Betrayal Legacy (Board Game, Betrayal at House on The Hill)

Wow, they really knocked it out of the park with this one. The original Betrayal is one of my favorite games of all time - like many others, it was my “gateway drug” that got me into strategy board games. Sure, it had its problems (balance issues mainly) but it was always a fun time, so when I heard there was this legacy version coming out I pre-ordered it as soon as I could. After having played it a few times (the prologue and a couple of chapters) I’m glad to say it lives up to the hype. For those of you that didn’t play the original, the rules are simple. You and your friends explore a house which is made up of several tiles. Since these tiles are modular, the house you explore is different every game. As you explore, you’ll find items, run into traps, and trigger “omens” (events). Eventually you’ll activate a haunt that enables a horror scenario that has its own set of rules, most of which turn a player into a traitor that will try to kill you. Some of the scenarios in the original game involves aliens, a house that slowly imploded into the abyss, a musical pied piper that would hypnotize the players, killers that keep resurrecting, etc. It was amazing with its variety and scope and was extremely replayable... no two games were ever alike. This new version takes that basic concept and expands on it. Basically, there’s now an overarching story spanning decades. You have to play the game a total of 14 times to complete the story - think of it like a TV season, and each game you play is a new episode. Each game has actions that will affect future games, so play wisely. I can’t go into it more without spoiling it, so I won’t delve too much into the specifics of the mechanics of the legacy aspect of this game. I have played through several other legacy style games (Risk and Pandemic) and I’m happy to say that this game actually utilizes the legacy components the best out of those in my opinion. Risk and Pandemic’s legacy games were good, but they were a slow burn that took time to build. This is where Bettayal’s strength lies - with Risk Legacy, even though the rules are changing with each game, it still felt like a progressively harder version of Risk. Betrayal’s huge scope of variety and rules keep this game fresh, and it’s intriguing to see how this family storyline will play out in the end. The replayability is helping cut down on fatigue, and because of that I know my friends and I will finish this way quicker than Risk. And, when all is said and done and you’ve completed the core Legacy storyline, the game will be set up to be played over and over again with the unique changes you’ve made through the campaign. Now for critiques. I mentioned earlier that the original Betrayal game had its share of problems. Unfortunately, a lot of them are still there, mainly the balance issue and confusion over rules. It can scare away new players with the amount of rules - there are THREE rule books to reference, and those rules were often vague and led to a lot of debates on interpreting what the author meant. Some of the haunts also greatly favor the traitor or humans and can feel unfair too. Also, they really should’ve added a giant piece of paper that says to not punch out stuff. Everyone’s first instinct with board games is to punch out all the pieces. The game actually requires you to leave them punched in and to wait until the proper time to use them. Also, this is more of an Amazon problem, but the box I received was really beat up during shipping. Overall - excellent game. Worth trying for anyone vaguely interested in these types of board games, and definitely worth trying for fans of the original. Highly recommended.

I love this game! It is so much fun. It is a little difficult to set up the first time. I had to watch a video on it. I am really enjoying the story and scenarios. I love that this game changes as we play making it uniquely mine. For example, without giving too much away, at one point we encountered a cat we had to name. The friends we were playing with has a cat so we named it after their pet. Now their cat is part of our game! It is expensive but you get a lot of play time out of it. I think it is a good value for the money.

This game features a Legacy update to its predecessor, Betrayal at House on the Hill. The Legacy elements give the game a story-based campaign, with additional story aspects hidden within the flavor of the various cards (not only are you playing through your own characters' story, but you can find hints to things that have happened in the house before your characters ever arrived). The story has some great twist elements and a "Choose Your Own Adventure" vibe as different outcomes come from different choices made and who won or lost a haunt's events. Characters are named, items are taken as family heirlooms to confer familial bonuses, and the game grows from a small house with a small number of items and events to a more expansive estate with much much more that can happen. In addition to the campaign, returning components from the original have had a design upgrade, with a more atmospheric feel. Instead of the Widow's Walk expansion's roof, Betrayal Legacy has Outside as an additional area to explore, with twisting paths through the grounds of the estate. The game can also be used in "free play," like the original, and in fact is intended to be used as a "free play" version once the campaign is over. Some rules quirks from the original have been improved on, such as haunt-rolling changes to prevent encountering the haunt too early, or the inclusion of stairs to the basement on the main hallway tile so one doesn't have to randomly fall into the basement and then get stuck there until they find stairs again. Overall the game is an entertaining, immersive one, especially if you can convince your fellow players to get into character.

