memorable campaign experiences, despite its mature and grotesque themes, high price point, and the necessary miniature assembly, making it a significant but rewarding commitment.
The reviewer expressed excitement and fascination with Kingdom Death: Monster's massive scale, its rich components, and its unique adult-themed horror aesthetic, noting the sheer amount of content in the box.
The reviewer considers Kingdom Death: Monster a significant work of art in gaming, praising its immersive and intricate gameplay while acknowledging its challenging themes and some polarizing artistic choices in miniatures. Despite personal difficulties engaging with its dark nature, he values it as a modern masterpiece he'll never part with.
“More surprising is how well the game’s many systems line up with each other. But there’s a damned good game in here, so long as your group isn’t disheartened by constant death.”
“Yes, it is good, brilliant in parts, and totally unique. It is the good one.”
“Kingdom Death: Monster is an immersive, fully cooperative tabletop game set in a unique and nightmarish world. It is a game of survival and strategy, perfect for players who enjoy cooperative games with rich narratives, complex decision-making, and tactical combat.”
The reviewers expressed significant enjoyment for Kingdom Death: Monster, indicating their love for the game and eagerness to continue playing through its challenging survival campaign.
“If you have the cash and this seems like the kind of game you’d enjoy, I can’t recommend it enough.”
The reviewer highly praises 'Kingdom Death: Monster' as an epic and immense game with fantastic components and memorable experiences, recommending it to groups comfortable with its mature and grotesque themes.
The reviewer expresses significant enjoyment for Kingdom Death: Monster, highlighting its complex and deep cooperative or solo gameplay where players hunt creatures and build their civilization in a dark world, noting that much of the game's appeal lies in discovering its intricacies.
The reviewer found Kingdom Death: Monster to be a deeply flawed and expensive game, noting its inefficiencies, reliance on randomness, and problematic themes, yet ultimately praised it for delivering frequent moments of shock, wonder, and excitement that made him want to keep playing.
Tom Vasel expressed a strong disinterest in playing Kingdom Death: Monster after unboxing it, describing its dark theme and brutal components as 'depressing' and indicating he had no desire to engage with the game.
