When comparing Dead of Winter vs Letters from Whitechapel, the Slant community recommends Dead of Winter for most people. In the question“What are the best scary board games to play around Halloween?” Dead of Winter is ranked 5th while Letters from Whitechapel is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose Dead of Winter is:
Dead of Winter is, on the surface, a cooperative game where players work together to survive an apocalypse. However, every game has roughly a 50/50 chance of a hidden traitor mixed in with the players, whose goal includes making all of the other players lose the game. In every game, regardless of the presence of a traitor, the players will also have their own secret objectives, many of which might look suspicious. So, even if you don't have a traitor in the game, if one of your friends seems like they are hoarding food, you're going to start questioning them. This environment of paranoia is extremely enjoyable.
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Pros
Pro Spreading mistrust amongst your friends
Dead of Winter is, on the surface, a cooperative game where players work together to survive an apocalypse. However, every game has roughly a 50/50 chance of a hidden traitor mixed in with the players, whose goal includes making all of the other players lose the game. In every game, regardless of the presence of a traitor, the players will also have their own secret objectives, many of which might look suspicious. So, even if you don't have a traitor in the game, if one of your friends seems like they are hoarding food, you're going to start questioning them. This environment of paranoia is extremely enjoyable.
Pro Great horror story
One of the core mechanisms of Dead of Winter is the Crossroads card system. These are cards that are read, in secret, by another player while you take your turn. If, during your turn, you take a specific action (maybe searching at the police station, or moving a character), play is interrupted, and a short blurb of story text is read. Then, the players are faced with a choice that has consequences in-game. Do you help out the band of survivors that showed up at your colony, adding more helpless mouths to feed but gaining more workers in the process? Or, do you send them on their way, knowing the chances of survival are grim? It's wonderfully thematic, immersive storytelling that, unlike many other random event systems in games, is directly triggered by the players' actions.
Pro Avoids advantage to any player
A lot of co-op games have a problem with one player getting an advantage, this is called an alpha player. Letters from Whitechapel avoids this issue by rotating the Head of Investigation (a player who leads the rest of his co-op partners) each round, this way avoiding one player who has too much control of the game for too long.
Pro Satisfying asynchronous play
Many games try to do asynchronous gameplay but often do not get it right. Luckily Letters for Whitechapel nailed the gameplay with a well balanced role of Jack the Ripper, who often only narrowly escapes the police, which gives a feeling of tension to the one player who could have an advantage if not balanced correctly.
Cons
Con Unwinnable for some players
Occasionally through luck of the draw or poor decision making, a player's Secret Objective will become clearly un-achievable, or the achievement of which will lose the game for everyone. When this happens to a non-betrayer mid game it become very frustrating to have to stick it out knowing you cannot share in the win.
Con Slow beginning
The beginning of the game is the poorest part as it is slow to setup and can be confusing, especially to new players.