Betrayal At Mystery Mansion gets May 15th launch date

Avalon Hill’s classic horror film simulator Betrayal At House on the Hill is getting perhaps one of the most fitting licenses ever seen in board games as a new Scooby Doo version gears up to launch on May 15th.

Players get the chance to play as each member of Mystery Incorporated - Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, and Fred. No Scrappy Doo though which is a damn shame as it would have made this version host the same amount of players as the original Betrayal At House on the Hill. But then again, everyone would have argued over who got to play Scrappy and who had to play plain old, boring as oatmeal Fred. At least everyone else gets a good catchphrase.

It sounds like the main gameplay aspects are unchanged as players will still explore a mysterious mansion to inevitably trigger the game’s pivotal haunt phase. Although in this version you are looking for ‘clues’ rather than having creepy omens thrown at you. Betrayal At Mystery Mansion will feature 25 new haunts based on popular Scooby Doo episodes and films. Which makes it so much more family friendly. Gone are the blood stained rooms and horrific events, replaced by bright and attractive cartoon visuals. It has also simplified the exploration to simply inside/outside rather than the base game’s ground/upper/attic/basement rooms. We’ll have to see how that pans out but it sounds like it’ll make finding a suitable table much easier.

It’s a good time to be a Betrayal fan as over the last three years we’ve seen a new legacy version, a Dungeons & Dragons tie in with Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate, and now this technicolour reimagining. Which, considering the base game released way back in the ancient time of 2004 is an impressive resurrection.