Blood Hunt Board Game Review
Transcript
Try to gather their right citizens from the available districts in Bloodhunt. Thank you for joining me here at Tantrum House Studio D. I'm Kevin Delp. Bloodhunt is a competitive game for two to four players that has hand management, card play, and some set collecting. Plays in about 30 minutes and is published by Mandu Games who sent us this copy to review. And I believe the game will be released at Essen Spiel [clears throat] 2026 in October. The game comes with a coffin-shaped main board, numbered cards, a bag, tokens, and card holders. Here's a quick overview of the game. In Bloodhunt, each player is trying to collect a certain number of citizens to win the game. Or, if no one can achieve that by the end of the third round, players count up their points from the tokens they've collected and whoever has the most points will win. In a round, each player has a card holder with cards in front of them. On your turn, you're going to draw the top card from the deck and you decide to either discard that card and do the effect that's on it or discard a card in your holder and put the new card in its place. The discarded card is then activated with its specific effect and we'll talk about those in a little bit.
The discarded cards actually go into an open district around the board wherever the player wants. Once a district has four cards, then you'll close the district and resolve it. Each player reveals the card in their holder that matches that district. Highest value is going to win, but there is a trump color as determined by the top disc on the main board. So, highest trump to lowest trump is going to win and then highest number to lowest number is going to win. And the winners in order are going to choose a citizen from that district until there are no citizens left. You're trying to collect citizens of a certain kind to win the game. So, a player can immediately win if they collect three lords or three ladies or four priests or five scholars or five dancers. So, winning a district is going to really help you accomplish this goal. Now, the meat of the game is in the cards that are being played. Each number has a specific effect. Let's go through each of them now.
Now, remember these powers are activated when that number is discarded on your turn. Zeros gain you the first player token. Ones force an opponent to reveal their card that matches an open district. Twos allow you to place any card from your holder on the bottom of the deck and then draw a new card to replace it. Threes swap the position of any two cards in your holder. Fours flip a citizen token to the vampire side, which in effect makes that token worth more points and is no longer a citizen, which could thwart an opponent who is collecting a certain type of citizen. Fives let you draw a new citizen from the bag and replace it with any token in that district. Sixes allow you to swap citizen tokens between districts. Sevens allow you to move a discarded card from one district to another.
Hopefully, you're going to close a different district out. Eights allow you to swap a card from your holder with an opponent's card from the same district in their holder. And nines allow you to change the trump color by moving a new color to the top. This game plays fast since it's a max of three rounds or sooner if a player meets the win condition. I'm going to give you two critiques and then talk through some things I like and then finish up with some closing comments. First, I wish the game came with some player aids for what the numbers do. It's clear in the rule book, but I think it would be super helpful to have a card that each player can look at that explains the icons on those numbered cards. Once you know what they do, it's not hard, but when you're teaching a game or if it's been a while uh since you've played the game, you're constantly referring to the rule book or asking other players what certain icons mean. Sort of disrupts the game.
The other critique has to do with the card holder itself. They build it in such a way that there's no front or back, which sounds cool, but the groove is not deep enough, so the cards are falling out and being revealed accidentally to the other players with just the slightest bump or table movement. And since this game is all about keeping your cards secret, then it kind of really stings that the card holder isn't as usable as I would have hoped. All the other components are great. The thick number cards, the bag, the tokens, and I love the artwork. It's got that gothic feel running through all the different characters. And of course, the coffin-shaped main board is a nice touch. Gameplay for me is the highlight in this game. Trying to decide what card to discard for the effect that's going to help me win and even where I place my discarded card makes the game really fun. Do you try and thwart your opponent by flipping a token over so they don't finish their set, or do you try to move the trump at the right time so you can win a district?
Each number feels purposeful and all are great options for gameplay tactics and strategy. For player count, I personally like this at the four player count, but it's definitely playable at two and three. I just like more players to interact with, and I think the game plays better at four personally. It's easy to play, and it's definitely on my top list of games to get at Essen Spiel 2026. So, check it out from Mando Games.