I just played the prologue and first two chapters with my friends, and we had a great time, but I would say that I don't think our experience would be as great if we hadn't all been familiar with the game. I came in with certain expectations from having read some of the reviews here and came away with a somewhat different impression of the game. So, yes, the game requires you to destroy/modify it as you play. I see some people saying that they laminated it/use sleeves or whatnot. Honestly, I reccomend just playing it how it asks you to. Trying to preserve it will be time consuming and ruin the experience. The parts where we were modifying the game were my group's favorite. The best aspect of the game is how it changes, and you still get your money's worth (14 games is a lot of time, and that's if you don't do free play afterwards). As far as balancing, the haunts are significantly more balanced than the original game if and only if you read the rules thoroughly and don't forget a special aspect to your side's haunt rules as I did one round, causing my own failure. The single best change to this game from the original is the rule that once one party does something in one of their colored haunt boxes, they have to read the box and explain what they're doing to the group. Many times in the original the traitor didn't know the parameters of their powers or the heroes dramatically misinterpreted their abilities, creating an imbalance even greater than the naturally lopsided nature of the haunts. This seems like such a simple rule change, but it really kills a lot of the frustration we had with the original, and the colored box system still ensures that information isn't shared too soon. A lot of imbalance in haunts in both games is created by people not understanding their abilities, not the haunts themselves, and this system solves that. Overall, Betrayal Legacy learns from the mistakes of the original in game play. As far as the quality of the game pieces, I have to disagree with a lot of people saying that they're worse than the original. While the figurine painting is less detailed than the original (frankly, I don't care), the quality of the figures themeselves is much better. The Jenny/Heather in our original game was moonwalking from her cheap material bending, while these ones seem far sturdier. I know many people take issue with the sliders. My group has never had a problem with them whatsoever in the original, which I know puts me in the minority. We did find the sliders in Legacy to be more difficult to move, but it wasn't enough to destroy the cards or really bother me at all. The gameplay itself is why we play, so uglier figurines don't upset me much, and wow is the gameplay good. The legacy aspect just adds so many layers that keep even my quick-to-burn-out friends interested and excited for the next round. I strongly reccomend it.

