On “Betrayal at House on the Hill - Legacy”

So it took a while, but we finally finished yet another legacy game that we bought for our friends as a present for Christmas 2024. We focused on finishing our last legacy game before moving on to this one, and “Betrayal” with its 13 rounds and lengthy gameplay, took well over a year to finish. So let’s discuss!

Background

Betrayal at House on the Hill in its own right is a fabulous board game with dynamic elements. The base game has 3 editions (we own the latter two) outside of the legacy edition, and it has compelling gameplay that changes each time (see more below). It’s one of our favorite games to play with people, so naturally we got it for Chris and Matt for a present. If you like history and horror, this mashes up cultural timepieces with classic scary book and movie elements to pit players against tons of challenges in order to win. The legacy version adds new challenges, changes and shapes the narrative as you go, and has thousands of dynamic elements mixed in. This game typically takes an hour to play a round, not counting set up and rules-reading, so be prepared for a time commitment!

Gameplay

Normally, Betrayal at House on the Hill involves player characters exploring a haunted house one tile at a time, discovering rooms and items, encountering bad omens, and starting events until something called a “Haunt” happens (aka the main plot point of the game). These haunts are dependent on what room and what card caused them, leading to dozens of different story options. Sometimes one player is the bad guy, sometimes everyone is pitted against each other, and sometimes its players versus the game itself. The plot is pretty straightforward, but it leads itself to a lot of repetition. In this legacy version, you play as a member of a family and there’s an overarching plot throughout several decades worth of gameplay. New plot points and gameplay options are slowly introduced throughout the game, leading you to shift your focus away from just discovering the house and fighting challenges. After time, some cards, characters, and locations are added or taken away from your story, leading to incredible levels of customization.

Endgame

The game ends after the 13th round (year) and is pretty anti-climactic if you haven’t been playing the game well. Without spoiling things, the players must work together to save the house and the world from a big bad that you uncover as the rounds progress. If you’re successful (as we were), you get a semi-good ending. No clue what happens if you aren’t successful… but I assume it’s mean and sad. There are no winners or losers in this game, though your character can die at the end of the round, so some of us had characters last several decades and some of us burned our way through a new vessel each time.

Final Thoughts

So, it’s fun, but it’s a lot. It’s a huge time commitment, it takes a long time to play, sometimes the plot points are a little convoluted (like why would we travel through the Otherworlds when there’s a whole house to discover??!!) and sometimes you just can’t win. That being said, I really do love the fact that no two games are the same, there are a lot of opportunities to lie, cheat, steal, plot, plan and gamble, and no matter what you do, the odds are usually against someone. I like the permanent aspects of the game like naming your family and the ghost tiles. Being able to name items and heirloom them, make your mark in the board quite literally, and change the course of the game permanently is really cool. Some things like the otherworld and the Helm, which make the legacy version unique, are really pointless and leave a lot to be desired. The mini figures are great, but for the price, you’ve got to love this game’s predecessors to feel okay with the hours and cash you sink into this behemoth. We haven’t replayed it after finishing, but I’m sure it lends itself to a cool game to pick up and play after your initial legacy run is over, which is a boon in itself since it’s pretty costly. Overall, it was a cool game, but it took a hell of a long time and dedication to make it to the end.