Let’s return to the dark side with the newest edition of Star Wars Villainous in Revenge At Last. This is the second “expandalone” in the line after Scum & Villainy and the first release to only feature two characters: Darth Maul and Commander Phasma. Each represent different eras of galactic villainy and each represent brand new approaches for the Villainous game line.
What’s In The Box?
Like most of the Villainous titles, particularly the Star Wars line, the art for the game largely is re-used stills and shots from the property rendered into the realistic art style of the game with few design changes. For Revenge At Last, that means Phasma’s cards (which use art from the Sequel Trilogy) look really good and fit well with previous releases. For Maul, who draws heavily on the stylized art of Rebels, its a bit more of a disconnect. Putting aside the limited sources for the character, it stands out quite a bit. This is of course personal preferences but I much prefer unity of design over fidelity to the source. The movers, however, both look great and in particular I’m a fan of the way Phasma’s incorporates her cloak and armor without losing the hyper-stylized design choice.
How’s It Play?
You can get a good rundown on the basic Villainous playstyle in my previous reviews of Star Wars Villainous: Power of the Dark Side and Scum & Villainy. Like the whole line, it’s essentially a totally asymmetrical game where each player has their own goals and plans to achieve them with a few tools available to mess with the others to hinder them in the process. I’ll go into detail about the two new characters below, but Maul and Phasma both add in some new ways to approach the game that are fascinating and encourage a bit more interaction with other players than some previous villains.
Maul
Maul’s gameplay is a fascinating twist on the usual use of heroes in Star Wars Villainous. Matching his eventual role as a corruptor, his goal is to get a hero to join him and then defeat another hero. To do this he must get a hero’s strength down below zero to get them on his side, position them to strike against another hero, then come out on top in a fight. He has plenty of tools to help him weaken heroes as well as find them when he needs them. It’s a pretty flavorful use of the character, though I do wish that he wasn’t ONLY referencing his role in Rebels. There’s no doubt a push for representation of the whole saga in the game, but not having ANYTHING from the Duel of Fates or his character-defining arc in The Clone Wars feels like a miss.
Phasma
Captain Phasma’s goals are equally fitting to her character, but take a radically different approach. Phasma requires you to rethink how you approach the placement of your characters and essentially replicates the ruthless and expansionist nature of Phasma’s First Order. In order to win you’ll have to get Stormtroopers on every location in the game. This naturally will not go over well with opponents and will result in tons of fantastic fights for the general.
The Verdict?
This is the second “expandalone” for Star Wars: Villainous and it feels a LOT better than Scum & Villainy. The characters both stand out more than the villains in that release while also fitting them way closer flavor-wise (I still don’t know how they fumbled Boba Fett like they did). They’re not quite as luck-based as some other Villains, a problem shared across all three Villainous lines, and instead reward careful strategy and and understanding of the game to win. I also appreciate the increased level of interaction and and interplay between players because, unfortunately, that remains one of the bigger knocks on the series. Any character that helps move away from that is a good addition in my book.
Also…Maul and Phasma are just super cool. What other reason do you really need?
You can grab Star Wars Villainous: Revenge At Last from Ravensburger or your FLGS at an MSRP of $19.99. You can also get a copy at Target, which has its own Holocron cover and unique mover.
Images via Ravensburger
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