Deep within the ruins of an ancient Sith temple, Kylo Ren stood with his unstable blade crackling, caught between admiration and resentment, as Darth Vader emerged, his presence suffocating, the air itself recoiling. Then Moff Gideon entered, while Asajj Ventress prowled the edges, twin sabres igniting, her gaze calculating. A metallic rasp followed as General Grievous stepped forward, stolen lightsabres humming in his grasp. Past, present and future – each a force of ambition, none willing to yield. This was no mere gathering. This was Star Wars Villainous: Power of the Dark Side by Michael Mulvihill and Prospero Hall from Ravensburger with art from Piotr Rossa and Lucas Torquato.
Card Game Star Wars
It is inevitable that Star Wars, one of the countless Disney brands, would eventually be implemented as yet another Ravensburger game that is based on a popular and hugely famous, not to mention incredibly lucrative, IP from the American entertainment conglomerate. Star Wars Villainous: Power of the Dark Side, or Star Wars Villainous for short, is the latest instalment of the series of games where you can play as one of the baddies from your favourite Disney franchise. It takes the classic Villainous into a galaxy far, far away and not only features many iconic characters, wonderful artwork and famous plotlines, but also adds extra mechanisms to give fans of the original game something new to discover.
If you have played the original Disney Villainous, you will immediately be familiar with Star Wars Villainous. First, you select your character. You can choose between iconic villains such as Kylo Ren and Darth Vader, as well as the less-well-known Asajj Ventress, Moff Gideon and General Grievous. Then you take your player board, villain and fate decks and your gorgeous acrylic character figures, before checking your character’s leaflet to learn about your goal and how best to win, as well as how to set up your board and what additional tokens or tiles you might need.
I know. Real Star Wars fans, whatever that means, will probably chastise me for thinking that Asajj Ventress, Moff Gideon and General Grievous are less-well-known. However, if you’re not an enthusiast or a member of the 501st Legion, then you will probably only recognise Kylo and Darth. In fact, you’re more likely to recognise snowtroopers or the Emperor‘s royal guards. Sorry, but that’s how I see it, even with the visor down. I can feel it in the Force.
A Mechanism Far, Far Away
Now, while I can sort of forgive the character selection in Star Wars Villainous, I really don’t understand why Ravensburger needed to add Deep Space as a new location, along with vehicles, which are a new type of card. There are hero vehicles and ally vehicles, which can engage and neutralise each other or disengage to give your villain character a new location with actions, that are in addition to the pre-printed locations and actions on your board.
The vehicles create extra flexibility and give your villain character more options, but they also add extra complexity and rules overhead. While they clearly try to emulate the epic space chase sequences from the Star Wars franchise, be it the Millennium Falcon attacking a Tie-Fighter, X-Wings attacking Star Destroyers or some other madcap combination, it makes things too complicated in my view.
I really enjoyed the relative simplicity of the original Disney Villainous. Sure, the classic Villainous can take a little while to learn and fully understand, but about halfway through your very first game, you feel you’re in control and have enough brain capacity to start thinking about how to interfere with other players. By the end of it, you have a good grasp of everything and are ready to play your second game with a more strategic approach.
In Star Wars Villainous, I was constantly hoping to hear Obi-Wan‘s words so that I could switch off the targeting computer and put the rulebook aside. Alas, the Force never guided me. I had to constantly look up how vehicles engage, disengage or reengage. It was just too much hassle for me.
Space – Not the Final Frontier
I was really excited to finally play as one of my favourite Star Wars villains. It had the potential to let me play as an iconic villain other than Darth Vader and Kylo Ren. Just imagine what it might have felt like to play as the Emperor or even Darth Maul. Maybe vehicles could have been truly mobile and move between player boards to cause some havoc and create a real sense of how truly exhilarating chasing through space is.
Unfortunately, as it stands, I just bounced off the extra complexity like a B1 series battle droid off a deflector shield. I really wanted the Star Wars Villainous gameplay experience to be as smooth as a lightsaber piercing the blast doors of a Trade Federation ship. Instead, it felt like shooting womp rats from a T-16: perfectly doable, but not very exciting and a bit pointless.
So while I always happily play the original Disney Villainous any time, its Star Wars sibling, like Garvin Dreis, missed the mark for me. It can happily remain in its galaxy far, far away from me.
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Transparency Facts
I feel that this review reflects my own, independent and honest opinion, but the facts below allow you to decide whether you think that I was influenced in any way.
- I bought and paid for the game myself.
- At the time of writing, I have not received financial support from the publisher or anyone working on their behalf.
Audio Version
Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (https://www.
Music from the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer – cover version.
Music: “ascending” provided by mobygratis.
Playlist
These are the songs I listened to while I was writing this review:
