Ultimate Werewolf Deluxe Edition5-75 Players
30 - 90 Minute Playtime
Brief Overview:
Ultimate Werewolf is a game of social deduction best played with a group of around 12 people. Each player will secretly be given a card that will tell them whether they are on the team of villagers or werewolves, and some cards may also be special roles with unique abilities to further add mystery and excitement to the game. If you are on the villagers team, your object is to discover the werewolves in the village and even harder - convince enough of the other villagers to side with you in a vote to eliminate that player from the game. As for the werewolves - survive, and one by one slowly kill off the villagers each night until the werewolves have the majority alive in the village.
The game is played over a series of moderated Day and Night phases. During the day is where all the discussions happen (usually wild accusations and mischievous bluffing!), and the day will end with an opportunity for the group to hold a majority vote and kill off one person from the game. The night phase will follow where everyone will close their eyes, and being led by the moderator, the werewolves and each special character will be given a chance to use their abilities in secret to try and effect the outcome of the game.
The next morning, everyone will awaken (open their eyes) and the moderator will reveal to the group who died during the night and reset the cycle for the next day phase. The game repeats in this manner until either the villagers or werewolves manage to fulfil their victory requirements.
My Thoughts:
Ultimate Werewolf is a game without any real direction or exact way to play. It basically sets up your roles with victory requirements and allows you to determine who you can and cannot trust in your own way. There will be a few who will struggle without any proper guidance on what exactly to do, but its this aspect of Ultimate Werewolf that makes it so appealing. You'll slowly learn peoples habits and bluffs until you think you've got everything figured out, only to be completely blindsided by a werewolf.
One session will easily blend into six and with over 40 roles and plenty of scenarios that will change and effect the game, Ultimate Werewolf has a long shelf life. You need a large gaming group for this but if you have one it will not only be a hit with the majority, but require multiple plays as everyone look to discover a new role or play better than they did the last round. Being a simple villager isn't as fun as being a werewolf or a villager with a special power, but being a villager makes those other roles that little bit extra special when you do get to play as them. Playable with up to 75 people, Ultimate Werewolf proclaims itself as being the #1 party game for large groups - and I'd have to agree.
It's not often that I spend more time talking about a gaming session then I actually do playing it in the first place, but with Ultimate Werewolf it always ends up happening. The post-game recap, after session highlights and next day chat are a big part of the game and are enjoyable, filled with laughs, bad decisions and strategies to improve next time.
Regardless of whether accusing as a villager, observing as a seer, blending in as a werewolf, or just watching the action unfold as the moderator - Ultimate Werewolf is a thrill.
Please note this is the only version of Werewolf I have played
My Verdict:
The best social bluffing game I've played.
