Review Details

Ultimate Werewolf: Deluxe Edition (2014)

Product Review (submitted on November 10, 2015):

Werewolf is a classic party game of bluffing and deduction. At the start of the game, players are assigned secret roles with the most common being werewolves and villagers (and one player being the judge/referee). Every round, all the players close their eyes and the werewolves then open their eyes and pick a victim. Then all players open their eyes and the victim is announced by the referee and leaves the game. Then everyone votes on who they believe to be a werewolf and discuss back and forth until there is a majority. Obviously, the werewolf players want to lead the villagers to choose an innocent villager. The player chosen is then removed as well. Play proceeds until there are either no more werewolves or there is only one villager left.

Werewolf is best with a fairly large group to make the deduction and voting more interesting but can be played with a minimum of four (plus a referee). The biggest downside is the downtime for any player eliminated. Once a player is out, there is nothing for them to do so its best to have some other quick games around once a few players are out of the game.

Ultimate Werewolf adds quite a few new roles that can shake up the game and add more strategy. The card artwork is nice and the components are solid. While the game can certainly be played without cards (as it is a classic party game), there is a enough to like here to make it worth paying for a premium but be aware of the issues with player elimination.