PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Psycho Killer: The Card Game is a 2-6 player survival horror game in which players try to dodge the attacks of a killer straight out of a slasher film. With a balance of luck and strategy, you must outwit and outplay your friends in order to survive.
Before I get into the gameplay, I need to address the aesthetics of the packaging. The box looks incredible with its VHS tape design. In fact, everything about the game’s look is right out of the ’80s or early ’90s. The cards feature a simple yet effective art style and look like something you might have found in storage, tucked away and forgotten.
Psycho Killer: The Card Game is easy to learn. It even includes a QR code that opens a How to Play video if needed. It takes roughly twenty-five minutes to play and has different rules if only playing with two players to keep it fresh. You will use horror tropes to your advantage to protect yourself from the killer while setting up your friends to be the next victim. Your group will encounter the killer five times before the game ends… and only one of you will survive.
You use a solid balance of luck and strategy in Psycho Killer: The Card Game as you hilariously set each other up for failure while ensuring your own safety. Be warned, however… this is not a game where you can ever sit comfortably. There is a very real chance that you can go from the top player to the bottom very quickly, no matter how safe you think you are, making the game exciting up until the very end.
Psycho Killer: The Card Game combines an amazing aesthetic with fun gameplay modeled after the most common horror movie tropes. Add in the Spotify playlist via QR code on the box and you get an atmosphere comparable to inviting friends over to watch a classic horror movie you’ve all seen a hundred times, only now you play it rather than watch it.
“Bloody Mary” is the first expansion, which turns Psycho Killer: The Card Game into a hilarious drinking game as you take on the role of the stereotypical cast in a horror movie. The box is designed to look like a Walkman with a cassette tape inside. Two more expansions are projected to release this summer: “Gratuitous Violence” and “Psycho Killer Z.” Both of them have boxes that are designed to look like cassette tapes. “Gratuitous Violence” adds another layer of strategy that includes ways to target other players with weaponry, while “Psycho Killer Z” adds zombie elements, turning players into secret zombies.
After playing the base game and each expansion, both with two players and with a larger group, I really enjoyed them all. They look great, they are simple and fun, and are perfect for a horror-themed party or get together.
