Survive Escape from Atlantis: first thoughts

We've played this game a handful of times, and so far it's left a pretty good impression.  The first time I played it was a bit grumpy at first.  I was playing with people who had all played before, so I was the only newbie.  And when it came to the part where you decide where to place your men, this seemed extremely unfair as I had no idea of what the strategy was, and didn't know where to place them.  So I was grumpy for a few turns, certain that I would lose.  Well, needless to say there is definitely some luck in this game, and I'm not a terrible game player - I ended up winning, but aside from that I had a great time playing.

I like the fact that there is a good amount of luck and strategy involved.  It seems to be well balanced in that regard.  There are also a number of variations to the game which will probably keep it fresh (we've only played the most basic version).  I kind of hate to admit this, but I think this type of game favors me.  That's because it's easy for other players to go after who they think is going to win and sabotage each other, leaving me on my own for too long - long enough to get ahead and win.  I'm often underestimated and I find it works in my favor, at least with the people we play with (you'd think they would learn by now!).

I'm eager to play this one a bunch more times, but we were a little disappointed to see it wasn't widely available for sale online.  However, a new version is being released this month, so we'll probably be placing an order soon!

Betrayal at House on the Hill

The thing that makes Betrayal an interesting game is that it is different every time you play.  It's also semi-cooperative, with a traitor later on.  There are really two main parts to the game: exploring the house, and then the haunt.  Players take on the role of someone exploring a haunted house.  Your character has stats (a number between 2 and 8) for speed, might, sanity, and knowledge.  Throughout the game you are asked to roll dice based on your stats.  These dice are special, though: each one has two blank sides, two sides with a one, and two sides with a two.  For example, if you have a might of 4 and you are asked to make a might roll, you roll 4 dice.  This means you could get anything between a zero and an 8.  In most cases you are trying to roll higher than a certain number that is specified on a card or elsewhere.

The first phase of the game you explore the house by drawing room tiles and "building" the house based on where you go and what tiles are drawn.  These rooms have symbols on them, and could be an event, an omen, or an item.  An event will cause something to happen and may result in you gaining or losing stats, an item is something that you can use in the future, and an omen is an object you hold on to that may do something good, something bad, or nothing at all when you draw it.  Every time an omen is drawn a haunt roll is made.  If the roll on the dice is less than the number of omens that have been drawn so far, the haunt begins.

There are 50 different haunts in the game, and the one you play is based on the last omen drawn and what room it was acquired in.  Once the haunt begins, everything changes.  One player is assigned to be a traitor based on a chart in the rules (it could be the person that reveals the haunt, the person with the highest knowledge, etc.).  They then do in another room to read their traitor rules, while the rest of the heroes read their own rules for the haunt.  Every haunt is different and has a different way the heroes win and a way that the traitor wins.  However, you only know your own objectives and rules - you don't know everything else about what the other side might be trying to do.

3-6 players.  45-90 minutes.  No expansions available.  Easy-medium learning curve.

Becky says:

I really enjoy Betrayal because it has a lot of what I like in a game.  It's got a cooperative element but the excitement of having a traitor, it's got some fun role-playing, and it's pretty unique in that the game is really different every time you play.  With 50 different scenarios, it certainly keeps the interest level up.  That's a lot of different ways the game can be played, and to me I think it's both the best and worst part about the game.

The good news is that the haunt part of the game rarely gets tedious.  Until you've played over 30 times you won't often get a repeat haunt that you've done before, and if you do sometimes you might be the traitor while last time you were on the other team.  Or if you're like me, the last time you played the haunt was a year ago and you don't remember any of it anyway (unlike Jason, who seems to remember every little detail of every haunt ever played).  And there are some really great haunts out there that are a lot of fun.  The best ones are when the game is close between the heroes and the traitor, and it goes on for a good amount of time without knowing which side is going to win until the very end.

Unfortunately, that's not always the way it happens.  When you have 50 different sets of rules and basically 50 different games, it's not surprising that not every single one of them is great.  There are some that are just not good.  But the bigger problem is that some haunts are great in some situations and terrible in others.  One haunt might be tons of fun in a 6 player game but a total dud with only 3 players.  And some haunts are better with a smaller house, while some are better with a bigger house.  If you get a haunt really early on the game or really late in the game, that can definitely affect how well the rest of the game goes.

