I've been increasingly drawn to co-op games in the past 10 years or so. For one, companies are making more of them. I also find myself gravitating toward Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons.

Given how the D&D theme is perfect for co-op play as it is, it's a perfect match on paper. But Ravensburger has gone the extra mile with this iteration, adding a D20, among other little nuances (lore-related as well as mechanical) that help it stand out from the Horrified game line as a whole, as well as the entire co-op tabletop space.

Horrified Dungeons & Dragons Nails The D&D Theme

Dungeon Delving and Hanging Around Town Are Both On The Table

If you've never played Horrified before, the setup is straightforward, as well as modular. Your ultimate goal is to slay all the monsters in any given session as a team, all of which have differing objectives, puzzles, and requirements. You'll move across a game board to different locations, picking up items along the way to solve said puzzles or defeat each monster, on top of guiding friendly NPCs to safety. Naturally, monsters can add wrinkles to the quest and have their own phases (governed by a monster deck) that kick off after the end of every single player's turn.

Where the modularity comes in is through the combinations of monsters. You're generally fighting two monsters on the default first-time setup, but you can go down to one for an easier/faster experience, or fight every foe at once in a purely chaotic power-gaming session. Each player character also has a unique set of skills that can turn the tide, which is perfect for the party-based setting of Dungeons & Dragons. Playable characters include The Rogue, The Wizard, The Fighter, The Cleric, and The Bard. The player count starts at one (allowing solo play) and goes up to five.

At its core, Horrified is an action economy game. Generally, you'll only get four actions per player turn, which allow you to move, gather items, direct NPCs, solve monster puzzles, or slay/defeat monsters when all of the proper requirements are met. How you choose to spend your turn is up to you, but if you aren't making progress, the monsters can slowly overwhelm you before you're victorious. It's a nice push and pull that allows sessions to be hectic, without being too punishing.

So, where does the Dungeons & Dragons element come in? Every hero and monster is D&D themed, and there's a D20 included in the box that's heavily baked into the mechanics. As an action, players can roll the D20 to dictate their special action based on their character, which includes defending monster attacks for a fighter archetype, or teleporting characters around the board for a mage class, and so on. Monsters can also access the D20 for devilish attacks and abilities.

The design philosophy for Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons is sleek because it incentivizes players to use the D20 ability potentially every turn. Given that the powers themselves are fairly powerful, even if you don't roll your desired outcome, it's a fun way to keep dice rolling an active part of the game's moment-to-moment flow.

While the unique abilities of each character are diverse in past Horrified games, the addition of the D20 ensured that I tried out every single character, rather than sticking to a few I liked. The breadth of their powers also makes for some exciting combinations, and I can see teams strategizing about which party to pair together to maximize the effectiveness of their kits.

There's Only Four Monsters, But It Feels Like Five

The Dragon Has Two Phases

Since monsters are the most important part of any Horrified game, it's only fair that we break down what you're getting in comparison to past series entries. As a refresher, here's a quick breakdown of the monsters contained in each Horrified SKU:

• Universal Monsters - Six Monsters
• American Monsters - Six Monsters
• Greek Monsters - Six Monsters
• World of Monsters - Four Monsters
• Dungeons & Dragons - Four Monsters (Mimic, Displacer Beast, Beholder, Red Dragon)

All four of the Dungeons & Dragons monsters, in addition to being recognizable from D&D lore, have unique mechanics. The Mimic has its own map on its monster board, and attempts to hide while it causes mischief for the party. The Displacer Beast is similarly tough to take out and can hunt down players by teleporting to their location. The Beholder has tons of eyestalks (with unique powers) that need to be destroyed before it can be defeated. Finally, the Red Dragon is billed as a two-step "campaign" rather than a single bout.

The raw number of monsters has been trending downward in the last few sets, but their complexity has been steadily increasing over time. Similar to the way Cthulhu worked in World of Monsters, the dragon in Dungeons & Dragons is a two-phase fight, which essentially increases the unique number of encounters to five. You need to find the dragon's lair, collect a relic (The Orb of Dragonkind), lure the dragon out, surround its lair, and defeat it. It feels like a proper quest, especially compared to the other monsters, which are more traditional for the Horrified system.

Every monster is fun to fight against, but I wish there were more of them. The first three Horrified entries had a lot of variety right out of the box, as six monsters allow for all sorts of wild mix-and-match combinations. When I first fired up the original Horrified with my core tabletop group, we tried out multiple monster combos just to see how difficult we could make the game. That aspect is missing from the last two iterations of the game, but every single monster is a slam dunk, so the D&D version makes up for it with consistency.

There's more complexity in other areas, too. The map, which is broken into two iconic sections (Waterdeep at the top and Undermountain at the bottom), is a unique setting for Horrified. Teleportation circles dot the landscape and allow for easier travel in the Undermountain, and outside untraditional means, you must exit the town through the sewers, or a corkscrew portal gate. Movement is even more important here than it is in any other version of the game, which adds another layer to planning.

Horrified Is A Series That Could Go On Indefinitely

There Is No Shortage Of Themes

As a game line, Horrified has been around for nearly six years now. I didn't expect it to go on this long, but I'm glad it has. I've been an avid player of Horrified since the first entry, and not just because they're co-op experiences. They're also very easy to pick up, play, and teach. I've taught Horrified to non-tabletop players, including my daughter, and all of them were able to grasp the game's flow in roughly five minutes.

It's a fantastic system that gels with many existing themes, but Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons shows how far that foundation can continue to go. Adding the D20 and an element of calculated risk to the game was a brilliant idea, and many more key mechanics like that can be just as easily applied to future expansions. Even if this were the end, it would be an excellent way for the line to bow out.

A copy of Horrified: Dungeons & Dragons was provided by the publisher for this review. The game is slated for release later this year, and can be pre-ordered here. Sales for the game at other retailers will begin on August 1. Ravensburger will be providing demos at their booth (#2-739) during the UK Games Expo, from May 30-June 1.