1.-werewolf, Dead of Winter, betrayal at house on the hill 2.-eldritch horror, Level 7: omega protocol, fury of Dracula 3.-Escape from aliens in outer space, Tannhauser, City horror 4.-betrayal at house on the hill, fury of Dracula, Fearsome Floors 5.-Arkham Horror, eldritch horror, Level 7: omega protocol 6.-City horror/Mall of Horror, Carnival Zombie, claustrophobia 7.-Carnival Zombie, smash up ____ Run, Fight, or Die 8.-Fearsome Floors, last night on earth, werewolf 9.-Dead of Winter, Mall of Horror, ghost stories 10.-Ghost stories, dracula, hecatomb
T=Tom, S=Sam, Z=Zee. 10. T=Ghost stories, S=Dracula, Z=Hecatomb. 09. T=Dead of winter, S=Mall of horror, Z=Ghost stories. 08. T=Fearsome floors, S=Last night on earth, Z=Werewolf. 07. T=Carnival zombie, S=Smash up, Z=Run, fight or die! 06. T=City of horror, S=Carnival zombie, Z=Claustrophobia. 05. T=Arkham horror, S=Eldritch horror, Z=Level 7 [Omega protocol]. 04. T=Betrayal at house on the hill, S=Fury of dracula, Z=Fearsome floors. 03. T=Escape from the aliens in outer space, S=Tannhäuser, Z=City of horror. 02. T=Eldritch horror, S=Level 7 [Omega protocol], Z=Fury of dracula. 01. T=Werewolf, S=Dead of winter, Z=Betrayal at house on the hill. Thank you for your videos! :)
Game critics slam Betrayal as being "broken" all the time. That may be true, but it is so much fun to play. Unbalanced may be a better adjective; it is true that the scenarios often favor one side over the other, but both sides have a decent chance of winning no matter which one comes up. I have never won a game of Betrayal, but I have enjoyed every single one of them immensely.
I've enjoyed most of the games I've played, but my biggest complaint with Betrayal is the descriptions of the rules. They do a great job at telling the story, but didn't adequately explain some of the special rules created by certain haunts. It can be mitigated, but it was a little frustrating to start the haunt and then pause to search online for rule clarifications.
Thumbs up for putting Mansions above Betrayal. I like Betrayal and have it in my collection right next to Mansions, but Mansions is more mechanically interesting and organic in how you interact with the Keeper's plan. Betrayal's kinda . . . broken. The puzzle aspects also pull me into the theme -- they don't eject me. I feel that the mansion gets personality from the "landmarks" and machinations left behind (the boiler room's trap, etc.). I dunno. Mansion crawls are a sort of genre for me, and Mansions does it well. Betrayal has accessibility and a few interesting ideas, but it . . . sags in places. It's mechanically rough and underwhelming, although the cheesy movie theme mitigates that somewhat. Tom's right in that there's a certain amount of work you have to put toward set-up. That prevents me from playing it more often.
I really like that the Crossroads cards don't always fire in Dead of Winter. I'm just going about, taking my turn, I search the Hospital, and all of a sudden they start to read the card, and I immediately think "oh fuck I'm gonna get got"
i love both Arkham Horror and Eldritch Horror. Been screwed around in Arkham alot more in Arkham, like getting to hospital to recover health and run to asylum right after it or lose blessing immediately after getting it. In Eldritch, you can just rest on the spot so long as there's no monster. Mansions of Madness can be really spooky with a very good Keeper.
I love all of you guys. Sam is my favorite, but I have to say I loved Zee's reference to Hecatomb here. It was a nice shoutout to an old game that died before its time.
I'm sad no one mentioned Legendary Encounters, there are many tense moments in that game. Facehuggers, chestbursters, and really graphic strikes. Always a tense moment when my group got whittled down to one player left alive to complete the mission.
The Thing theme that Zee mentioned for the Resistance, i've already played in my group since a couple of years ago. We changed the task board so that it required a certain person to be on a mission (flavoured as per the movie). If the person required wasn't on the mission the Reject bar would immediately go up by 1. we set the Reject bar at 3 maximum instead of 5. The good guys lose if the bar hit the maximum number of times equal to half the players, rounding up. We tried adding a Flamethrower element at one point but the mechanics didn't work smoothly so we went back to the original Resistance game before upgrading to Avalon a bit later.
A Touch of Evil DEFINITELY needed to be somewhere on this list. It oozes gothic horror theme. The Werewolf, the Vampire, the Headless Horseman (well...Spectral Horseman) and the Scarecrow. Add in all of the things that you encounter in the locations, and it EASILY comes in as a great horror game!
They really need a good game based on the old film monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolfman...). It could even be based on the Abbott & Costello Meet... series.
I enjoyed playing Fury of Dracula. I really wish FFG would reprint it or create a more streamlined version of it. Sort of like what they did with Eldritch Horror. I actually liked the RPS combat and the special items that players can use. That feeling that Sam mentioned, of "oh crap! now I've got to fight Dracula" is so true :D
Did i just miss it, but no mention of Letters From WhiteChapel, i would think that has to be one of the most popular ones to run during halloween along with Betrayal. Now i know Sam and Zee both put Fury which are very similar, and Sam has said he perfers Fury ... but i cant beleive no one even brought it up.
I want to know if Zee ever tried Mansions of Madness. Sooo much better, mechanically and thematically, than betrayal (though obviously it doesn’t have the variety that betrayal does). Maybe a little long for Zee though...
YES Zee! High friggin' five, a The Thing-themed Resistance game MUST be made. Best horror movie of all time, hands down. No cheap jumpscares, just a ton of awesome atmosphere and grotesque practical effects.
