Haunts: The Manse Macabre

Haunts: The Manse Macabre is a turn-based haunted house game that allows players to take control of either the haunting denizens that have earned this infamous home its dire reputation or the intrepid intruders determined to pry loose the Tyree Manse’s dread secrets. It can be played versus another player or versus the AI, online or all alone. A lengthy single-player campaign tells the house’s horrifying history and unlocks new haunts and intruders to use in the game. Scores of maps combined with variable goals, customizable rosters, and a variety of opponents offer endlessly unique and re-playable games.

Each side begins the game by choosing their forces in secret, so that their opponent has no idea what kind of units and abilities they’re bringing to the game. The Intruders recruit a squad of three people, each of which can have different equipment and special abilities. There are weapons, psychic or magic powers, special scientific gear, ancient relics, and so on. They also secretly pick what kind of goal they’re trying to achieve by searching the Tyree Manse. They could be trying to recover an artifact or dark tome, cleanse the house of evil spirits, or solve the mystery of the house’s many secrets.

The Denizens will have to defend against any of the goals the Intruders might be after, but the haunters have plenty of surprises of their own. First they get to choose the nature of the haunting. Phantasms, Cultists, Abominations, Undying, Psychopaths: each comes with its own set of leaders, servitors, and minions. Creatures range from powerful monsters that can tear some poor fool to pieces, to small orbs that can spy on the intruders. Abilities are instant effects used to plague the Intruders that range from temporary pools of darkness, to poltergeist attacks that damage and disorient, to reality warping changes to the house itself.

Every game of Haunts: The Manse Macabre is played on a randomly chosen map. Players have no idea what their opponent is doing, except for what their units and sensors can perceive within the game. Light and darkness have crucial roles in determining how the game plays out, since it’s always in your best interest to hide your movements from your foe even as you try to suss out what they’re up to. With its mercurial maps, hidden agendas, and sneaky movements punctuated with macabre attacks, Haunts: The Manse Macabre builds tension like a great ghost story should. Whether or not it has a happy ending depends, of course, on your point of view.

Last updated on August 14, 2015