Monsterhearts 2 is a game for sexy teen monsters to have melodramatic interactions, but, it goes out of its way to be “sexy” and “edgy”, which to me was actually a turn off.
Mechanically, the game is fine. It follows the standard Powered by the Apocalypse layout, with a few minor name changes to suit the game’s style. I think MOST of the skins were well thought out, each skin representing a different kind of monster, and the abilities therein. I do not like the Mortal aka the human. Its abilities lead me to believe that the “best” way to play this character is as the victim of abuse, and you have very few choices beyond that.
The art is so-so. The cover is the best art by far; with the interior art looking like someone used a marker to copy pictured of goths and punks. The vast majority of the monsters look like normal people. Maybe this is part of the game, that monsters have to “blend in”, but for a game that pronounces itself as out and proud, I’d like the monsters to look like monsters, at least in some of the art.
The ZIP file is actually great. You can get the book with each page as a single layout, or lay out side by side. The player skins are laid out to be printed and folded into little player books, which I think is a good touch. There’s also a PDF of towns you can set your sexy monster abusive relationship game in, with potential story seed. (I found the towns PDF to be the best part of the book.)
All in all, I’m going to give this game a solid “meh”. It’s not sexy. It is melodramatic. It does have monsters. It’s a different kind of game, and Buried Without Ceremony should be congratulated for being daring enough to try it.
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