Thanks for another awesome top 10. Here is an idea, Top 10 or 5 or such, player vs players list! Games like like level 7 where one person controls the aliens while the other players control their one character and work together to be the solo player. I think it could be a pretty cool list.
Surprised Letters from Whitechapel didn't get mentioned, even though it's similar to Fury of Dracula mechanically. The theme is spot on even if you aren't a big fan of deduction.
I don't know how often you bring Carnival Zombie to the table but considering you three aaaaaalways talk so highly of it I'll go out on a limb and say not very often. That game doesn't deserve all that praise really.
Hey, good to see you back :) I agree with most of your choices but I'm surprised you didn't mention Zombie 15' published by Iello. It's a funny game, zombie theme is very there and the soundtrack put you in a stressfull and scary zone which is very cool to my mind. I'm sacred, really scared when I'm playing this game :)
Great lists with a couple of games I'm going to check out. Thank you :) A game I think can get quite tense is Legendary Encounters. For those who don't know it, it's basically Legendary Marvel but based in the Alien movies universe.
Poor Tom, getting a ton of flak for Escape From The Aliens In Outer Space. Just the kind of thing I like -- a game where the tension is really boiled down to its essentials, rather than relying on miniatures and bloody art. Thumbs up from me!
I love Betrayal at House On The Hill, but it can be a little random when it comes to the haunts. Its still a fun game when people dont take it too seriously.
I haven't played Omega 7, but have you guys played an old Games Workshop title called, Space Hulk? It looks similar in concept, and the idea of SH is to evade, and when necessary fight, short intense scenarios against 'Aliens' movie monster clones, with a squad of five Space Marine Terminators, on a tile map, to achieve a specific mission, in limited turns. Very intense and creepy.
What about Escape Curse of the Temple? Does it needs to have zombies to be scary? What about a temple that is about to collapse, with a cool soundtrack also? Leaves you with TENSE in the end for sure!
Thank you for this list! I actually got in to the hobby through a horror group I run with a couple buddies. I picked up Zombies!!! one time and put it on the table while we watched the original Night of the Living dead and it was a big hit. That experience is what encouraged me to look for more (and better) games.
I recently played Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space for the first time and i think it's an excellent game. It's incredibly tense. I also think that the minimalistic artwork adds to the atmosphere. The whole game really is about not knowing anything about your surroundings or about the other players. After all the theme is that all the lights went off in this space station (or whatever it is). The minimalistic artwork therefore makes sense and the little artwork there is on the cards is good and the aliens look gruesome, unusally so for a board game i feel, which i like. It has flaws of course, it's a little long for example, but I love it and i want to play it again as soon as possible.
After finding the Space Marine game in the bargain bin at GameStop and playing it would say, yes. The WH40K universe is rather horrific in nature...especially when Chaos Marines, Dark Eldar, and the Tyranids are thrown into the mix...and let's not forget Plague Marines and The Inquisitors...there are a lot of horror elements there.
If a game that is like "Aliens" is voted then I see no reason for "Space Hulk" not to be on the list. The WH40k universe was steeped in gothic overtones and eldritch horror (I wonder if the WH game creators realised how much they mirrored H.P.Lovecraft's mythos in their warp spawned chaos background story, the slann etc). Is a board game, is tense, is like "Aliens", is dark ...... Epic game, I would have put it on the list.
I remember when I went to see Cabin in the Woods, then immediately texted a bunch of friends to assemble because we were going to play Betrayal right the hell now.
Dapperghast Meowregard My BF & I were watching "Contagion" (don't) in the theatre and I leaned over 2/3 through and jokingly said, "Let's play Pandemic when we get home!" Seriously, I do love movies that make you want to play THE game afterward. Your experience sounds like a great Halloween or just spooky night event. Watch "Cabin in the Woods", then play Betrayal. Sounds fun to me!!
Sam does all that research and then this is the top 10 that he always has.... 10. Bang the Dice Game 9. Small World 8. Kingsburg 7. Battlestar Galactica 6. Shadows over Camelot 5. Dead of Winter 4. Fury of Dracula 3. Jamaica 2. Colosseum 1. TI 4
As I first started watching this, I wondered if Eldritch Horror, Arkham Horror AND Mansions of Madness (as well as Elder Sign) would all be listed. I'm glad to see they were at least covered. I was unsure whether or not all of them should be on lists, though they are clearly all pretty horrific. I also had been flirting with the notion of Space Hulk. Does it fit the genre? Sort of, but not entirely. As for Zombicide, I own it, I enjoy it. But yeah, It had crossed my mind and I immediately figured it would not make a list, nor does it quite deserve to. As fun as it can be, it is basically the Zombieland of zombie board games. All it is missing is a Double Tap card, and a safe room with Bill Murray hehe.
I have to agree with Tom & Sam on Betrayal at House on the Hill VS Mansions of Madness. Mansions of Madness is a lot more work. Not only with its set up.But, with how the game is played as well. Its fun once its under way. But, it takes you about an hour and half to get there. With Betrayal at House on the Hill. The set up is easy and you begin having fun almost immediately. Plus, you have to find the right group of people to play Mansions of Madness. Betrayal at House on the Hill you can find can handle a very mix group. and they seem to all enjoy the game play of the game.
A Touch of Evil is kind of a mess of a game. Id rather play Last Night on Earth. Its just more streamlined, even with the complicated maps. Mansions of Madness I think it just takes too much prep and setup to be on the list. one person has to know all the game well, and the others have to never have played or read that mission. It takes too much niche to get going.
