Gaming usually has you take on the role of a hero. This is especially true of video games, which, for the most part, involve a single player fighting against enemies controlled by a computer. Because most people prefer good guys to bad guys, the player is usually cast in the role of the hero.
However, there are plenty of games, both video and tabletop, that deviate from this, and let players play around with the role of a villain. Here, we’re going to show you some of the best board games out there that cast players as bad guys. Note that this list is not about games where only one of several players plays a bad guy. Sure, it may be possible to play a bad guy in a game like that, but that’s not the primary experience of that game. This list is about games where playing as the villain is the primary experience, if not the only one available.
Disney Villainous
Some of the most recognizable characters ever created
This fun, strategic card game casts players as one of six iconic Disney villains, and charges them with using their unique decks and abilities to accomplish equally unique goals.
This strategic combination card and board game casts players as one of several iconic Disney villains. The base game alone has Captain Hook, Maleficent, Prince John, Ursula, Jafar, or the Queen of Hearts, and there are several expansions containing additional bad guys.
Each of these characters plays differently. They have their own unique deck full of thematic abilities, and their own board which they move around on to perform different actions. They’re also each paired with a customized fate deck containing events that can be used against them. The fundamental mechanics of the game are the same for each of them, but their different abilities make them play differently. On top of all that, they each have their own completely different win condition, so what you’re trying to do as you play with them will vary as much as everything else!
Star Wars Villainous: Power Of The Dark Side
Great on its own or with its twin
An extension of the above game, Star Wars Villainous replaces its iconic Disney villains with, well, another set of Disney villains, technically, but this time it’s the ones from Star Wars.
Star WarsVillainous is simultaneously an expansion of the original Disney edition and a stand-alonegame. There are five villains here, plenty to allow you to play the game on your own, but the rules are the same, so you may easily play with a mixture of villains from each of them. You can further mix these with villains from the numerous other expansions that are available, including additional Star Wars villains and a handful taken from Marvel. This leaves you with loads of options, far too many to appear in any one game, which means every game of Villainous feels truly different.
Coup
Great Hidden Identity Mechanics
Set in a dystopian sci-fi universe reminiscent of the setting of Dune, Coup follows the intrigues of several wealthy aristocrats as they work to undermine and destroy one another, not just with the cards they were dealt, but also with the ones they weren’t.
Coup is a game ofintrigue. At the onset, each character is dealt a pair of cards. Each card has its own aristocratic personage, be it a captain, a Duke, an assassin, or a Contessa. Each of these card types has unique abilities, and the players need to use these abilities to kill off their opponents’ cards and obtain victory. The catch? The cards are dealt face down, so there’s nothing to stop them from lying about what they have. Well, nothing but the threat of being punished if someone correctly calls them out.
The villainous flavor of this game is a key aspect of its tone. This game is about a bunch of horrible aristocrats lying to, murdering and betraying one another, so it’s incredibly fitting that deception and betrayal are the game’s core mechanics!
Mage Knight: Ultimate Edition
One of the richest strategy games ever made
This extremely complicated but correspondingly rich tabletop fantasy game has you playing as a powerful, ruthless magical conqueror who has set out to raise armies and raze cities for their own gain.
Mage Knight is a beloved, extremely intricate fantasy game that can be played alone, cooperatively, or competitively. In this game, you play as a powerful magic warrior reminiscent of many evil overlords from various works of fantasy fiction, and you use the game’s lovingly crafted and very complex mechanics to conquer the realm’s numerous cities.
The specific product linked here is the ultimate edition, which includes the original base game plus all of its expansions in a single box, though you might want to start simpler, and work your way up to the full complexity this game is capable of. If you’re looking for an Evil Overlord experience, this is the game for you.
Gloom (Second Edition)
A well-crafted black comedy
This black comedy card game places you in control of a macabre family in a cartoonish, gothic setting, and charges you with tormenting and killing them to accumulate points, even as your opponents try to sabotage you by brightening their days.
There are two senses in which Gloom is about playing a villain. First, at least some of the eccentric families you work to torment in this game are morally questionable. This game has a very Adams Family aesthetic, complete with the moral ambiguity that it carries.
However, the main reason you’re the bad guy in this game is because of what you, the player, are doing. It’s your job to use the plastic cards in your hand to raincomedically alliterativemisfortune on the family you control, before killing them just as horribly. Essentially, you play as a sadistic, malevolent force that is bending fate to torture and torment these families, including their animals and children. That sounds pretty villainous to us!
Zombie Dice Deluxe Dice Game
How many brains can you eat?
This press-your-luck dice game casts the players as zombies and tasks them with hunting down human survivors. Depending on a roll of the dice, each survivor has the potential to shoot you, or to fall and yield their scrumptious brains. How many brains can you eat before you’re put town?
Another black comedy, after a fashion, this dice game casts you as a zombie and has you pursue varioussurvivorsand attempt to eat as many brains as you can before getting shot too much. Depending on their color, the custom dice in this game have a variable chance of yielding brains or bullets.
Your task is to accumulate as many brains as possible over the course of a round, but be careful! If you press your luck too far, and accumulate too many shotgun wounds, all the brains you’ve won that round are forfeit. This is a fast, fun game that has you making tense and meaningful choices about when to keep going and when to back down.
Warhammer 40,000 Starter Set
There is a staggering amount of content for this game
Warhammer 40K is one of the biggest names in miniatures wargaming, with an immensely popular sci-fi franchise and an enormous amount of lore to go with it. Pretty much everyone in this universe is a bad guy, but none more than the Imperium of Man.
The most popular miniatures wargame in the world,Warhammer 40Ktransports you into its term-coiningly grimdark setting, and has you lead an army consisting one of this rich universe’s many, many factions.
With so many factions to choose from, you might think that one of them, just one, would surely have to be a good guy, but you’d think wrong. There are really and truly no good options here. Morally, we mean. In every other respect, there areloads of good options, and each accompanied by an immense amount of lore. The only thing they all have in common is that they’re each horrible in their own special way.
The entirety of Warhammer 40K is immense. There are genuinely countless figurines you can acquire and play as, not unlike the enormous variety of cards you can choose from in a trading card game. Even when they’re built from the same faction, every army in this game is different.
FAQ
What is the board game where one player is the villain?
A lot of games meet this description. There are hidden identity games like Werewolf, cooperative-with-defector games like Dead of Winter and Betrayal at House on the Hill, and 1v1 good vs evil games like Star Wars: Rebellion.
What Villainous games are there?
The Villainous games are owned by Disney, and all the villains in them are from Disney-owned properties. If it were any other company, that would be a meaningful restriction, but for an entertainment giant that owns massive swathes of popular culture, it leaves us with a healthy variety of Disney Animated Studios, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel villains to choose from.
Why is it more fun to play the villain?
Villains are allowed to do things the rest of us just aren’t. All of us spend our real lives restricted by the rules of social behavior and morality. Entering into a fictional universe and playing as a villain lets us relax those restrictions and indulge darker impulses in a safe and socially acceptable environment.
