Betrayal at House on the Hill 3rd edition is an atmospheric and suspenseful game that continues to captivate players with its thrilling mix of exploration and horror.
As players explore the mansion room by room, they uncover unsettling events, discover mysterious items, and face eerie occurrences that evoke a sense of impending dread. The game's theme is deeply immersive, drawing players into a world of unpredictable horrors, where the line between reality and the supernatural blurs. For this reason, this is one of our Favorite Board Games to Play on Halloween.
What sets Betrayal apart is its unique storytelling element. The game’s narrative unfolds through a series of haunt scenarios, each with its own plot and objectives. This thematic twist transforms the game into a dynamic horror adventure where one player becomes the traitor, revealing hidden agendas that were unknown in the exploration phase. This thematic pivot mirrors classic horror stories, where trust is shattered, and players must navigate the treacherous and unpredictable terrain of betrayal.
This thematic pivot mirrors classic horror stories, where trust is shattered…
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How to Play
In the game’s initial phase, the turn structure is straightforward: players take sequential actions by moving through the mansion, revealing new rooms, and subsequently addressing the events or acquiring items or omens designated by the room they’ve discovered.
After each Omen discovery, players must roll dice equivalent to the current number of Omens present. The Haunt phase triggers if, and only if, the dice total is 5 or higher. However, it’s important to note that the dice used in the game have sides marked with values of 0, 1, and 2. Consequently, a minimum of three Omens must be uncovered before the Haunt can commence. This particular rule adjustment, unique to the 3rd Edition, addresses concerns from the 2nd Edition where Haunts occasionally initiated prematurely, resulting in highly imbalanced game situations.
Once the Haunt is triggered, there is a shift in the game’s dynamic as one player becomes the traitor, and the rest are the heroes working together to halt the Traitor‘s nefarious schemes. It’s important to note that the traitor might not necessarily be the player who revealed the haunt. Players will then be told to turn to a specific Haunt scenario.
At this point, the Traitor is given the Traitor Book containing unique rules, objectives, and win conditions that are concealed from the Heroes. Meanwhile, the Heroes receive their own corresponding book, outlining their distinct objectives and special rules, also kept hidden from the Traitor.
This division of information adds an enthralling layer to the game play, heightening the suspense and tension as both sides work towards their respective goals, with limited or no knowledge of the other’s true intentions or win conditions.
Heroes working together to halt the Traitor’s nefarious schemes
Game Play and Experience
Betrayal at House on the Hill does a great job at providing a unique and immersive experience each time you play. The exploration phase has an element of surprise as players gradually reveal the layers of the mansion. The game allows you to feel like you’re in a movie exploring a haunted house. It does feel a bit like a long-form game set up for the Haunt but is still a very enjoyable part of the game that doesn’t overstay its welcome. In a four player game, each player only has about 2-3 turns of exploration before the haunt is revealed.
The game’s mechanic of creating the mansion as you go and with its variety of scenarios, creates a lot of unique and memorable game experiences.
Mild Role-Play Fun
In our game I played as Anita, the 12 year old girl who likes taxidermy, while another player embodied Sammy, a nerdy 7 year old kid. The characters in the game have weird backstory hobbies but leaves a lot of room for minor role-play. For a little role-play humor we pretended Sammy, infatuated with Anita, tagged along with her into the haunted mansion, hoping to win her affections. To impress her, he even brought along two rabbits, considering her fascination with taxidermy.
However, the game took an unexpected turn. Anita stumbled upon a chainsaw and, driven by her morbid hobby, found herself gearing up for some rather unique taxidermy endeavors. Alas, the twist of fate made her the traitor, leaving Sammy with no recourse but to confront and eliminate his “girlfriend” to safeguard himself and the other Heroes. Tragically, despite the demise brought about by a twisted form of young love, the heroes had yet to fulfill their objectives (which I won’t reveal to avoid spoilers), leaving Anita’s monsters to roam the haunted mansion. Eventually, Anita’s creatures ended up ambushing Sammy back in the same room where Anita had fallen, evoking a rather bittersweet, Romeo and Juliet-like outcome.
Anita had fallen, evoking a rather bittersweet, Romeo and Juliet-like outcome.
Balance Issues
The player’s objectives vary depending on the Haunt scenario. You might be facing off to a vampire or an eight legged spider, each with slightly different rules and goals.
