Beast Wars (One Night Ultimate Werewolf)

Thud.
That's all you hear, all you want to hear as you run through.  The adage holds true, don't outrun the beast, outrun your friends.  The howl pierces your ears and sends shivers down your spine.  Just keep running, you tell yourself, but you know it's too late when you skid to a stop, and see the den.  The den with 2 other werewolves.  This is the One Night, and the Ultimate Werewolf is here.



BACKGROUND: One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a hidden role game for 3-10 players.  It was created by Ted Alspach, Akihisa Okui, and Gus Batts,and published by Bézier Games in 2014.  Like in typical Werewolf fashion, players take either the role of Werewolves or Villagers, and attempt to kill the other.

GAMEPLAY:  Each player is dealt a random number token, and character role face-down.  There are more role cards dealt face down in the center.  Then, all players close their eyes, called the Night Phase. Using either the app or reading the effects from a narrator, the role cards are read in a specific order with various effects happening



WINNING:  Once all roles have been read, and all the effects determined for the night, the Day Phase happens, where players vote off a character or characters in the case of a tie.  The player voted off reveals the card in front of them, which is not necessarily their starting card.  Generally, is a Wolf is voted off, the Villagers win, and vice versa, but sometimes that may differ depending on the card.

CONCLUSION:  When I first heard the concept, Werewolf in 1 night, I admit that I was...hesitant.  Part of the fun is detection, and reading people, which one night wouldn't allow for very well, so I thought. Yet, this feels like the natural evolution of where Werewolf should go.  The game seem short initially, but that allows for a more intense guessing of characters.  The roles are fun and unique, and the game flows well once you get the hang of it, which takes less than a minute.  I would love a Mafia skin of this game, as there is already an Alien, Vampire, and Super Villains version of this game.  Obviously, purists and people who love longer Werewolf games aren't going to like this as much, and because the app is so helpful and fluid, this will turn some people off who enjoy narration and putting their own twist on the world, but I still say those people should at least try this version out, if not to replace the other version, than at least to give these worlds a fair chance.