I would add Shadow Hunters, Vampire Empire and possibly Dungeon Twister. Shadow Hunter for both theme and the tension/mistrust the hidden role mechanics generate. Vampire Empire is a good 2 player assymetrical game that pits vampires against humans. The bluffing mechanic generates uncertainty and a degree of horror. I mention Dungeon Twister because of how tense the hunt and escape mechanics can be.
Thanks for another top10 list. But... no Gloom / Room25 / Nightfall (Zee?) / Doomtown / Black stories / Doom / Ancient Terrible Things? The first three I had expected to be on someone's list...
Would've loved some recognition of Chaos in the Old World. When everyone's playing the role of dark gods summoning cultists & monsters, that fits, and it's a solid game with great theming. I otherwise know nothing about the Warhammer universe, so there's no minis bias, either.
I can't believe no one voted for Atmosfear. Is there some criteria as to why it wasn't considered....or have you simply not played it? I feel it to be a perfect Halloween horror themed game. It's latest iteration with the DVD and random play tracks allows for more replayability. If you never played it....you should definitely check it out...not the best of games, but I think it would make this list easily.
I actually asked Tom to try Atmosfear a while ago. He told me he didn't know where he would get a VCR. Let's all admit it and say the original atmosfear 1-4 are the best. Harbingers and beyond got to easy. The PC and card games are awesome but does not have the tension of the original.
Didn't know there was a PC or card game. Or are you calling the DVD version, PC? I do agree that the feel of the VHS ones are superior to the DVD version of the game. The benefit from the DVD player version is that through random video tracks we get a game that isn't always the same, unlike the VHS version. A while ago I found the VHS versions on youtube....and since the boardgame for the DVD version and the VHS version is the same..you can use the board from this recent DVD version to play the old ones.
+DT Wolf The DVD version kinda sucks compared to the VHS versions, and the VHS versions are out of print which they usually take into account. The theme is great, but the game is so basic, roll in a circle and try to land on spaces...basically a children's game with a horror theme on top :-P. The tension of the clock running down is intense though!
Hi Guys, Noted some reluctance to werewolf, mostly because of the player elimination (from Zee and Sam). Do you think that One Night addresses this issue but goes too far and not werewolf enough (maybe too short to really get a full tension feeling).
Mansions of Madness + Call of the Wild. I'm not a fan of the "get the expansion for it to be playable" mentality, but oh my word, Call of the Wild totally changes up the game. Less set up time, no(?) Investigator puzzles, and most importantly, a GAME. I loved the base game, but really, it just boiled down to "That room has a lot cards... Must be something important."
There is another horror theme board game that I have for years now, and I've played with my family every Halloween. It's called "Atmosfear" and I would like to see you guys review it in the future or do a play-through with all three of you. It's an amazing game that I highly recommend.
i own Atmostfear: the Harbingers and while i like it i can see why serious gamers arent big fans. its a dice fest luck game that lack sany real strategy or skill, but still a fun game and a nice gateay game to lure in non gamers.
Resident Evil 2: Director's Cut, in the dark, in the middle of the night, in a cabin in the woods in Lake Tahoe. It's been at least a decade, and my nerves still haven't recovered.
I'm with Tom... when it comes to games... in general...it's about how you FEEL...not necessarily about what you look or what you hear... although those things help, but remember that less is best in horror. I'll deff check Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space.
Escape from the aliens is a great pick. It's a fun and tense game, but the player elimination aspect can be very annoying. Even if you play with the humans turn into aliens variant, what usually happens in my group is that if someone gets eliminated he/she'll spend the next 20 minutes bored to death waiting for the second person to die so they can play something else.
When I played Betrayal, setup took just as long, or longer than Mansions. How's that you ask? Because Betrayal's most clever design (having the house "built" by the players) is having the setup designed as part of the "game." However, this is also the game's fatal flaw (in my opinion) as there's really no "game" in the house exploration. Players don't make any active choices/decisions, and only wait for the game to happen. Don't believe me? Try playing a game where everyone decides to do the smart logical thing when presented with that scenario and just not move and stay together in the foyer. I'll wait. The person that introduced me to Betrayal said it best unwittingly: "We don't even know what game we're going to be playing yet!" he said excitedly. An hour later we found out we were playing "everyone gets killed by the Werewolf." Also, it baffles me how people can bemoan the setup for Mansions, while overlooking the downtime it takes learning the new "haunt" rules. That took us at least 20 minutes (probably more), and was far more cumbersome and confusing than anything Mansions throws at people.
Jammonstrald after about a million plays of betrayal I can see your point. Its not really a game until the haunt comes out. And then if you get stuck in with one of the lame ones or one you have done a half dozen times its a real bummer. There is also the problem where you build a house that makes it impossible to win or you get trapped in the cellar forever.
So, summing up the thoughts on Betrayall: "It can be a fun game if..." "it can be scary if..." "it's not a great game but..." #1 and #4? I'm glad Sam brought it up; Mansions is Betrayal done better. The one hangup with Mansions I could concede is the setup, but really it's not nearly as daunting as its reputation suggests. And for the amount of game and horror you get out of it? Plus it's actually a game, and not just a "wait and see what happens" simulator? Mansions deserved better than this. Also, probably the most legitimately "scared" I've ever felt playing a game was playing Letters From Whitechapel. Both as the Bobbies and as Jack. Tension in a box.
Man, I just had a "Halloween" themed gaming session today, and this top 10 would have come in handy. I am a bit surprised that Shadow Hunters didn't make at least Tom's list, which is the game I brought to the session. However, I suppose "Halloween" is actually different than "horror." Horror is stuff that scares us. Halloween hasn't be scary for decades (of my life). Its an opportunity to show some creativity or skin with a costume, maybe drink, and get kitsch. And very few games feel as a "kitsch" as Shadow Hunters.
