I just wanna know what this person's top rated mazes are. I have nothing to compare this to.
I'll throw in my rankings. Keep in mind this was a preview/dress rehearsal and also hurricane prep
might have affected some zones.
Houses:
The Darkest Deal - Heavily enjoyed this house. The cast was great when I went through and walking through you could feel a sense of tension that is rare with HHN houses.
Dr. Oddfellow: Twisted Origins - Was going to put this behind DD, but I had a great run here. The tight corners work extremely well and if you hit it right this house is going to knock your socks off.
Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate - Really enjoyed this one, the only thing was I wish the part of the house where you choose a path was longer.
Yeti: Campground Kills - Very fun house, will probably be one of the fan favorites.
Universal Monsters: Unmasked - Like normal with Monsters houses, I have no idea what was going on in the house, but I liked it lol.
Stranger Things 4 - Very true to the fourth season. Not many scares, but also just enough. Eddie did have his guitar up there but wasn't playing it when I went through. I assume he grabs it every now and then.
The Last Of Us - Pretty, atmospheric, true to the game, very few scares, Bloaters were clunky, and I think the clickers would've looked better with prosthetics. Was going to put this below Believer tbh though. Perhaps I had a bad run, but it's my least favorite house in the New Parade building in terms of scares (as of right now, this could change), but also the prettiest at the same time?
The Exorcist: Believer - Not sure what to say with this ones as I don't remember it too much other than I know I came out saying I thought it was better than Bloodmoon lol.
Bloodmoon: Dark Origins - forgettable
Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count - Very repetitive. I do think this will be a popular house though, much like the Halloween houses.... the mid-part of the house going outside is much more jarring this year than last as it's not going into a different IP, it's just continuing but you're also sort of just in a weird limbo waiting to continue
Streets/Hordes:
Death Eaters - Very aggressive, while it's a horde and they have all of Diagon to play with, it felt very much like old school HHN in their movements and scares. Do not miss it. They are out for 20 minute sets. I believe I saw the first one in Diagon and it started at 8:30 although it's possible they were out before that.
Shipyard 32 - This is a very hit or miss zone every year it seems and this year I think they nailed it. I just hope crowds don't ruin it. It's the best advertised
zone by far.
EXTREMELY LARGE GAP
Jungle Of Doom - This is going to all be dependent on if you actually get the scares in this zone or not. I did. I can see many ranking this at or near the bottom though.
Vamp '69 - Fun enough atmosphere (get ready for drunken Sweet Caroline sing-alongs for the next two months), but the scares are almost non existent and I went though this zone a ton. I really wish they would make the boundaries of the NY zone smaller so the cast is condensed together more instead of so spread out making it feel empty.
Dark Zodiac - Same issue as Vamp '69 in that it feels Empty and scares are almost non-existent, except there's no real atmosphere here to boost it up a bit.
Oddfellow's Collection of Horror - The zone felt like it was missing a lot so I definitely need to see it again
Megan Horde - Did not catch this so cannot comment.
Nightmare Fuel - I think i'd consider this the best version of the show.
It's a rehearsal, of course, but I'll admit the clips coming out give me a bit of pause. Most seem to lack a clear energy or purpose at this (very early) point in time - even Vamp feels a little barren?
Most of the zones did indeed feel lackluster. This is why the Death Eaters were such a breath of fresh air. They made it feel like old school HHN in how they were going about scaring and everything they were doing. Also, having all of Diagon as their playground worked great. Not sure how it will work with huge crowds though. Make sure you have your dark marks...
Shipyard 32 also worked really well imo although once the large crowds come in I can see it feeling too crowded for a zone, just like always and thus the zone won't work as well. Finding the Oddfellow in this zone is going to be real tough once the real crowds are there. I had a tough time finding him tonight with low crowds.