Betrayal Legacy is a medium-complicated exploration and battle game in which players explore a creepy modular mansion (that changes configurations with every play), discovering weapons and magical items that will help them battle the traitor among them. As with the original game on which this one is based -- Betrayal at House on the Hill -- the traitor is unknown until the "Haunt" begins at a more-or-less random point. Then it's one against the group, with a scenario that is different every time. The original game was somewhat unbalanced and Betrayal Legacy goes a long way toward remedying the problem. Best of all is that the game's story elements are now, for the most part, superb, adding some really fun twists and turns in an ongoing, 13-part story. Along the way, players will be modifying and/or destroying certain elements of the game. And at the end of the 13-scenario arc, they will be left with a game that is still playable in free mode but will vary slightly from other people's copies. Pretty cool! For the sake of convenience, I've divided the rest of this review into the following sections: WHAT'S GREAT ABOUT BETRAYAL LEGACY CHANGES FROM THE ORIGINAL VERSION WHAT COULD STILL USE SOME WORK WHO WILL LIKE THIS GAME? WHO WILL NOT ENJOY THIS GAME? CONCLUSION WHAT'S GREAT ABOUT BETRAYAL LEGACY This game is a lot of fun. Players still take turns drawing exploring and adding tiles representing rooms to the house, then drawing item, event and omen cards and taking actions that require them to roll a number of dice equal to one or more stats such as speed, might, sanity and/or knowledge. At a certain point, the haunt will begin and one player will be revealed as the traitor. The traitor and the heroes will then get secret instructions about what is going on and how they can win the game. Exploring the house and finding items is a lot of fun. In this version, players belong to a family. Even after a character is killed, his or her heirs will return in the next chapter (and, in some cases, they may still be able to finish out the scenario, but to say how would involve spoilers). The overall story develops over time, with some surprising twists along the way and an overarching theme. There's an opportunity to really get into it with some role playing as players will be naming their families and characters and many of the items found within the game. CHANGES FROM THE ORIGINAL VERSION The scenarios are a bit more balanced. In addition, cards as well as tiles can only be drawn if they match the right area of the house (ground floor, basement, upstairs or outside). This adds some drama as players learn what good and bad things might be found in each area. The house also has some regular inhabitants now, such as servants and animals, adding another dimension to exploration and additional foes and allies. There is a "legacy" deck (chapters, in essence), which introduces each scenario and adds new tiles and cards as the chapters progress, making the game grow in complication as the story progresses. Each chapter advances the story a few decades. Players play a single family, so getting killed off doesn't have the finality of the original game. The haunts are also a bit more balanced than the original and the scenarios more consistent in length (the shortest came in at about an hour with the one super long one clocking in a three hours). In general, a five hour game session offers the opportunity to play two scenarios with a good half-hour dinner break in-between. The legacy aspect is really fun. Tearing cards, naming items with a Sharpie -- players in legacy mode will have some ability to modify the game world. In the end, the choices don't really matter that much, but it's fun to do them along the way. WHAT COULD STILL USE SOME WORK The rules for the haunts are still a hot mess. The stickers don't stick very well (circle your ghosts with a sharpie or keep a list -- the stickers tend to come off when the tiles are shuffled. The game insert needs to be lifted out by the "tab" that sticks up in the middle or it will break. Also, while the miniature components don't need to be of high quality (and aren't), since they are all meant to represent different families, there is no reason on earth while they all need to be white. Some dark-skinned minis would be welcome. WHO WILL LIKE THIS GAME? Anyone who liked the original Betrayal will probably enjoy this. If you never played the original but like the idea of exploring a (fun) haunted house the theme will not disappoint. For my group of serious gamers, this was a nice, lighter-weight break that offered enough strategy to still be super enjoyable, especially as we got really into the slight role-playing aspects. WHO WILL NOT ENJOY THIS GAME? Younger children will likely find this too intense and dark. Anyone who is strongly religious may be put off by the slightly Satanic vibe. You will probably also not like this game if you can't handle a lot of characters dying in rather cartoonishly grusome ways. Finally, this is not a simple family game. Be prepared to spend a fair amount of time learning if you've never played a Betrayal game before and a fair amount of time futilely looking on the internet for rules clarifications even if you have. The support on this game is rather pathetic. (Though on the highly responsive side, Wizards of the Coast immediately sent me a replacement box and insert at no cost when mine broke). CONCLUSION This game is SO much fun. It would be a solid five stars if the rulebook were a little better thought out and tested and the components were slightly better in quality. As is, my biggest disappointment is that we are almost done with the campaign. I already want more!

The quality of details are amazing. The instructions are detailed but in some cases it comes to what everyone agrees on. The campaign is so much fun to play and when you are finished you can keep playing free play in the house you made! My only issue is when I was opening up my game I noticed both the campaign decks were flipped the wrong way but the correct order! It’s very strange and apparently been a problem for years according to forms I’ve read. It’s an easy fix, just flip each card the right way keeping them in order but try not to look or read the cards (Don’t want spoilers).

