Betrayal at House on the Hill is a game that I have played many times over the past several years, and keep coming back to due to its massive creativity. It feels completely unlike any game I’ve ever played before, which is both a positive and a negative. The nature of starting as a team and slowly exploring a deeply atmospheric haunted house before one player betraying the rest of their party is fascinating and unique, however this makes it difficult to explain to new players exactly what is going to happen and how that looks. This is especially detrimental for any players new to the game, or tabletop gaming in general.

The rules attempt to explain what is going to happen, however having three separate rulebooks is daunting for any group of first time gamers, especially because (in Wizards of the Coast fashion) the rules are not strict, and allow room for interpretation based on their wording. This, I believe, is the most difficult part of Betrayal at House on the Hill, as during our gaming session several moments were consumed by checking the rulebooks rather than getting immersed in the atmosphere and gameplay.

Another hurdle for this game is how finely it straddles the line between RPG and strategy game. If, as was the case at my table, some participants wish to roleplay their way through the game and others want to only make the strategically best decisions, friction can be caused between the two groups, as it is hard to maintain both philosophies to their fullest potential. This often manifests as the roleplayers eventually giving into the “quarterbacks” as soon as the Haunt begins, as that’s where all of the mechanical elements come most into play. This however, is an opportunity to practice leadership by finding the healthy balance in the middle of these two camps, thin as that line is in this game.

The leadership practice of balancing group interests is more effectively handled in another Wizards of the Coast product, Dungeons and Dragons. Within the rules of DnD, it is possible to fit roleplay elements into mechanic-heavy combat encounters by allowing your character to make strategically detrimental decisions that won’t affect the party as a whole as much as your individual character. This allows for a more individual stance to be taken towards the game that, as long as it is not taken to any extreme, allows everyone to participate and appreciate the game in their own manner.

I believe, however, that Betrayal at House on the Hill overcomes all of these hurdles by being such a unique concept and by establishing such an engrossing environment through its writing. It is a game that could, and should be played by anyone, especially those who value tight mechanics with an engrossing narrative like the players I run RPGs for such as Jae, Noah, Ben, Stephen, and several others.