In case you're not familiar with how things works or what the hell I'm on about, Legendary Truth is an interactive way to tell the "story" of HHN beyond just the houses and to get people more involved in figuring out just what's going on in a more social manner. You should take note, though, that this isn't for regular attendees who plan to be around for just a night. This is mostly for the diehard fans of Halloween Horror Nights here. Sure players can join in online, but the real meat and potatoes seems to be in the parks, which requires having a Frequent Fear pass to get the most out of it via several visits to the event. Though, players in the parks have been rewarded for their efforts with after parties and other goodies exclusive to them in the past. I'm not sure about online players to be honest...
That said, the most people who have ever played in the park? 900, out of tens of thousands during the 2012 campaign. A much greater number played online, however, over 7,000 had played and over 350,000 games had been logged during the run. So, what do players do? It's their job to help The Collective in assisting their search for answers and more recently, helping their own legions/groups out during the course of the event's run. Clues are left at various places in the park, online through blog entries and on the Halloween Horror Nights main site. Sometimes they would require being in a certain place at a certain time or trying to find people with handheld scanners too. In addition to this, RFID chips are used to help players and the groups they're with by scanning cards at the exit of houses or finding specific people throughout the park during special events or quests.
How did all this start?
It was during this inaugural year that much of the history surrounding everything was formed. The bizarre disappearance of Dr Mary Agatha, her suspected murderer, the death and induced insanity of her patients all were part of the story that was unfolded for those who were brave enough to help The Collective's efforts.
While things went on hiatus from HHN 18 until HHN 20, they came back and they did so with a vengeance in the form of Legendary Truth: The Awakening. The Collective had unwittingly awakened Fear by figuring out the cryptic puzzle before them and...well...all hell broke lose, literally. This same year there was even a house in the park that was directly tied to the game as well, The Wyandot Estate. Seekers of the paranormal truth, members The Collective, had come up with a device which would allow them to attract ghosts to prove once and for all that they were real. With two of the team dead, one blind and the other possessed, it was up to the players to figure out just what happened...or at least attempt to.
Isn't this similar to Busch Gardens' Darkside of the Gardens?
Yes, it seems a bit similar to what Busch Gardens did last year with their "Darkside of the Gardens" and specifically with Busch Gardens Williamsburg's "Root of Evil" house within the event. However, Busch Gardens does not have any kind of interactive features to their events either. So there's that. When we visited Busch Gardens Virginia last year for their Howl-O-Scream event, they were running with the theme pretty good, but I'm not so inclined to buy the fact this is a "rip off" either.
Horror Unearthed was the name of the new "alternate reality" game that became wildly popular with Frequent Fear pass holders during HHN 22 and even some not even remotely close to the park who were just playing online to decipher clues and figure out what was going on like previous years.
So that's that, what there's more questions? Alright...fine...
How does this all fit with the main theme?
You may be asking yourself, "Where's the connection this year, what does this have to do with the new theme?" Well, that's pretty simple and I think that the image below pretty much demonstrates how this has evolved from the above to what's below. Some people seem to think that the recent announcement of Cabin in the Woods and this logo are somehow connected at a park wide thematic level and they'd be partly correct, but it's not so cut and dry as that.
While it's possible that it has direct ties to (or at least inspired by) Cabin in the Woods being added as a house for this year and of course the possibility of Evil Dead being added as well (which, I think they'd be very smart to do), it's pretty sketchy to be making those kinds of connections for a theme for HHN as a whole. From many sources, there won't be a central theme to this year's event...but only time will tell on that. However, it really doesn't have much to do with anything outside of the Legendary Truth campaign here. Sure they're both woodsy themed in a way, but this more the team following the lead of HHN with things. It's not like they work in a vacuum after all and previous indications show that they do craft their stories around the houses and stories of HHN, but Legendary Truth isn't something that is really that big to begin with. Will it get there? Who knows...but right now it's not nearly as huge as the tens of thousands who go each night and have no clue about it.
So, as you can see, there isn't much connection with the actual themes of the houses, other than the investigation that plays out is sometimes based on houses either directly related to the story (like during HHN XX) or the events of each house being part of the investigation as a whole (HHN 18). They could change that this year, but only time will tell...
What's going on with things for HHN 23?
Now that we have that out of the way (and honestly, I can see why people think that but really? Just have to look a little to see what's really going on), let's get on with what the Legendary Truth folks have in store for 2013!
First off, the creative team at Universal have fired up a blog, Evil Takes Root, for players and the curious to follow along with all summer and during HHN itself. So far, they've already kicked it off with a couple of posts and this video below:
Not much really can be ascertained from just this, but we're really just getting into things here. If the previous years are any indication, the investigation should prove to be full of twists and unknowns for those playing along. The only things that we know at this point is that we've uncovered evidence of the backpack and items inside. How these things are linked together or who their owner is, is anyone's guess right now. And what of that noise and whatever it was that chased our shadowy friend out of the woods? No clue there yet either...
So, for those who have been following along, the idea that Legendary Truth would be returning wasn't so much of a surprise it would seem. Though, I guess no one really knew how exactly they would be bringing things back. To find out just everything that's in store for things this year, you may want to check out the YouTube video that Behind the Thrills picked up last month:
From what the team stated during their panel at Halloween Extreme this year, they're taking things to a whole new level of interaction with guests. This time, they're trying to take the clues, games and fun to an all year long level! How this will work out out exactly is anyone's guess. Though, have no fear, the popular idea of legions and helping out your fellow members via in park card scanning and other such things is still alive and well too.
For now, since the main site isn't open to the public yet, we'll just have to live with the debut of Legendary Truth merchandise on the Universal site, the information that's been posted via the Legendary Truth - The Collective Facebook page and whatever else show up on the Evil Takes Root blog.
As more information becomes available I'll be sure to keep a watchful eye out and report back with any developments that are a bit interesting.
Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando runs from Sept 20th through Nov 2nd on select nights. More information can be found on their official site.
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