I did play Betrayal this Halloween! Hahahaha the haunt happened early and it was so unbalanced for the heroes. I won easily, but I was glad it was a short game so we could watch movies!
+Jammer5815t AJ Apparantly Ouija is a controversial topic in terms of gaming. BoardGameGeek refuses to add it to their database. It's debateable to what Ouija actually is, a game, a toy, a form of divination, etc...but it's made by board game publishers, so I think it should be considered a game...especially when compared to some things in the BGG database. If I have a Halloween game night, the board comes out so whatever.
Sam mentions that several of his entries barely fit the category or that they maybe should not be included, but he couldn't think of anything else to include. Then he talks about Zee's or Sam's entries mentioning that he considered them on his short list but didn't include them on his list. He's fibbing about something here.
Now, forgive if im wrong, but Sam said he never felt spooked by playing a game, but i seem to recall that both he and Tom mentioned feeling bad after playing Chaos in the Old World, one of the scarriest games i know.
It didn't spook me, per se...it completely turned me off because of the grotesque nature of the board and the strong occult theme that it is wrapped in. But it didn't spook me at all.
I'm not sure why but I was expecting Atmosphere/Knightmare was going to at least get a mention. I can't remember the game that well other than the fact it's was a VHS game.
I have Atmosfear and it's got nice components and decent gameplay, but that hokey video just kills it for adult gamers. I might put it on a kid's list because it's rich with the spooky Halloween theme -- there's a jack o' lantern player piece and everything.
Brian Blackwell The hokey video is the best part! I'm still trying to get hold of the booster tape 'Zombie' where Baron Samedi makes you stand up and shout ' Yo Baron! I can dig it" everytime he calls on you.
Patrick Goggles Just saw this after I made my post. Atmosfear is still by far an away the best Halloween game to play. It just oozes panic and tension as the timer ticks down, and the interaction with the gatekeeper( and others) whislt he slowly decays get the kids really worked up. No game comes close to creating the atmosphere for a Halloween night like Atmosfear does. It's become almost a ritual in our family for many, many years that we have to play this every single Halloween night, and we never get tired of it. So many laughs playing it!
![[UA] NAVI vs MOUZ | BO5 | IEM Rio 2024](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CMBYk0cbGoA/mqdefault.jpg)
1.-werewolf, Dead of Winter, betrayal at house on the hill
2.-eldritch horror, Level 7: omega protocol, fury of Dracula
3.-Escape from aliens in outer space, Tannhauser, City horror
4.-betrayal at house on the hill, fury of Dracula, Fearsome Floors
5.-Arkham Horror, eldritch horror, Level 7: omega protocol
6.-City horror/Mall of Horror, Carnival Zombie, claustrophobia
7.-Carnival Zombie, smash up ____ Run, Fight, or Die
8.-Fearsome Floors, last night on earth, werewolf
9.-Dead of Winter, Mall of Horror, ghost stories
10.-Ghost stories, dracula, hecatomb
Here's a composite:
1) Betrayal at House on the Hill (1, 4)
2) Fury of Dracula (2, 4)
3) City of Horror (Mall of Horror) (3, 6, 9)
3) Eldritch Horror (2, 5)
3) Level 7: Omega Protocol (2, 5)
6) Werewolf (1, 8)
7) Dead of Winter (1, 9)
8) Fearsome Floors (4, 8)
9) Carnival Zombie (6, 7)
10) Escape from Aliens in Outer Space (3)
10) Tannhauser (3)
12) Arkham Horror (5)
13) Claustrophobia (6)
14) Smash Up (7)
14) Run, Fight, or Die! (7)
16) Ghost Stories (9, 10)
16) Last Night on Earth (8)
18) Dracula (10)
18) Hecatomb (10)
T=Tom, S=Sam, Z=Zee.
10. T=Ghost stories, S=Dracula, Z=Hecatomb.
09. T=Dead of winter, S=Mall of horror, Z=Ghost stories.
08. T=Fearsome floors, S=Last night on earth, Z=Werewolf.
07. T=Carnival zombie, S=Smash up, Z=Run, fight or die!
06. T=City of horror, S=Carnival zombie, Z=Claustrophobia.
05. T=Arkham horror, S=Eldritch horror, Z=Level 7 [Omega protocol].
04. T=Betrayal at house on the hill, S=Fury of dracula, Z=Fearsome floors.
03. T=Escape from the aliens in outer space, S=Tannhäuser, Z=City of horror.
02. T=Eldritch horror, S=Level 7 [Omega protocol], Z=Fury of dracula.
01. T=Werewolf, S=Dead of winter, Z=Betrayal at house on the hill.
Thank you for your videos! :)
Game critics slam Betrayal as being "broken" all the time. That may be true, but it is so much fun to play. Unbalanced may be a better adjective; it is true that the scenarios often favor one side over the other, but both sides have a decent chance of winning no matter which one comes up. I have never won a game of Betrayal, but I have enjoyed every single one of them immensely.
+cyanmanta I agree completely. It's how I got my friends into tabletop gaming.
I've enjoyed most of the games I've played, but my biggest complaint with Betrayal is the descriptions of the rules. They do a great job at telling the story, but didn't adequately explain some of the special rules created by certain haunts. It can be mitigated, but it was a little frustrating to start the haunt and then pause to search online for rule clarifications.