We've probably played this game 40 or so times by this point.  There are still some haunts we haven't gotten.  But you know what can get a little tedious?  Building the house in the beginning of the game.  That part doesn't really change so much.  Sure, you may take the coal chute to the basement without meaning to, but for the most part it's pretty much the same all the time.  And with no real goal for that part of the game it can get a bit old.

But let's talk about another good thing: it's pretty easy to explain to people.  The first half of the game is pretty basic, and people catch on pretty quickly, especially since the first part is cooperative and you can sort of explain as you go along.  Once the haunt begins everyone reads and learns the rules together, and they usually aren't too hard since you're learning them mid-game.  Sometimes it takes a few plays to figure out the best strategies though.  In some haunts there is really only one strategy, in others there's a few ways to go about it.  Usually haunts like the latter are better because it makes it more interesting, and even if you lose you wonder what would've happened if you'd done it differently.

Overall I do recommend Betrayal.  The theme, atmosphere, and role playing aspect are great fun, and even if your haunt doesn't go so well sometimes that can still save the game.   I'll just say that it was a lot more fun when we first got it.  Now it seems to be more hit or miss.  But we've gotten a lot of use out of it, and still like introducing it to new players.  7.5 out of 10.

Jason says:

The following reading will be an exercise in the appropriate use of the word “but.”  You will see many examples of its proper usage in the correct context.  Pay attention for this in the recurring format, “Betrayal at House on the Hill is a good game, but…”

So… Betrayal is a good game, but it is also strangely unbalanced and… stuff.  The game is, at its core, a role-playing game.  It’s Dungeons & Dragons lite in many ways.  The game is built as you explore, and random encounters happen in each room, testing your character statistics in various ways.  There’s also a ton of information about the characters that you can use to “play your character” if the spirit moves you (and you are with those kinds of people).  Becky was frustrated by the story provided, suggesting there are large gaps in the explanation for why these characters are exploring a house.  I suspect that this instead gives players the freedom to make up their own stories, and that half of the fun of the game comes just from geeking out about the character development you and your friends can make up.

That stuff is nice and all… but… most people probably aren’t into that kind of stuff.  The game still stands on its own as a good game… BUT… many people might notice a certain role-playing aspect to the game that is extraneous, tedious, or downright boring (I’m in the role-playing camp, if I could just find people who aren’t too self-conscious to do it with me).

So… the gameplay is totally fun with its unpredictable nature… BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT, it is elementary and unbalanced.  The first half of the game is just setup, then the real part begins with one of 50 semi-randomly-chosen scenarios of varying difficulty, quality, and engagement.  So, 50 scenarios is cool… BUBUBUBUBUBUBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTT!... the game setup is so random that these haunts can’t possibly predict the layout of the house, and thus the difficulty of the scenario.  Most of the time, it comes out either in favor of the traitor or in favor of the heroes, without question.  Sometimes, it comes down to a roll of the dice, or some other random factor.  Less often than I want, it comes down to an exciting duel between the forces of good and evil.  BUHUHUHUHUHUHUHT! when it does come down to that epic battle, this is a tremendous game.  When you play the game for the first time, regardless of the scenario, it usually feels like it works out this way, so somehow, the game manages to give a really good first impression.

For me, this game was really fun for a while, but I slowly realized that it boils down to the same die rolls with different role-playing disguises on them.  When that realization is made, no amount of scenarios is going to restore vitality to the game.

In the beginning, this was a really intriguing game to me.  8.1000000081/10.00000001  (8.1/10) but that is from the point of view of someone who hasn’t played as much as I have.  Keep in mind that I have played this game so many times that my wife and I together can’t count on all our fingers and toes combined (yes, 40+ times, I would reckon!) and after that much play experience, I would rate it a 6.5/10. It’s a good game whose beginning luster fades away the more you play it, BUTT!, after so many plays, maybe every game becomes exactly that: Butt.