However, it’s worth noting that the game can be slightly unbalanced, with some Haunts favoring the Traitor or the Heroes. The outcome of some scenarios may feel anticlimactic, depending on how the traitor’s or explorers’ objectives align with the game state. Though I find the balance issue to not be significant because I’m playing this game for the atmosphere and natural story driven elements, not as a competitive game.
The Haunt
The moment the Traitor is revealed and the Haunt begins is very exciting for all the players. However, the game can stall here a bit while both the traitor and the group of Heroes have to read their “new rule book”. The Traitor usually has to go into another room while the Heroes read the book out loud and discuss its contents.
At this point in the game there is also some minor downtime from set up that will happen, like adding monsters to the board or tokens to the board. There is also almost always a little confusion because of the new revealed rules. The difficulty is the Traitor and the Heroes both hold information that the other doesn’t know about. Trying to clarify those rules isn’t possible because it will reveal information the other party shouldn’t know about. If either party misunderstands their rule set and objective it could throw off the game and end in frustration.
Part of the issue with this is usually there is the person who owns the game and understands the rules. They are the same person who taught the rules. Everyone might understand the rules but lack some certain understanding of minor intricacies. That owner of the game can only play for one team, either as the Traitor or with the Heroes. If the owner of the game is the Traitor usually the Heroes can put their heads together to figure it all out. However if that player is the Hero and another player who isn’t as familiar with the game’s terminologies, there may be a tough time navigating on their own.
It could throw off the game and end in frustration.
Haunt Booklet Problems
The game also doesn’t help with this by not clearly stating in the book what information you can or cannot share on each page.
For example: Usually monsters can be stunned by attacks, but as the Traitor I knew our specific scenario had a rule that prevented stuns. I wasn’t sure if this was information needed to be kept concealed from the other Heroes or shared.
The other confusion is the way things are stated isn’t always explained well in the book. If players are more familiar with the game it might not be an issue but first or second time players might really struggle as the Traitor.
Some aspects of the Haunt are balanced according to player count. However in the booklet it is confusing on how to read player count numbers. Because the game is 3-6 players when the list numbers the first number is for 3 players, the second for 4, third for 5 and last for 6. For example if the Traitor was told to place monster tokens it would say “Place {2, 3, 4, 5} monsters…” If we were playing a four player game, the Traitor would need to place “3” monsters. I think this could have been done in a much better way would be “Place {Player count -1} monsters on the board.” or for other situations maybe {player count +2}.
When we encountered the Haunt in our game we referenced the rule book to sort it out. However the Heroes actually still messed it up after we openly discussed how the numbering worked. Luckily we managed to correct the error without affecting the game.
What If I Don’t Like Traitor Mechanics
I personally have never liked games with traitor mechanics. I despise a game session that has Werewolf, Avalon, or some other hidden role mechanic. Betrayal at House on the Hill is not like those games. There is no shouting and yelling to get people to vote off the hidden traitor. all player roles are known. What is hidden information is the goals of the traitor and the heroes from one another.
Component Quality
The components of Betrayal at House on the Hill are a mixed bag.
Low Detailed Miniatures
The miniatures, while functional, lack intricate detail. The character figurines are smooth and devoid of distinctive textures or defined features, resulting in an overall lack of detailed definition. In comparison to other miniature designs, these rank among the worst detailed figures I’ve encountered. Despite this, a positive aspect is the thicker, vividly colored bases. These bases make it very easier to discern and differentiate between player colors during the game play.
Stat Slider Improved!
The component that worried me the most was the character stat trackers. In 2nd Edition, these were extremely problematic as the sliders tended to shift constantly and didn’t stay secure in place. Players often struggled to remember their character’s stats accurately. However, I found the stat trackers included in the 3rd Edition to be greatly improved. I didn’t find any issues with them as I previously encountered in the earlier edition.
Anita Hernandez
Replay-ability
Each character in the game has an alter-ego also. Even though there are only six characters to choose from, each is two-sided. That means there are actually 12 options to choose from.
The game is very replay-able but after a while players might start to see some repeat haunts . Luckily, the way the mansion is built will make each repeat play of a single scenario feel a little different each time. If players feel like they’ve exhausted the original scenarios there are expansions that can be added to the game to add more variety.
Final Verdict
Betrayal at House on the Hill’s strength lies in its replay-ability and immersion. The storytelling aspect, where each game feels like a unique horror story, is a standout feature. The game’s accessibility and simple rules make it easy for newcomers to enjoy and understand. It’s a fantastic choice for a game night with friends, especially around Halloween when the theme is even more fitting.