Thumbs up for putting Mansions above Betrayal. I like Betrayal and have it in my collection right next to Mansions, but Mansions is more mechanically interesting and organic in how you interact with the Keeper's plan. Betrayal's kinda . . . broken. The puzzle aspects also pull me into the theme -- they don't eject me. I feel that the mansion gets personality from the "landmarks" and machinations left behind (the boiler room's trap, etc.).
I dunno. Mansion crawls are a sort of genre for me, and Mansions does it well. Betrayal has accessibility and a few interesting ideas, but it . . . sags in places. It's mechanically rough and underwhelming, although the cheesy movie theme mitigates that somewhat.
Tom's right in that there's a certain amount of work you have to put toward set-up. That prevents me from playing it more often.
Thumbs up to Sam for remembering it, that is.
Zee nailed it. I would pay good money for a John Carpenter's The Thing version of The Resistance.
Oh my lord, yes. I love that movie and that game.
Dude, there is one coming!!!! Check it out mondotees.com/blogs/news/the-thing-infection-at-outpost-31-board-game
Mansions of Madness and A Touch of Evil must be on these lists!
Thank you so much for doing these lists. They are so much fun and enlightening :)
You guys rock~I love watching these top ten lists! Don't ever lose the chemistry!
I really like that the Crossroads cards don't always fire in Dead of Winter. I'm just going about, taking my turn, I search the Hospital, and all of a sudden they start to read the card, and I immediately think "oh fuck I'm gonna get got"
i love both Arkham Horror and Eldritch Horror. Been screwed around in Arkham alot more in Arkham, like getting to hospital to recover health and run to asylum right after it or lose blessing immediately after getting it. In Eldritch, you can just rest on the spot so long as there's no monster.
Mansions of Madness can be really spooky with a very good Keeper.
I love all of you guys. Sam is my favorite, but I have to say I loved Zee's reference to Hecatomb here. It was a nice shoutout to an old game that died before its time.
I'm sad no one mentioned Legendary Encounters, there are many tense moments in that game. Facehuggers, chestbursters, and really graphic strikes. Always a tense moment when my group got whittled down to one player left alive to complete the mission.
Nice lists, but what really got me was the hilarity. This may be your funniest Top Ten yet.
Wow. Mansions of Madness gets an honorable mention only.
The Thing theme that Zee mentioned for the Resistance, i've already played in my group since a couple of years ago. We changed the task board so that it required a certain person to be on a mission (flavoured as per the movie). If the person required wasn't on the mission the Reject bar would immediately go up by 1. we set the Reject bar at 3 maximum instead of 5. The good guys lose if the bar hit the maximum number of times equal to half the players, rounding up. We tried adding a Flamethrower element at one point but the mechanics didn't work smoothly so we went back to the original Resistance game before upgrading to Avalon a bit later.
A Touch of Evil DEFINITELY needed to be somewhere on this list. It oozes gothic horror theme. The Werewolf, the Vampire, the Headless Horseman (well...Spectral Horseman) and the Scarecrow. Add in all of the things that you encounter in the locations, and it EASILY comes in as a great horror game!
They really need a good game based on the old film monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolfman...). It could even be based on the Abbott & Costello Meet... series.
Have one now.It's called horrified.
Thank you for this video! It's my favorite top 10 that you've done so far :)
im staying up way to late watching your top 10's...
Roamy Bard i feel you buddy
I enjoyed playing Fury of Dracula. I really wish FFG would reprint it or create a more streamlined version of it. Sort of like what they did with Eldritch Horror. I actually liked the RPS combat and the special items that players can use. That feeling that Sam mentioned, of "oh crap! now I've got to fight Dracula" is so true :D
"You're really weak in the knees, man." Savage, Sam! :D
Did i just miss it, but no mention of Letters From WhiteChapel, i would think that has to be one of the most popular ones to run during halloween along with Betrayal. Now i know Sam and Zee both put Fury which are very similar, and Sam has said he perfers Fury ... but i cant beleive no one even brought it up.
I want to know if Zee ever tried Mansions of Madness.
Sooo much better, mechanically and thematically, than betrayal (though obviously it doesn’t have the variety that betrayal does). Maybe a little long for Zee though...
FINALLY a new Top Ten video!!!
YES Zee! High friggin' five, a The Thing-themed Resistance game MUST be made. Best horror movie of all time, hands down. No cheap jumpscares, just a ton of awesome atmosphere and grotesque practical effects.
Hey Sam, where is Zombicide on your list, man? Why is it not there?
*runs away giggling*
PS: I like Zombicide!
probably by the fact that you have to shoot your friend surrounded by a bunch of zombies even if you have a scope to zoom in.
Hector Koh The scope add-on to the rifle lets you choose your targets.
A Touch Of Evil screams theme. The rest i agree with
The scariest part of this video is the quality.
Thanks for another awesome top 10. Here is an idea, Top 10 or 5 or such, player vs players list! Games like like level 7 where one person controls the aliens while the other players control their one character and work together to be the solo player. I think it could be a pretty cool list.
Surprised Letters from Whitechapel didn't get mentioned, even though it's similar to Fury of Dracula mechanically. The theme is spot on even if you aren't a big fan of deduction.
I don't know how often you bring Carnival Zombie to the table but considering you three aaaaaalways talk so highly of it I'll go out on a limb and say not very often. That game doesn't deserve all that praise really.
From the start I was wondering how Sam would shoehorn Twilight Imperium into this list
Or Zee Pandemic, or Tom Cosmic Encounter
Okay, the nosepicking cracked me up.
Hey, good to see you back :)
I agree with most of your choices but I'm surprised you didn't mention Zombie 15' published by Iello. It's a funny game, zombie theme is very there and the soundtrack put you in a stressfull and scary zone which is very cool to my mind.
