Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains Review: A Space Age Take on a Classic Game

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Monopoly Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains DualShockers Review

Published Jun 30, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Shane Limbaugh is a Contributor at DualShockers who began covering games professionally in 2025. A longtime gamer with a Bachelor’s Degree in Game Design and Criticism, Shane brings a design-focused perspective to his coverage, looking closely at how mechanics, systems, story, and player experience come together.

Before writing professionally, Shane worked as the Lead Writer and Executive Producer on a college game project for roughly six months. He also spent time working at GameStop, which gave him hands-on familiarity with a wide range of games, platforms, and player preferences.

Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains is the newest take on one of the oldest games and looks to bring a Galaxy Far, Far Away much closer. It combines the world of Star Wars with the famous board game in a way that changes a lot of things.

It's an interesting take on turning a board game into a video game, and some things it does wonderfully, while others aren't done so well. It's incredibly different from Monopoly, but still follows a similar ruleset, which was both annoying and fun to learn.

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This game doesn't really have an end, and more so, it exists as a fun non-Mario-style party game. I enjoyed what I played, and I can see this game becoming a great addition to game night, but probably not all the time.

What is Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains?

It's still basically just Monopoly in that you'll roll dice and move around the board, buying property as you go with random event spaces and such. If you've played the famous board game before, then you'll have a pretty good understanding of what's going on. The real fun comes when you add in Star Wars characters like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

All the characters possess some kind of ability that can be either activated manually or passively during a game. These range from things like stealing money from enemies you pass or even sending a random opponent to jail. The game actually operates in teams of three, Heroes vs. Villains, but can also be played in teams of two, so choosing your team comp wisely is a must.

Once the game starts, you'll roll and move around the board just like normal, except for landing on an enemy space, which triggers a battle between those on the space. Battles consist of rolling three dice and seeing who gets the highest number, but there's a catch: defenders roll first onto the board, while attackers roll second and have a chance to hit the enemy dice and change them.

I enjoyed what I played, and I can see this game becoming a great addition to game night, but probably not all the time.

Depending on where the battle happens, players could gain/lose credits or gain/lose a location. Owning an entire set of locations will give you a Planet Monopoly, which boosts your influence by quite a bit. That's important because getting influence is how you win, and whoever has the most at the end of the game gets the victory.

The tricky part is that the game actually doesn't end when people run out of money or anything. It will end when all the GO Events have been exhausted, typically eight, and the moment the final one concludes, so does the game. GO Events highlight major points in the franchise's history and have a team make dice rolls against various kinds of challenges to succeed and get the rewards.

What makes this so fascinating is that the events are simply based on who crosses GO first, so, in theory, a single team could get every single GO Event in a game. Using character abilities wisely, plus a bit of luck, will be what determines your success in this Star Wars-style take on Monopoly.

Making a Classic More Intriguing

Monopoly has been around forever, and digital versions of all kinds have come out over the decades. It's definitely one of those games that you can put 100s of hours into over time if you want. No two rounds will ever be the same, and with the new spin for characters, you can test out a lot of different combinations.

It really got me interested in playing with a bigger group of people. Although I never got the chance, it seemed like it would be a very fun time. The setup is also fun, given that you're playing the game in a Cantina on a Dejarik device, and each location has its own little hologram that comes straight from the movies.

I had a blast seeing a lot of the classic scenes portrayed in this style as GO Events and locations, and all of them seem to be ripped straight from the movies. Lots of favorite characters appear here, which was a nice touch and opens up the potential for others to be added down the line as well.

All in all, it was a good time that gave a reason to really try and strategize in the game, rather than just sort of rolling the dice and going along with it. The experience isn't all great, as some aspects definitely felt undercooked, but the overall design was a lot of fun to learn and play.

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The Force Must Be Balanced

Unfortunately, this is probably one of the least balanced games I've ever seen in my entire life. That sounds hyperbolic, but when you can send someone to jail every three turns or run indefinitely to reach the next enemy, things start getting a little ridiculous. The abilities add a layer of depth to the game and help you manage RNG, but they're also wildly lopsided.

Now they all definitely have their uses, and putting together a good team can be really helpful, but some are just objectively better than others. It can feel demoralizing to play your favorite character, but you feel like you're not really contributing to the win in this game, especially since so much of it is up to chance.

This is probably one of the least balanced games I've ever seen in my entire life.

There's no reason to pick characters who grab 100 credits from enemies they pass if you never manage to walk past any of them. Since your fate is still in the dice's hands, you're really just gambling on whether it'll go off or not. Compare that to something like opening the Cantina for a chance to buy something meaningful, and the difference is staggering.

You can still win with every character, but sometimes it feels a bit unfair to use an ability that just nets you a win in most situations. It feels like there will absolutely be characters that are better to pick in almost every situation, and when you don't pick them, but your opponents do, you can feel at a major disadvantage.

If you're setting up a night to play with friends, then Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains will be a very memorable experience, with only some potential to end all relationships. Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains is a fantastic version of Monopoly that switches up the tried and true formula for something experimental and new. Aside from some balance issues, the game has something for fans of the series to enjoy, and non-fans can still get a kick out of conquering the galaxy. With some fun visuals and a lot of unique rules, Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains will be a great time with friends online or in person, provided you don't break anything when Count Dooku sends you to jail.