My family/friends and I were able to play a full game of A Touch of Evil: The Supernatural Gamewith <PERSON>, the designer, at this year's Origins Game Fair. The game isn't scheduled to be released until sometime in September, but Flying Frog productions had a preview copy available to try out at their booth. Below is an overview, a list of components, a summary of the rules, and my general thoughts and impressions about the game after one play. This is my first review, so if you have any questions or there are any elements that I didn't explain clearly, please ask and I'll try to help you out.
Note: One thing that I should have done is take notes as we were playing; unfortunately, I did not. Therefore I'm going off of my memory and some post-play input from other players in the game. There might be a few unintentional mistakes in regards to specific names/locations/titles, but I'm nearly positive I have most of the gameplay correct. If you notice anything mistaken or inaccurate, please let me know and I'll fix it right away.
Also, we only played the basic version of the rules, not the advanced version--which would understandably be a bit difficult to work with on a convention floor. All of the rules I refer to are the basic ones, but I got the impression that there's quite a bit more heft to the advanced game.
Overview: A Touch of Evil: The Supernatural Gameis a semi-cooperative/competitive board game set in early 1800s America. The town of Shadowbrook has been invaded by various supernatural monsters who have terrorized the village's inhabitants and laid waste to the surrounding countryside. The game can support up to 8 players, each taking the role of an "outsider" hero who has come to the town to defeat its evil villains and their minions. Unlike Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game, there are no rules for playing more than one hero at a time. Our game was with four players, and each of us became very invested in our own hero's actions and destiny. A big reason for this is that there are no character "deaths," but rather knock-outs which ensure that you remain attached to your own hero instead of drawing a new one every time you lose a battle to the Villain (and in our game, that happened quite a bit).
According to <PERSON>, this game can be played either cooperatively or competitively. 386
We played the competitive version, where the heroes are racing against each other to become the first one to defeat the <PERSON> in a one-on-one showdown. In a cooperative game, however, the heroes work together to defeat a stronger version of the Villain. If they choose, players can take turns rolling dice for the villain, although <PERSON> did a nice job as GM for the game (and I can see how this might be a popular variant).
I think the gameplay and strategies would be quite different for each variant, since many of the cards used in the game can have different effects depending on if you want to hurt a fellow player or help yourself. I don't know if it's a fair comparison, but this element of gameplay reminded me of Munchkin, where you can give bonuses to yourself or other players to help defeat the Villain (cooperative) or stack those bonuses on the Villain to make him more powerful when battling another player (competitive). This feature in A Touch of Evil works quite well, and provides great flexibility in allowing you to choose your own style of playing. I believe <PERSON> also mentioned that there would be rules for team play as well, but I don't know how similar that would be to the LNoE system.
Components: Just like its sister game Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game, A Touch of Evil: The Supernatural Gameis absolutely stuffed with gaming goodness. The board is folded, not modular, and has the look of a faded parchment map from the 1800s. At first I was a bit dubious due to the mostly monochromatic color scheme (I tend to like my boards bright and colorful), but its appearance quickly grew on me. It definitely fits the theme the designers were going for, and it's very clearly laid out and easy to read. There is ample space for everything going on, and the heroes never have to worry about bunching up in the same location. The center of the board contains the town of Shadowbrook and its various locations, each of which has some text on it to give the player instructions. This type is a bit on the small side, if I remember correctly, but it doesn't get in the way of the board's aesthetics. And it's pretty easy to remember what each town location does once it's been visited, so I don't think too many people will have problems with it.
Eight hero figures and their respective character charts are included. 755