I'm sacred, really scared when I'm playing this game :)
I know this is a boardgaming channel only but i now want to see a top 10 films from you guys!
Great lists with a couple of games I'm going to check out. Thank you :)
A game I think can get quite tense is Legendary Encounters. For those who don't know it, it's basically Legendary Marvel but based in the Alien movies universe.
Poor Tom, getting a ton of flak for Escape From The Aliens In Outer Space. Just the kind of thing I like -- a game where the tension is really boiled down to its essentials, rather than relying on miniatures and bloody art. Thumbs up from me!
I love Betrayal at House On The Hill, but it can be a little random when it comes to the haunts. Its still a fun game when people dont take it too seriously.
I love it until the Haunt. Then the game changes completely and some of the scenarios are clunky. But I still like the game overall.
like enough to get the upcoming expansion pack? lol I think my friends like it enough for me to get an expansion.
I haven't played Omega 7, but have you guys played an old Games Workshop title called, Space Hulk? It looks similar in concept, and the idea of SH is to evade, and when necessary fight, short intense scenarios against 'Aliens' movie monster clones, with a squad of five Space Marine Terminators, on a tile map, to achieve a specific mission, in limited turns. Very intense and creepy.
Robinson Crusou in solo mode scaries me to death. Total loneliness stops my heart beating every time I roll the weather dice or draw event card.
What I find fun to do with werewolf is to give everyone 2 roles from the get go, this way they have 2 'lives' and don't get immediately eliminated.
No Lunch Money/Sticks and Stones in the "mentions" Those pics of that little girl getting ready to clean your clock are scary as hell! :D
I really want to play Omega Protocol but sitting at close to $100 shipped, it's a bit out of my price range.
thumbs up for the horse mask!
I remember the year Hecatomb came out at Gencon. It was a huge thing that year, but never really went anywhere after that.
What about Escape Curse of the Temple? Does it needs to have zombies to be scary? What about a temple that is about to collapse, with a cool soundtrack also? Leaves you with TENSE in the end for sure!
Thank you for this list! I actually got in to the hobby through a horror group I run with a couple buddies. I picked up Zombies!!! one time and put it on the table while we watched the original Night of the Living dead and it was a big hit. That experience is what encouraged me to look for more (and better) games.
I recently played Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space for the first time and i think it's an excellent game. It's incredibly tense. I also think that the minimalistic artwork adds to the atmosphere. The whole game really is about not knowing anything about your surroundings or about the other players. After all the theme is that all the lights went off in this space station (or whatever it is). The minimalistic artwork therefore makes sense and the little artwork there is on the cards is good and the aliens look gruesome, unusally so for a board game i feel, which i like.
It has flaws of course, it's a little long for example, but I love it and i want to play it again as soon as possible.
Specter ops gives alot of tension too love the sneaking !
Would you say that Space Hulk can be considered for this list? :)
After finding the Space Marine game in the bargain bin at GameStop and playing it would say, yes. The WH40K universe is rather horrific in nature...especially when Chaos Marines, Dark Eldar, and the Tyranids are thrown into the mix...and let's not forget Plague Marines and The Inquisitors...there are a lot of horror elements there.
If a game that is like "Aliens" is voted then I see no reason for "Space Hulk" not to be on the list. The WH40k universe was steeped in gothic overtones and eldritch horror (I wonder if the WH game creators realised how much they mirrored H.P.Lovecraft's mythos in their warp spawned chaos background story, the slann etc).
Is a board game, is tense, is like "Aliens", is dark ...... Epic game, I would have put it on the list.
The Resistance: Body Snatchers theme would make a good horror version of the game.
Glad to see Escape from the Aliens from outer space on Tom's list. It is has given me some of the most horror/tense feelings in boardgames.
I remember when I went to see Cabin in the Woods, then immediately texted a bunch of friends to assemble because we were going to play Betrayal right the hell now.
Dapperghast Meowregard My BF & I were watching "Contagion" (don't) in the theatre and I leaned over 2/3 through and jokingly said, "Let's play Pandemic when we get home!" Seriously, I do love movies that make you want to play THE game afterward.
Your experience sounds like a great Halloween or just spooky night event. Watch "Cabin in the Woods", then play Betrayal. Sounds fun to me!!
With Zee on Hecatomb..darn shame it didn't make it, a wonderful multi-player game and easier to collect than Magic.
Sam does all that research and then this is the top 10 that he always has....
10. Bang the Dice Game
9. Small World
8. Kingsburg
7. Battlestar Galactica
6. Shadows over Camelot
5. Dead of Winter
4. Fury of Dracula
3. Jamaica
2. Colosseum
1. TI 4
Hi, could you make Top10 games with traitor mechanism? It's hard to find more then few common known games:|
Thanks for your videos;)
As I first started watching this, I wondered if Eldritch Horror, Arkham Horror AND Mansions of Madness (as well as Elder Sign) would all be listed. I'm glad to see they were at least covered. I was unsure whether or not all of them should be on lists, though they are clearly all pretty horrific. I also had been flirting with the notion of Space Hulk. Does it fit the genre? Sort of, but not entirely. As for Zombicide, I own it, I enjoy it. But yeah, It had crossed my mind and I immediately figured it would not make a list, nor does it quite deserve to. As fun as it can be, it is basically the Zombieland of zombie board games. All it is missing is a Double Tap card, and a safe room with Bill Murray hehe.
