Each turn of the game is divided into two phases: the Hero Phase, where players move, find items, and take other actions, and the Monster phase, where monsters move and attack, as well as certain other actions dictated by the Monster Deck. Notably, each monster has a unique way of defeating them; Dracula, for example, requires each of his coffins be smashed before he can be destroyed, while Frankenstein and the Bride must be taught humanity so that they can live in peace. These objectives are accomplished by collecting items around the board. These monsters won't go down without a fight, however, and protecting yourself and the town's villagers is tantamount to vanquishing them. If the players or villagers fall to the monsters too many times, game over. Difficulty is defined by how many monsters are fought: 2 monsters is an easy game, 3 monsters is a decent challenge, and 4 or more is deadly difficult.
In 2021, Horrified: American Monsters was announced, being released in October of that same year. A less heavily branded, stand alone sequel, this version is more themed around cryptids and Fearsome Critters of American Folklore, featuring Bigfoot, The Mothman, The Jersey Devil, the Chupacabra, the Banshee of the Badlands, and the Ozark Howler.
In 2023, Horrified: Greek Monsters was announced. This version is themed around monsters from Greek Mythology featuring Medusa, Cerberus, Chimera, Minotaur, Siren and Basilisk hidden in lairs that must be discovered in order to defeat them.
In 2024, Horrified: World of Monsters was released. This version includes the Sphinx, Yeti, Jiangshi and Cthulhu while introducing a steampunk aesthetic and the establishment of a Shared Universe between the versions. This version can also be combined with Greek Monsters for mix and match play and also has a Krampus expansion released alongside it that you can get if you buy World of Monsters from certain retailers.
A Dungeons & Dragons-themed edition (incorporating some of that game's mechanics) was released in 2025, featuring the Red Dragon, Displacer Beast, Beholder and Mimic.
Horrified contains examples of:
- Achilles' Heel: None of the monsters can just be defeated through being hurt by the players, conditions always have to be met before the players can get rid of them.
- Adaptation Amalgamation: The means of defeating each monster are drawn from all over the canon, sometimes with atypical results.
- Destroying Dracula's coffins before confronting him with holy items is an aspect of the novel. (Something similar does happen in Son of Dracula, but that just involves one coffin.)
- The goal of teaching Frankenstein's Monster and the Bride humanity is hinted at in Bride of Frankenstein, though it fails. In the Universal movies, the Monster meets his end through fire, explosions, and burning sulfur.
- The conventional use of silver to defeat The Wolf Man is ignored in favor of curing him, as found in House of Dracula.
- Basilisk and Cockatrice: Greek Monsters features a Basilisk that much more closely resembles a Cockatrice, being a lizard-like monster with six legs, a deadly gaze, and a rooster-like head.
- Beware of Vicious Dog: Cerberus is one of the monsters in the Greek Monsters edition, having gotten loose from Hades thanks to Pandora's Box. He's as vicious and aggressive as the other monsters. Interestingly, the gameplay revolves around opening the gates to Hades so he can return, which he does without a fight after the player lures him to the entrance.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Bigfoot is one of the creatures featured in the American Monsters edition. Yeti is featured in World Of Monsters.
- Call-Back: World Of Monsters is full of references to the previous three versions, such as the Inspector character being the same from the Universal Monsters version, Cross Creek (the setting of American Monsters) being a drink name and the Buccaneer character's existence being the result of the Siren being captured.
- Charm Person: Both Dracula and the Mummy are capable of this, moving heroes closer to their space through Powers and Monster cards.
- Chest Monster: The Dungeons and Dragons edition has a Mimic that takes the classic treasure-chest appearance as one of the monsters.
- Chupacabra: Featured in the American Monsters edition.
- Classical Chimera: One of the threats in the Greek Monsters edition.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Item tokens come in three colors, denoting the nature of their power: red for physical, blue for intellectual, and yellow for spiritual.
- Dragon Hoard: The Red Dragon in the Dungeons and Dragons edition has a big one that the players need to enter to take it down, as a sort of “boss arena”. They can “plunder” the hoard once they find its location to grab a free random item, though this will grab the dragon’s attention and summon it closer. That said, this is often a pragmatic decision by the player, since the dragon needs to be summoned into the hoard in order to defeat it.
- Dual Boss: Frankenstein and the Bride are always fought together.
- Deus ex Machina: Most of the perk cards are meant to simulate this. They're able to be played at any time, and can have effects such as finding new items, moving certain monsters anywhere on the board, or even skipping the round's monster phase entirely.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The Universal Horror version is the only one that's based on a licensed property (until the release of the Dungeons & Dragons version), with its item bag being made of cloth instead of plastic like the later three games. It also has seven monster figures instead of six (though both Frankenstein and the Bride count as one monster to defeat).
