Best Eldritch Horror Expansions

Eldritch Horror delves deep into H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos through the core game and numerous expansions. Lovecraft created an incredible world of madness, fantasy, and mystery that has fascinated and horrified his readers.

In the best Eldritch Horror expansions, you get the chance to be one of his famous investigators trying to stop the elder gods from awakening and destroying the world.

Without further ado, let’s dive into madness and find the best Eldritch Horror expansions to lose our sanity in. 

Our Top Picks for Best Eldritch Horror Expansions

In a hurry? Check out our favorites below.

06/04/2023 03:30 am GMT

A bit about the original Eldritch Horror

Eldritch Horror is the spiritual successor of Arkham Horror. I’m a huge fan of Arkham but it was plagued with numerous flaws that I personally was able to overlook for the awesome experience it gave.

Eldritch Horror was built on a similar system but with much clearer and streamlined rules. The original board game created the same dread I enjoyed from Arkham but re-themed it as a global calamity instead of just a small little city.

I will always love Arkham Horror but Eldritch Horror is objectively a better game.

Eldritch Horror: Cities in Ruin

Cities in Ruin comes with 4 new investigators including one of my favorites. Try to guess which one.

1 New Ancient One:

• Shudde M’ell

4 New Investigators:

• Ashcan Pete
• Bob Jenkins
• Rita Young
• Roland Banks

Additionally, players will also be able to square up against a new Ancient One, Shudde M’ell. The new encounter can be extremely brutal as the Ancient One awakens and all of the new characters have great abilities without being game-breaking.

The Ancient One Shudde M’ell makes its presence known with disasters and calamity. Cities in Ruin isn’t just a clever name for the expansion either. As Shudde M’ell awakens, the world around him is hit with devastations that can literally destroy spaces on the board.

Encounters on devastated locations are much more difficult and if every space is devastated, the investigators lose. 

Cities in Ruin, of course, comes with all the usual extras like spells, weapons, and allies, but it’s the boss encounters and disasters that really make this one shine.

It’s considered one of the more luck-driven expansions but it adds a tremendous amount of thematic elements into the mix too. 

Eldritch Horror: The Dreamlands

The Dreamlands is one of the later Eldritch Horror expansions, but one of the best. It doesn’t add anything new but builds upon some of the rules introduced in earlier expansions. 

2 new Ancient Ones:

• Altach_Nacha
• Hypnos

8 New Investigators: 

• Amanda Sharpe
• Carolyn Ferne
• Darrell Simmons
• Gloria Goldberg
• Kate Winthrop
• Luke Robinson
• Vincent Lee
• William Yorrick

The Dreamlands includes 2 very thematic Ancient Ones and 8 new investigators. It’s one of the later-produced expansions and has been criticized for being more of the same. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The extra investigators and Ancient Ones add a lot more replayability. If you’re a fan of the original game then adding more of the same is a win for me. 

Eldritch Horror: Under the Pyramids

Under the Pyramids is the second big-box expansion for Eldritch Horror and it comes shambling from the deep with a ton of thematic flair.

As you might imagine from the title, we’re heading to Egypt with a brand new board where you’ll face off with ancient horrors and, of course, iconic mummies.

2 New Ancient Ones:

• Abhoth
• Nephren-Ka

8 New Investigators:

• Hank Samson
• Harvey Walters
• Joe Diamond
• Mandy Thompson
• Minh Thi Phan
• Monterey Jack
• Rex Murphy
• Sister Mary

To help you on your quest, you’ll have access to 8 new investigators and a sarcophagous full of new and unique assets. 

The new board only comes out if you’re using the new Ancient One, Nephron Ka, or if you add the Prelude Under the Pyramids into the mix. It’s a solid addition and one of the better big-box versions. 

Eldritch Horror: Signs of Carcosa

Good ol’ Dexter Drake the magician makes his appearance here. He always reminds me of Dr. Orpheus from Venture Brothers… but I digress.

Signs of Carcosa is another card-only expansion that brings in 4 new investigators, and the big baddie Hastur itself. The King in Yellow himself makes his appearance as the only additional Ancient One and he’s a doozy. 