OMG the horse mask never gets old
I have to agree with Tom & Sam on Betrayal at House on the Hill VS Mansions of Madness. Mansions of Madness is a lot more work. Not only with its set up.But, with how the game is played as well. Its fun once its under way. But, it takes you about an hour and half to get there. With Betrayal at House on the Hill. The set up is easy and you begin having fun almost immediately. Plus, you have to find the right group of people to play Mansions of Madness. Betrayal at House on the Hill you can find can handle a very mix group. and they seem to all enjoy the game play of the game.
Wow, a top 10 list that doesn't include 51st State, Heroscape, and TI3! Mansions of Madness and A Touch of Evil were snubbed.
A Touch of Evil is kind of a mess of a game.
Id rather play Last Night on Earth. Its just more streamlined, even with the complicated maps.
Mansions of Madness I think it just takes too much prep and setup to be on the list. one person has to know all the game well, and the others have to never have played or read that mission. It takes too much niche to get going.
Drew - yeah, I didn't think of A Touch Of Evil. You're right. I like it way better than Arkham Horror.
Tom, now I know what you were talking about with having to get the right group for Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space. >:D
I would add Shadow Hunters, Vampire Empire and possibly Dungeon Twister. Shadow Hunter for both theme and the tension/mistrust the hidden role mechanics generate. Vampire Empire is a good 2 player assymetrical game that pits vampires against humans. The bluffing mechanic generates uncertainty and a degree of horror. I mention Dungeon Twister because of how tense the hunt and escape mechanics can be.
Oh, and just imagine that the zombies in Dead of Winter are actually giant spiders! I think it'd work...
Thanks for another top10 list. But... no Gloom / Room25 / Nightfall (Zee?) / Doomtown / Black stories / Doom / Ancient Terrible Things? The first three I had expected to be on someone's list...
Nightfall would have been my #11.
I, too, entertained Nightfall...it just didn't make the cut.
Would've loved some recognition of Chaos in the Old World. When everyone's playing the role of dark gods summoning cultists & monsters, that fits, and it's a solid game with great theming. I otherwise know nothing about the Warhammer universe, so there's no minis bias, either.
26:29 Zee's Cthulhu impression was worth the price of admission.
I can't believe no one voted for Atmosfear. Is there some criteria as to why it wasn't considered....or have you simply not played it? I feel it to be a perfect Halloween horror themed game. It's latest iteration with the DVD and random play tracks allows for more replayability. If you never played it....you should definitely check it out...not the best of games, but I think it would make this list easily.
Glad I'm not the only one who played this game.
I actually asked Tom to try Atmosfear a while ago. He told me he didn't know where he would get a VCR. Let's all admit it and say the original atmosfear 1-4 are the best. Harbingers and beyond got to easy. The PC and card games are awesome but does not have the tension of the original.
Didn't know there was a PC or card game. Or are you calling the DVD version, PC? I do agree that the feel of the VHS ones are superior to the DVD version of the game. The benefit from the DVD player version is that through random video tracks we get a game that isn't always the same, unlike the VHS version. A while ago I found the VHS versions on youtube....and since the boardgame for the DVD version and the VHS version is the same..you can use the board from this recent DVD version to play the old ones.
+DT Wolf The DVD version kinda sucks compared to the VHS versions, and the VHS versions are out of print which they usually take into account. The theme is great, but the game is so basic, roll in a circle and try to land on spaces...basically a children's game with a horror theme on top :-P. The tension of the clock running down is intense though!
+kiwisoup until you play Atmosfear IV. It adds quite a bit to the game. You get to hunt other players.
Hi Guys,
Noted some reluctance to werewolf, mostly because of the player elimination (from Zee and Sam). Do you think that One Night addresses this issue but goes too far and not werewolf enough (maybe too short to really get a full tension feeling).
I love the Betrayal at House on the Hill!
The most scary experience I ever had playing was with a couple videogames: "Dead Space" and "Condemned: Criminal Origins". Awesome.
I remember playing the first Resident Evil on my PS1 in the dark. That was a cool creepy game at the time.
What a shout! Resistance: The Thing! Great film too.
Mansions of Madness + Call of the Wild.
I'm not a fan of the "get the expansion for it to be playable" mentality, but oh my word, Call of the Wild totally changes up the game. Less set up time, no(?) Investigator puzzles, and most importantly, a GAME. I loved the base game, but really, it just boiled down to "That room has a lot cards... Must be something important."
There is another horror theme board game that I have for years now, and I've played with my family every Halloween. It's called "Atmosfear" and I would like to see you guys review it in the future or do a play-through with all three of you. It's an amazing game that I highly recommend.
Yes i agree maybe theyll shut up and listen up! Harbinger rules i may get the original Atmosfear for a xmas gift.
i own Atmostfear: the Harbingers and while i like it i can see why serious gamers arent big fans. its a dice fest luck game that lack sany real strategy or skill, but still a fun game and a nice gateay game to lure in non gamers.
Zee, they made a new version of Doom 3, BFG Edition, where the guy actually attaches the flashlight to his weapons :)
The game's worse for it though.
Diogmetes
I think it actually made the game more immersive than it was
Resident Evil 2: Director's Cut, in the dark, in the middle of the night, in a cabin in the woods in Lake Tahoe. It's been at least a decade, and my nerves still haven't recovered.
I'm with Tom... when it comes to games... in general...it's about how you FEEL...not necessarily about what you look or what you hear... although those things help, but remember that less is best in horror. I'll deff check Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space.
Escape from the aliens is a great pick. It's a fun and tense game, but the player elimination aspect can be very annoying. Even if you play with the humans turn into aliens variant, what usually happens in my group is that if someone gets eliminated he/she'll spend the next 20 minutes bored to death waiting for the second person to die so they can play something else.
