This is how the game box looks like. This game has TWO editions and this one here is the 2nd (newer) edition. It has various text fixes and extra stuffs compared to the first edition.
Note1: You may click on the images for a larger and clearer picture!
Introduction
The essence of the game is this:
You play as ONE of the six adventurers trapped in a mansion (or house, as per the title) and you begin exploring the house, triggering events and collecting items as you go. After a while, you realize one of you is actually a traitor (hence, betrayal) and all the others will then try to either defeat the traitor or escape of the mansion.
The game has TWO phases - Exploration Phase (EP) and Haunt Phase (HP).
1. In EP, you explore the mansion (by flipping tiles), trigger events (that may harm or help you) and/or collect items. During this phase, no one can die from any form of damage.
2. In HP, one of you is revealed as a traitor and you will be thrown into a scenario based on a certain requirements. There are over 50+ scenarios that may happen, and each scenario features different monster(s), different goal(s) and different survival condition(s). Players can now actually DIE! *YES!*
There are TWO main reasons why I really love this game.
1. The fact that each time you play this game, the mansion is shaped differently. How does that work? You usually only start the game with THREE tiles opened.
(a) The 3-roomed tile (Grand Staircase, Foyer, Entrance Hall)
(b) The upper landing tile
(c) The basement landing tile
All characters start in the ENTRANCE HALL room on the 3-roomed tile. As they move, they open up rooms randomly, based on which floor they are on (ground floor, upper floor, basement)! Some rooms can only be on certain floors, while some others can be on any floors, so the map of the mansion will ALWAYS BE DIFFERENT!
The back of each tile will let you know which floor it can be opened on.
Why is this important? That's because certain scenarios make use of specific rooms! This makes winning the game MUCH harder if you hadn't discover them! ;)
2. The fact that there are over 50 different scenarios to play makes every single game session SO EXCITING!
Based on the guide books (1 for the Traitor, 1 for the Survivors), the scenarios range from Vampire, Cult, to Alien. Survivors' choices are usually to escape from the mansion or killing the monster (or some other stuffs). I am not going to elaborate on the scenarios because it'll be a huge spoiler for you guys! Remember NOT to read the books for no reason unless you love spoilers! =D
Now how do you arm yourself for the soon-to-happen betrayal? The characters are based on two main categories of stats: Physical and Mental. Each stats can be divided into two parts. Physical contains Might and Speed; while Mental contains Knowledge and Sanity. Each of the stats has different uses throughout the game: Might (and sometimes Sanity) for fighting, Speed for moving, and Knowledge for solving problems/riddles.
Throughout the game, you will open tiles that have certain symbols on them (on the lower right corner). These symbols are either a swirl (Event), a bullhead (Item) or a raven (Omen).
Most room tiles come with a symbol on the lower right indicating which card to draw. Drawing a card usually also means stopping movement for good for that turn.
The back design for the three types of cards!
Events are things (usually creepy ones) that happen in the mansion as you explore. Things that can happen will require you to do some dice rolls based on certain stats which may or may not result in an increment/reduction of the stats. Some other events will allow you to gain an item, sabotage other players (my favourite bit!) or even discover hidden mechanics of the mansion!
Items are... well, items. They can be accessories, magical tools, weapons or armors that may help you defend yourself during the HP. There aren't a lot of items for you to pick up (and generally in a game, you probably won't pick up all the items), but the items really make the game much more fun to play!
Omens are special items. They can be weapons, tools or even companions! The only down-side of drawing an Omen card is that you have to make something called a Haunt roll which determines if the Betrayal (Haunt) happens now. If it does, the game jumps into the second phase; if it doesn't, the game continues as it is!
So you saw about 6 characters up in one of the photos above, eh? What are the differences?
Each character has TWO sides for you to choose from, both sides have different "Starting Stats". In fact, each character has different starting stats! You can choose based on whether you like to move faster, solve problems much easier or hit harder (and etc xD).
Making any "rolls" in the game involves using the unique dice provided in the game set! These dice have two sides of 0, two sides of 1 and two sides of 2; with a maximum of 8 dice! As you play the game, you'll know why there are that many dice available. =P
The game also features a whole lots of tokens to represent many things, such as monsters, mansion mechanics, items, bosses and environmental changes. Most of these are used only when the HP begins but it's good to get familiar with them so you don't have to frantically search for them during the game!
Review
Pros:
1. I've mentioned this before but this game possesses an absolutely high replay value. The differences in mansion design, interaction between characters, scenarios and game progress makes the game all the more interesting!
2. Set up is simple. It usually takes only 5 minutes to get everything ready, provided that you stored everything nicely!
3. Looking at the amount of players and mechanics involved, one game can be surprisingly FAST! The shortest game I've played was about 30 minutes with 4-5 players; the longest game was probably about 1.5hours! The games are on average 1 hour long so for an RPG-type of game, this is a pretty good duration!
Cons:
1. Even though the game can be played with only two, a minimum of 3 players makes the game a little bit more fun and balanced. Playing the game with TWO players may result in the game being in favour of one side depending on which scenario you get.
2. As you can see above, the game involves a lot of tokens during the HP, which makes things a little complicated. I personally don't find this a problem, but some of my friends do find it annoying.
3. The next con isn't really a problem to me, but many find it hard to play this game because it involves A LOT OF READING. The items and omens need to be read to learn of their effects, the events need to be read to know what's going to happen, what should you do, what will happen after whatever you need to do, etc. Even during the HP, the traitor needs to read the traitor's tome to know what s/he should do, while the survivors read the secrets of survival.
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Having said that, my rating for this game is 8.5/10. Aside from the absurd amount of tokens, the reading bit has always turn many of my friends off from the game.Do try the game out! =)
Note2: You may use the images if you need to for non-commercial purposes, but do credit me/attach a link to my site! Thanks! =)
