Publisher: Ravensburger
Age: 10+
Players: 2-3
Game Length: 40-60 minutes
MSRP: $24.99
Disney Villainous (now referred to as Disney Villainous: The Worst Takes All) released last year as a devilishly clever card game where players take on the role of infamous Disney Villains, like Ursula and Maleficent. Its asymmetrical gameplay, intuitive action system, and classic Disney artwork made it one of our favorite tabletop games of last year.
This month Ravensburger released Disney Villainous: Wicked to the Core, a stand-alone expansion that adds three new Disney Villains: Hades, Dr. Facilier (Shadow Man), and the Evil Queen. The three can be played against each other for up to three players, or mixed in with the The Worst Takes All to add even more sinister machinations.
Mirror, Mirror
Each of the three new villains are given the same detailed treatment as the base game, with a folding player board for locations based on their movies, a deck of villain cards and hero cards, a molded player token, and some power tokens. Each villain is also given their own little paper guide to help explain how they achieve their unique player goals, whether it’s defeating Snow White or Ruling New Orleans. The components are just as fantastic as before, though all three villain tokens look a bit too similar to each other, each a slightly differently shaped and colored obelisk.
Hades is the most straight-forward of the bunch. As the god of the Underworld with his eyes set on Olympus, his goal is to move four of his unique Titan allies from one side of his board to the other. Titans have special powers but are quite expensive, and using them to defeat heroes will greatly slow down his progress – unless you can play a Hydra or Mortality Potion first. Hades’ Fate deck feels especially powerful and cruel, however, with strong heroes who trap or teleport Titans backwards.
Dr. Facilier and the Evil Queen are much more complex than the heroes from The Worst Takes All. Dr. Facilier, better known as the Shadow Man from The Princess and the Frog, has a unique sidebar called the Fortune Deck. His goal is to control the Talisman, play The Cards Will Tell, and draw the Rule New Orleans card out of his Fortune Deck. It takes a lot of careful set up to pull off.
Meanwhile your opponent can use heroes to steal the talisman and stuff your Fortune Deck full of unwanted cards, to make drawing the one you need all the trickier. Being able to fan out the cards and let players draw the winner is a fun twist, and a wonderful translation of his tarot cards from the movie.
The Evil Queen from Snow White is one of the most classic Disney Villains of all time. In Wicked to the Core she functions a bit like Ursula in that she can’t directly attack heroes. Her prowess isn’t based on raw strength or power, but manipulation. Instead she needs to brew poison by converting poison tokens into power using a special unique action at her laboratory, while playing ingredient cards to unlock the dwarf’s cottage and summon Snow White herself.
The Evil Queen has to use poison along with the Take a Bite cards to defeat pesky heroes, such as the dwarfs who add to Snow White’s strength. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get actual poison tokens; it’s up to the Evil Queen player to keep up with both identical but separate piles of tokens.
The Rating
Disney Villainous: Wicked to the Core has a recommended age of 10+. Like The Worst Takes All, it’s aimed at an older crowd of animated Disney lovers, as it requires careful planning and hand management – and every villain plays differently. Dr. Facilier and Evil Queen are both more complex than any villain from the base game, making the expansion a better option for those who already know how to play, and are looking for more villains.
The Takeaway
Wicked to the Core benefits from the solid components and gameplay of Villainous, as well as the deep roster of fantastically themed villains from the Disney animated universe. All three villains play differently than the original six, and we appreciated that Wicked to the Core draws from multiple eras of Disney animation. We recommend getting the base game first as these new villains are a bit more advanced, but no less enjoyable, and should make the villainous competition that much fiercer.
Find Disney Villainous: Wicked to the Core at Target.
