I just discovered Beast and City of the Great Machine thanks to Shut Up And Sit Down and I’m pretty jazzed to try out Beast this weekend with some friends via Tabletop Simulator. I’ve never actually gotten to play a hidden movement game before, so this should inform my tastes quite nicely. I’ll be sure to update with some impressions/stories when that’s done.
If you haven’t seen it yet, Beast is a all-vs-one hidden movement game that’s conceptually very similar to the defunct video game Evolve. Players take on the role of hunters trying to track, trap and kill a monster played by another player before it can grow too powerful. With various monsters that all play differently I can anticipate a good deal of replayability, and with video games suddenly deciding 90$ is the new average price, Beast can be found for 65$. As a nice plus, it’s got an expansion coming to crowdfunding soon so if I like it I can deep dive even harder!
That said, I’m curious what others in this hidden movement niche I might be missing that people enjoy. If you’ve got a notable example let me know!
A fairly easy to find cheap option, Jaws by Ravensburger is pretty good. There are two parts to the game. In the first half, the shark player is going around the island, trying to get swimmers. Once either a certain number of swimmers are eaten, or the players trying to find the shark manager to tag it with two barrels, you flip the board and move to the second part, with extra items or shark abilities reflecting how well you managed that first half.
The second half is less hidden movementy, but still has a nod to it, as each turn there are three possible areas on the ship for the shark to attack (revealed by cards), and the human characters are trying to react based on where they think the shark player will be going.