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The goal of "defeating" Frankenstein and the Bride is to teach them humanity, then bring them together. Essentially, this boils down to victory through couples counseling.
- Find the Cure!: The Wolf Man is "defeated" by curing him of his lycanthropy through scientific means, represented in-game through the collection and placement of blue item tokens. This echoes Larry Talbot's plotline in House of Dracula.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The Dungeons and Dragons edition, upon removing the lid of the box, has the revealed lower half of the box and the backside of the game board look like a huge mouth – the entire game is a Mimic.
- Go for the Eye: The players need to defeat the Beholder in the Dungeons and Dragons edition using this strategy again and again, blinding its eye-stalks one by one (or 2-3 at a time if they roll high enough), before blinding its big main eye. This also means the Beholder gets slightly weaker over the course of the game, as it loses its ability to launch various attacks.
- Handicapped Badass: The Mayor in the first game is in a wheelchair, as is the Inspector in “World of Monsters”.
- Holy Burns Evil: Dracula is defeated by using spiritual items, rather than physical.
- Jack of All Trades: The Mayor is the only hero to lack a special action. To compensate, she can take 5 actions per turn, where most other heroes only get 4 (or 3 in the case of the Explorer). Same for the Journalist in American Monsters and the Traveler in Greek Monsters.
- Our Minotaurs Are Different: The original one, having escaped the Labyrinth with a broken horn and a war-club, is a threat in the Greek Monsters edition.
- Medusa: A snake-tailed version with a bow is one of the threats in Greek Monsters.
- Monster Mash: The raison d'etre of the game; it's you and your friends vs. horror's greatest hits.
- Monsters Stole My Equipment: If the Invisible Man is in play when the "Thief!" monster card is drawn, he instantly moves to the space with the most items on it and destroys them all.
- Mountain Man: One of the player characters in the "American Monsters" version. His ability is to instantly move to any space on the board.
- My Rules Are Not Your Rules: The Creature from the Black Lagoon can travel through water spaces, and is the only piece in the game that can do so.
- Mythology Gag: chock full of them:
- The first thing you see when you open the box is a mythology gag; one quadrant of the board has a title card printed on the back that's a riff on the 'word of friendly warning' speech
at the beginning of Frankenstein (1931). - Each villager is a character in one of the featured movies; even Wilbur and Chick make an appearance!
- The first thing you see when you open the box is a mythology gag; one quadrant of the board has a title card printed on the back that's a riff on the 'word of friendly warning' speech
- Race Against the Clock: Running out of cards in the monster deck is an instant game over.
- Sadly Mythtaken: Pandora's Box is cited as the prison for monsters in the Greek Monsters version, even though Tartarus traditionally holds that role.
- Shout-Out: One of the Citizens in World Of Monsters is a documentary filmmaker named Raimi.
- Siren Song: The Greek Monsters version has an actual Siren using one that can lure players towards it, and the player needs to best it by countering the tones it uses in the song.
- The Banshee of the Badlands in American Monsters has a skeletal friend with a fiddle who uses a similar power to endanger players.
- Starter Villain: Dracula and the Creature are the simplest monsters to defeat, and the game recommends them for your first game.
- In American Monsters, the Chupacabra and Banshee of the Badlands fill this role.
- For Greek Monsters, it’s the Basilisk and Cerberus.
- In World of Monsters, it’s the Yeti and the Jiangshi.
- For Dungeons and Dragons, it’s the Displacer Beast and the Beholder. For all of these, it should be noted that these monsters aren’t necessarily the least dangerous or easiest to beat, but the gameplay to deal with them is the simplest.
- The Jersey Devil: One of the American Monsters.
- The Mothman: One of the opponents in American Monsters.
- Tragic Monster: Implied; the Wolfman can only be defeated by curing him of his lycanthropy.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change:
- The search for The Creature's lair is represented by moving a boat down a Candyland-style trail of colored squares.
- Solving the Mummy's curse is represented by a sliding tiles puzzle, trying to match the right numbered tokens to the right slots.
- Defeating Cthulhu and the Red Dragon require two extra phases in a "boss battle" style.
- The Mimic doesn’t even appear on the board for the majority of its time in the game, but moves around in a square on its own game card, moving the terror track up if certain conditions aren’t met once it hits certain spaces. If said conditions are met, it will finally appear on the board, but will also be already vulnerable to any player with the right items.
- You Have to Believe Me!:
- The first step to defeating the Invisible Man? Gathering enough evidence to prove to the authorities that he even exists.
- Bigfoot in American Monsters. Your goal isn't to defeat him; it's simply to photograph him.
