Cthulhu Monster Pack Review - King of New York / King of Tokyo Expansion

The Cthulhu Monster Pack is playable with both King of New York and King of Tokyo but does require one of them to play. Check out our King of New York review here and our King of Tokyo 2nd Edition review here.

The monster pack contains the Cthulhu monster board and figure, and also the evolution cards for both King of New York and King of Tokyo. One of the evolution cards, which is extremely thematic, is "Dread Tentacles", it works the same in KoT and KoNY and allows you to put a madness token on monsters you damage. Maness tokens reduce the flexibility of your opponents roll and doesn't allow them to re-roll dice up to the amount of madness tokens they have. For example, if a monster has 3 madness tokens, the player will first roll three dice first that can't be re-rolled, then the last three dice as normal.

The Cthulhu Monster Pack adds a new building to King of New York and a new unit to King of Tokyo and King of New York.  In King of Tokyo, if after resolving the dice, you have 4 of the same dice face, you can get a Cultist unit from the pile which can be exchanged at any time for an extra health, energy or re-roll. In King of New York, the Temple of Cthulhu buildings are shuffled in to the normal buildings and if they are destroyed turn into a Cultist. Cultists in King of New York are removed when damaged as normal and can be exchanged at any time for an extra health, energy or re-roll.

The Cthulhu Monster Pack isn't an essential purchase for either game, unless you're a fan of Cthulhu, then it becomes an absolute, as Cthulhu is extremely thematic and great fun to play. The buildings/cultists add a nice effect and another dimension to think about as the game is going on, but aren't game changing.

It must be noted that to use the Cthulhu monster, unless you just want the monster card, you need the Power Up! pack for either game as this provides the evolution cards for the other monsters to enable you to use the evolution cards for Cthulhu.

The Bottom Line:

The Cthulhu Monster Pack is a great purchase for Cthulhu fans as the evolution cards have incredible theme, and also for players who want to add a little more dimension to King of New York / King of Tokyo, but it isn't an essential purchase if you're happy with the base games. It's only really a viable purchase if you have the Power Up! packs for either game as they are required to use Cthulhu's evolution cards.

Get this game if:

You want to add Cthulhu to your King of Tokyo / King of New York games.

You want to add another tactical layer with the Buildings/Cultist units.

You love King of Tokyo / King of New York and want every release to do with it.

Avoid this game if:

You don't own King of New York / King of Tokyo, which are required to use this expansion pack.

You're happy with the core games and don't need an additional monster or win condition.

This copy of the Cthulhu Monster Pack for King of New York/King of Tokyo used for this review was provided by CoiledSpring Games.