1 New Ancient One:

• Hastur

4 New Investigators:

• Dexter Drake
• Jenny Barnes
• Michael Mc Glen
• Wendy Adams

To add to the existential terror, we also get a bunch of new conditions and impairments that can be brutally crippling for the unprepared. 

Eldritch Horror: Strange Remnants

Strange Remnants is another of the smaller card-only expansions. It adds a bit more of everything, including a new type of glamour magic. There are going to be a lot of new cards to go around but what really makes this expansion shine is Syzygy. It’s not necessarily an Ancient One, but rather, an event. 

1 new Ancient One (kinda):

• Syzgy

4 New Investigators:

• Marie Lambeau
• Tony Morgan
• “Skids” O’Toole
• Zoey Samaras

Mythology from all parts of the world speaks of superstitions about Syzygy but don’t worry if you’ve never heard the term. It’s an event when several celestial bodies all line up in a row and, of course, that spells disaster for our intrepid investigators and the fate of the world. 

Because the new encounter is an event as opposed to an Ancient One, you’re always going to have to face it. You can’t simply stop planets from aligning, right? 

Strange Remnants includes a nice boost of cards for the base game while keeping some of the better rule changes (like focus) around and in the game. 

Eldritch Horror: Forsaken Lore

At first glance, this expansion looks a little thin but its perks aren’t readily apparent until you start diving into the box.

If you love the vanilla version of Eldritch Horror and just want to keep playing more, then this is probably a good choice. It only adds the Yig as far as Ancient Ones go but it adds a ton of new cards for the vanilla Ancient Ones. 

1 New Ancient One:

• Yig

There are no new rule changes to learn either, so it’s the easiest to open and integrate with your core set right from the start. The lack of new investigators is a little rough — it would have been nice to add some new faces — but it’s a nice little boost to the core set. 

Eldritch Horror: Mountains of Madness

In the first big-box expansion, the box gets thick! Mountains of Madness adds a whopping 7 new investigators 2 new Ancient Ones, 3 new mechanics, and an additional board for Antarctica.

2 New Ancient Ones:

• Elder Things
• Ithaqua

8 New Investigators:

• Agnes Baker
• Daisy Walker
• Finn Edwards
• George Barnaby
• Patrice Hathaway
• Tommy Muldoon
• Ursula Downs
• Wilson Richards

The new mechanics are a nice bonus that add variety as opposed to unnecessary complexity. The Focus ability allows players to use an action to gain a focus token, which in turn, can be used to re-roll a test later on down the line. 

The unique assets add specialty cards that can only be gained through special in-game actions. You can’t simply head to a store and buy them so they’re much more powerful than the regular asset deck.

Finally, Preludes were first introduced in Mountains of Madness. They offer a new thematic alteration to the game that really immerses you in the Eldritch Horror experience. 

Eldritch Horror: Masks of Nyarlathotep

If the mere thought of trying to pronounce “Nyarlathotep” fills you with existential dread then you’re probably in the right place. 

You’ll notice that the Masks of Nyarlathotep comes in a big box, but unlike a lot of the other expansions, you’ll also notice a distinct lack of an additional board. Hmm…

2 New Ancient Ones:

• Antediluvium
• Nyarlathotep

7 New Investigators:

• Agatha Crane
• Calvin Wright
• Carson Sinclair
• Daniela Reyes
• Father Mateo
• Preston Fairmont
• Sefina Rousseau

It does have a completely new way to play locked within its depths. Masks of Nyarlathotep brings the campaign-style play to your Eldritch Horror game.

A full campaign consists of 6 separate games in which players work together to stop all 6 Ancient Ones over the course of several games. There are new cards and rules that support the new campaign play with Preludes and other fun thematic bits. 

Oh, and by the way, if a character dies in-game, they’re devoured and out for the remainder of the campaign: deadzies, done, kaput. Good luck.

We hope you enjoyed our list of the best Eldritch Horror expansions.

What’s your favorite Eldritch Horror expansion? Drop a comment below, and remember, “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn“.