Here's why Betrayal gets played more than Mansions with my gaming group: Betrayal takes 5 minutes to set up, and Mansions can take 30 minutes or more.
When I played Betrayal, setup took just as long, or longer than Mansions.
How's that you ask? Because Betrayal's most clever design (having the house "built" by the players) is having the setup designed as part of the "game." However, this is also the game's fatal flaw (in my opinion) as there's really no "game" in the house exploration. Players don't make any active choices/decisions, and only wait for the game to happen. Don't believe me? Try playing a game where everyone decides to do the smart logical thing when presented with that scenario and just not move and stay together in the foyer. I'll wait.
The person that introduced me to Betrayal said it best unwittingly: "We don't even know what game we're going to be playing yet!" he said excitedly. An hour later we found out we were playing "everyone gets killed by the Werewolf." Also, it baffles me how people can bemoan the setup for Mansions, while overlooking the downtime it takes learning the new "haunt" rules. That took us at least 20 minutes (probably more), and was far more cumbersome and confusing than anything Mansions throws at people.
Jammonstrald after about a million plays of betrayal I can see your point. Its not really a game until the haunt comes out. And then if you get stuck in with one of the lame ones or one you have done a half dozen times its a real bummer. There is also the problem where you build a house that makes it impossible to win or you get trapped in the cellar forever.
No King of Tokyo. We played it with everyone in costumes for that extra Halloween feel (the game characters not us)..
Hi, can you please make an update of this theme? it's been 4 years for me
So, summing up the thoughts on Betrayall: "It can be a fun game if..." "it can be scary if..." "it's not a great game but..."
#1 and #4? I'm glad Sam brought it up; Mansions is Betrayal done better. The one hangup with Mansions I could concede is the setup, but really it's not nearly as daunting as its reputation suggests. And for the amount of game and horror you get out of it? Plus it's actually a game, and not just a "wait and see what happens" simulator? Mansions deserved better than this.
Also, probably the most legitimately "scared" I've ever felt playing a game was playing Letters From Whitechapel. Both as the Bobbies and as Jack. Tension in a box.
Man, I just had a "Halloween" themed gaming session today, and this top 10 would have come in handy.
I am a bit surprised that Shadow Hunters didn't make at least Tom's list, which is the game I brought to the session. However, I suppose "Halloween" is actually different than "horror." Horror is stuff that scares us. Halloween hasn't be scary for decades (of my life). Its an opportunity to show some creativity or skin with a costume, maybe drink, and get kitsch. And very few games feel as a "kitsch" as Shadow Hunters.
I did play Betrayal this Halloween! Hahahaha the haunt happened early and it was so unbalanced for the heroes. I won easily, but I was glad it was a short game so we could watch movies!
I am surprised letter from white chapel was not on the list. Nothing is scarier than jack the ripper
When is the new print of carnival zombie coming out?
I think Chaos in the Old World would have fit the Halloween theme.
And by the way, agree with Sam: "Mall of Horror" is a great game and to me, better than "City".
Interesting, Tom is always sticking to his notepads. But Zee and Sam always do something different (paper cards, notes, phones, tablets).
I was surprised the Ouija Board wasn't on the list
+Jammer5815t AJ Apparantly Ouija is a controversial topic in terms of gaming. BoardGameGeek refuses to add it to their database. It's debateable to what Ouija actually is, a game, a toy, a form of divination, etc...but it's made by board game publishers, so I think it should be considered a game...especially when compared to some things in the BGG database. If I have a Halloween game night, the board comes out so whatever.
19:00 Zee's Senor Cardgage is spot on
Sam mentions that several of his entries barely fit the category or that they maybe should not be included, but he couldn't think of anything else to include. Then he talks about Zee's or Sam's entries mentioning that he considered them on his short list but didn't include them on his list. He's fibbing about something here.
Can you make a list of board games with emotional storylines.
Now, forgive if im wrong, but Sam said he never felt spooked by playing a game, but i seem to recall that both he and Tom mentioned feeling bad after playing Chaos in the Old World, one of the scarriest games i know.
It didn't spook me, per se...it completely turned me off because of the grotesque nature of the board and the strong occult theme that it is wrapped in. But it didn't spook me at all.
Just adding a bit more love for Mansions. Only downside is taking a while to set up and, sometimes play. Otherwise, love it.
Any chance you guys could update this list for 2018?
Great music, does anyone have a link for it?
I'm not sure why but I was expecting Atmosphere/Knightmare was going to at least get a mention. I can't remember the game that well other than the fact it's was a VHS game.
Atmosfear* bloody auto correct
I have Atmosfear and it's got nice components and decent gameplay, but that hokey video just kills it for adult gamers. I might put it on a kid's list because it's rich with the spooky Halloween theme -- there's a jack o' lantern player piece and everything.
Brian Blackwell The hokey video is the best part! I'm still trying to get hold of the booster tape 'Zombie' where Baron Samedi makes you stand up and shout ' Yo Baron! I can dig it" everytime he calls on you.
Patrick Goggles
Just saw this after I made my post. Atmosfear is still by far an away the best Halloween game to play. It just oozes panic and tension as the timer ticks down, and the interaction with the gatekeeper( and others) whislt he slowly decays get the kids really worked up. No game comes close to creating the atmosphere for a Halloween night like Atmosfear does. It's become almost a ritual in our family for many, many years that we have to play this every single Halloween night, and we never get tired of it. So many laughs playing it!
***** Yeah it's not just a game with a horror theme, it's tailor made for Halloween.
So did Eldritch Horror make it onto the Horror, Sci-fi, and Fantasy list?
Actually, Tannhauser is set in a prolongued Wolrd War One.