My initial reaction to the announcement of a Betrayal card game at House on the Hill was confusion (the narrative-focused series doesn’t seem like an obvious choice for a card game), but a bit of interest: this could be good! However, I’m disappointed to say that Betrayal: Deck of Lost Souls isn’t good. Rather than being a fun little distraction from the classic horror-adventure board game, Deck of Lost Souls seems like a poorly executed way to cash in on the Betrayal name.
At its core, a Betrayal card game isn’t a bad idea. Aside from its dynamic gameplay and emphasis on style over brainpower not being to the liking of some players, arguably the biggest criticism of Betrayal at House on the Hill is the length of time it takes to play and the sheer amount of table space. A card game version could provide an alternative for those looking for the light-hearted, spooky fun of the original board game, but with far less commitment. When I heard about the Betrayal card game, I imagined a title where players could draw cards from a deck and react to them, sort of like the narrative-driven card game For the Queen. This would allow players to enjoy the narrative and atmospheric aspects of Betrayal’s haunted locations without as many gameplay mechanics – perfect!
Instead, Betrayal: Deck of Lost Souls is a baffling entry in the series that flagrantly monopolizes goodwill toward its older sibling without any right to do so. There are obviously basic similarities between Deck of Lost Souls and Betrayal at House on the Hill aside from the shared name: both titles feature semi-cooperative gameplay with a traitor element, and both are set in horror. However, while Betrayal at House on the Hill offers players a haunted house playground to explore and create gameplay memories, Deck of Lost Souls features a repetitive, monotonous gameplay loop that offers absolutely nothing new.
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In Deck of Lost Souls, players take on the role of curse breakers seeking to nullify a malicious enchantment by discovering and using a collection of strange artifacts. One of these curse breakers is not who they claim to be, and will work against the others to make their mission as difficult as possible. Unlike Betrayal at House on the Hill, players' roles are secretly assigned to them from the beginning of the card game, and the traitor player has the entire game to unravel the party's efforts to gather the necessary items.
I honestly didn't even get a chance to play this version of the game because it took us so long to play through the introductory version of Deck of Lost Souls (which doesn't include a traitor player) that my group got too frustrated to play another round. The introductory version of the game is almost exactly the same as the regular mode, except there are no traitors and players work together to defeat all of the curses, rather than deducing the correct curse and defeating it.
The game rules are poorly written, with a lack of specificity that prolonged the time it took us to start playing.
As simple as Deck of Lost Souls’ gameplay loop is, especially in the introductory version (in which players take turns playing, discarding, or swapping cards from their hands), learning how to play was a painfully arduous experience. Some games are worth the time it takes to set up and learn (like Twilight Imperium or Gloomhaven), but Deck of Lost Souls is not one of them. The game’s rulebook is poorly written and inconsistent, with a lack of specificity that artificially extended the amount of time it took us to start playing. Even several rounds into the game, we still weren’t sure we were playing correctly, and abandoned the rulebook after multiple attempts to figure out what we might have been doing wrong.
Each round of Deck of Lost Souls is divided into two phases per person: the Player Phase and the Omen Phase. In the Player Phase, the active player chooses whether to play an item card in front of them, discard an item card for the one on top of the deck, or give their card to another player, with the possibility of that player returning one in return. This first phase focuses on players working toward their overall goal of playing cards that help them determine which of the curses in the game might be the one they are supposed to break. To do so, they play item cards with the keyword “clue” next to their assigned curse card; the curse card with the most clues next to it at the end of the game will be the “true” curse.
The Omens phase then requires a more immediate reaction to the threat of whatever Omen cards players choose to play from their hand. Omen cards range from minor to major, with major ones sometimes requiring multiple items to dispel and having more negative effects if left unresolved that round. Other players may contribute their own items to dispel the Omens, whether those played in front of them or those in their hand. However, players will also need to keep in mind the overall goal of finding and breaking the curse, so they may let someone else help them or simply decide that it's worth skipping this Omen in favor of the bigger picture.
Consider the barriers of a poorly written rulebook, a monotonous core gameplay loop, and a disconnect between what a Betrayal game should be and this.
Meanwhile, the traitor player is supposed to make subtle choices to steer players away from the correct curse, as well as hold back cards or play less efficient options during their turns in an effort to push the group toward failure. The group loses if they break the wrong curse, or if a player has no items on hand or in front of them when they play an important omen card. Alternatively, if the traitor can split the difference in clue cards between two curses, they can use their own traitor identity card to turn things in their favor, making a different card the “true” curse and forcing the other players to lose. This gives the traitor several opportunities to sabotage things, whether they choose to more actively cause trouble or play the game longer.
The traitor can be revealed by an accusing player, but there are consequences for accusing the wrong person (forcing players to discard item cards), so it's always a risk. Alternatively, a traitor can choose to expose themselves if they sense an accusation is imminent and want to reap the benefits of doing so – having all players give them their Major Omen cards and deciding which of the curse cards is the “true” one early on, turning the game into a race between the curse-breakers defeating the “true” curse and the traitor forcing them to run out of items.
Having played Deck of Lost Souls without the Betrayal and Curse Divination gameplay mechanics, it could be that the game’s appeal doesn’t translate to players without them. It could be that these elements add enough variety to the gameplay to keep it from getting too boring, too quickly. However, I doubt that the inclusion of these elements will make me want to play Deck of Lost Souls any more than I already do – which it doesn’t at all, considering the significant barriers of a poorly written rulebook, a monotonous core gameplay loop, and a complete disconnect between what a Betrayal game should be and what this one is.
The beauty of Betrayal at House on the Hill lies in its atmosphere and storytelling, making it a cliché-filled celebration of the horror genre. Deck of Lost Souls has none of that, making it little more than a betrayal of the series.
Buy Betrayal: Deck of Lost Souls on Amazon.