How to scare the living and defeat the dead in Haunted Hollow - hints, tips, and tricks

Are you familiar with Haunted Hollow? You know, the relatively new free-to-play spook-fest from Civilization and XCOM: Enemy Unknown developer Firaxis.

No? Okay, allow us to educate you.

Haunted Hollow is a turn-based strategy title of sorts. In it, you have to construct a large haunted house suitable for all manner of otherworldly creatures and ethereal beings.

You must use the inhabitants of your spooky shack to put the willies up residents of nearby houses, and take over towns before your opponent has the chance to do the same.

Here are some tips for how to do just that...

In Haunted Hollow, you and your opponent take it in turns to build your respective mansions, summon monsters, or travel around nearby towns scaring the bejesus out of innocent civilians.

Almost every action you take during your turn costs one or more Fear Points (a small gold coin-like currency). You receive five of these at the beginning of each of your turns, so don't be afraid to spend them all.

Each time you scare a townie out of its precious house, you receive a Silver Star. Collect enough of these, and you'll level-up.

You can level-up a maximum of five times per game.

If you're level 1, you'll receive one extra Fear Point per turn. If you're level 3, you'll receive three extra Fear Points per turn, and so on and so forth.

You can fill your haunted house with lots of different rooms, which - in turn - enable you to summon lots of different monsters (more on those later).

Each turn, you can add one new room to your building for free. If you want to add any more that turn, they'll cost you Fear Points.

As soon as you place a room in your spooky mansion, it becomes a level 1 room. Level 1 rooms are capable of producing level 1 ghosts and ghouls.

Place two of the same room next to each other in your dingy dwelling, however, and they'll automatically merge into a larger level 2 room. Level 2 rooms can - naturally - produce level 2 supernatural entities.

Place four similar rooms together (two on top of another two in a square arrangement) to create a level 3 room, and gain access to level 3 monsters.

Monsters come in various shapes, sizes, and types. There are three different kinds of creatures in Haunted Hollow, for example: Fighty, Scary, and Special.

Fighty monsters, as you've probably already guessed, are your brawlers. You can use these hardened battlers to destroy your opponent's minions or to protect your own weaker beasts.

Scary monsters are your go-to-guys for terrifying townsfolk, while Special units use unique abilities to support your entire team.

Naturally, you don't want to fill your supernatural team with just one monster type. Ideally, you want a nice balance of the different units.

Don't forget: level 3 monsters are way more powerful (and therefore useful) than their level 1 counterparts, so always attempt to level-up your mansion's rooms.

Doing the deed

The houses in your mansion's nearby town are usually arranged into groups of two or more. These groups are called neighbourhoods.

For every neighbourhood you control, you receive an extra Fear Point at the beginning of each of your turns. The more Fear Points you have, the more actions you can complete.

So, be sure to take control of entire neighbourhoods rather than single houses. Also, be sure to guard the neighbourhoods you already control with a powerful Fighty monster.

Your opponent will take them back from you if you don't.

Items! Don't forget to use items. Items (which you earn as you level-up) are essentially power-ups, which - among other things - grant your monsters extra HP and other helpful abilities.

They're free to use, too. They don't even cost Fear Points.