Anyone that enjoyed the original Betrayal at House on the Hill should really enjoy this "legacy" version of the game. Just to be clear though: legacy board games (like Risk Legacy, Pandemic Legacy, etc.) are a special genre of board game. The idea is that you play the game over a period of time with the same group of people, and that you're developing a longer term campaign storyline to the game. You'll make *permanent* changes to the game each time you play, such as writing on cards in magic marker, tearing up cards and throwing them into the garbage, putting stickers on the board that will affect all future playthroughs. Frankly it's funny to see how some people react the first time they play a legacy style game. i.e. "You mean, you're literally tearing a card in half, and literally throwing it in the garbage? That's crazy!" It's fun though. Again, the game is particularly suited for a small group that games together regularly, such as a circle of friends that comes together once a month every month to play strategy board games. That way everyone is a part of the evolving history of the game, and better appreciates all the things that have happened that have changed the rules and the story over time. One final note: Unlike most games, do NOT just punch out all the cardboard tiles and unwrap all the playing cards without reading the instructions first. There are tiles you're not supposed to punch out from the cardboard until certain points in the "story" of the game. There are cards you're never supposed to shuffle, and need to keep in the order they were packed in their plastic. If you were like me and didn't realize that, thankfully, there are ways to reconstruct things to their proper order from guides on-line. It's a lot easier if you realize that from the moment you get the game though.

I was excited to try this game and see how it was different. All the reviews keep it vague and I'll try to do the same while giving the review I wish I'd read before buying it. That being said THIS IS A GREAT GAME. You'll see reviews like I did mentioning how to preserve the game by putting sleeves on the cards and things like that. The game comes with stickers and encourages you to write names, fill in blanks, and add the stickers to the cards as you play it. It even instructs you to THROW CARDS AWAY once you use them. This blew my mind when we first started playing and I hated it, but once I gave myself over to the game and allowed myself to play the game as it was meant to it is probably my favorite game I own (though I still can't bare to throw the used cards away and just keep them separate). WHY WOULD THEY MAKE A GAME LIKE THIS? It's easy once I played it and got my head around it. The game is telling a story made up of 13 chapters. There are decks that you play from IN ORDER chapter by chapter and even THE RULES HAVE STICKERS you don't put in the rule book until after you've played that part of the game to avoid plot spoilers!!! It's both insane and kind of genius! I hated this game when I first started playing it because I was "destroying" it but it does so much service for the plot to do it this way I can't imagine a better way to do it. That being said - you can't replay chapters. If you have a gamer family (3-5 people) I HIGHLY recommend this game. It takes some getting used to and I've only played through 2 chapters so far but I'm in love. It's worth it.

Inanılmaz hızlı şekilde geldi. Pazartesi akşam verdiğim sipariş Salı 17.00'de elimdeydi. Oyun çok iyi paketlenmiş ve içeriği çok kaliteli.

So we bought this game so we could share it with a couple that we wanted to see more (since we lived a distance away), and what better way we thought is to have this game. So we bought it, and after a month or so we managed to go visit them. After opening the box and accidentally popping out all the tiles (don't do this, its a pain in the butt to reassemble but its so common there is a guide on Board Game Geek) we started with the new decks and played through the prologue. And that's when we had to destroy out first card. It literally says to rip it shreds. While about half of those playing looked on in glee, the other half looked on in horror. We eventually stopped playing after Chapter 2 that night as we'd just keep going, but before we stopped we had two last cards to destroy, so to complete her inaguration, we told the one girl who hadn't wrecked a card yet that both were hers. The agony in her eyes was so worth it. That one session was so good, we looked if there's going to be a next season.

Es excelente las primeras veces, después de los primeros 6 capítulos a algunos nos parece tedioso, el juego se hace un poco repetitivo aún en la historia. Recomendado si puedes jugar cada semana con 4-5 personas y se toman en serio la historia, si solo van a usar nombres al azar y les vale la historia... Juego equivocado

Played this so many times on Tabletop Simulator that I had to purchase a copy. Pity most my friends don't like board games, but still wonderful to have in my collection!

My family and I like it very much! Every play is different, we don’t get bored with it. Spent hours on each play and it’s a great way to spend quality time together.