In Villainous: Despicable Plots, each player takes control of one of three Disney characters, each a villain in a different Disney film. Lady Tremaine (Cinderella), the Horned King (The Black Cauldron) and Gaston (Beauty and the Beast). Each player has their own Villain Deck, Fate Deck, Player Board and 3D Character.

During a turn, the active player moves their character to another location on their player board, performs one or more of the actions visible on that space (often by playing cards from their hand), and then replenishes their hand to four cards . Cards are allies, items, effects and conditions. You must use your cards to fulfill your unique win condition.

One of the actions allows you to choose another player, draw two cards from that player's lot, and then play one of these cards onto that player's board, taking two of the four action spaces on covers one of that player's locations. The fate deck contains heroes, items, and effects from that villain's movie.

Villainous: Despicable Plots can be played on its own and the characters can also compete against those in the other Disney Villainous games.