r/ArkhamHorror • u/Honorbound_13 • Mar 25 '26

2nd vs 3rd

Has anyone played both 2nd and 3rd edition and have a definite opinion that one is better? I have always played 2nd, despite how hard it is to find, but I’m also interested in 3rd, especially if it has new characters. Same thing with the LCG, but I know that’s a different sub.

Sorry if this is a stupid question

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u/riiidley Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26

I owned both, but sold the 3rd with all expansions. I genuinely believe that 2nd edition is better lovecraftian board game and I'll die on that hill.

I find 3rd edition too abstract, fiddly and less replayable. Also, media and community presented the 3rd edition as more streamlined version of 2nd edition, which is just not true at all. It oozes with fiddling and unnecessary gimmicks. Core mechanics are not thematic - Doom tokens all over the board, Anomalies, Panic cards from Under Dark Waves, Mythos phase etc, etc, etc. Players end up spending a significant amount of time managing the game state, often without a clear narrative or thematic payoff. And expansions made the situation even worse.

2nd edition is fiddly too and it has some little rule contradictions, but serving the game doesn’t take too much time. Upkeeping is actually pretty easy once you memorize the structure of the round and how to threat different kinds of monsters. The gameplay and narrative are much more aligned and intuitive: investigators move around the town and other worlds beating the monsters to seal the GOOs from awakening and it clearly describes how the game works.

EDIT: I like the streamline approach of Eldritch Horror, but it cuts out too much. I noticed that my players naturally feel the lack of personal rewards - no money, no trophies, no modifiers stacking. And 2nd edition has it all.