One of the reasons why I enjoy Knott's so much despite there being so many repeats is that whenever they only do two new houses, they're usually great. At least I feel like that's the case in recent years. Even if the scenic may not exactly be "movie set quality" at times, the detail makes up for it to where it can be pretty darn close to what Universal does. Also there's no way they can have the money to do five or six Paranormal Inc. or Origins-calibur houses every year, so I will gladly take one or (preferably) two mazes a year. It would also be nice if they could pick a repeat to change up or give a sequel treatment like they did for Dead of Winter along with it.
Yes, I agree that the sets for HHN do look better, at least when it's at it's best (Crimson Peak, Insidious 2015, AVP, Us, etc.) . Ash Vs Evil Dead and Trick r Treat are prime examples of having some nice-looking set design where they have it, but being completely ruined by the countless hallways of black walls. Imagine going on the Snow White ride at Disneyland where between each scene you go through a bunch of black hallways. Imagine your ride car going through Snow White's cottage, then through the next door, you go through a black hallway for ten seconds. Then the doors open and you enter the Dwarf's mine. At the end of the Dwarf's mine is an abrupt transition to a black hallway that goes on for another five or ten seconds then you reach the Queen's Lair. Then the pattern continues but the finale is an out-of-place AA in a black hallway of the wicked witch. If you see where I'm going with this illustration, my point is, the exact same scenes as they are would be in place for the Snow White ride, but if they were to be separated by long, black hallways, it REALLY would detract from the experience and diminish the quality of the scenes. All of that because immersion of the ride would be ruined with cheap, lazy black hallways. Same with the houses at HHNH.
Contract that with Knott's and you'd be hard-pressed to find a single random black wall in their mazes. Origins is probably the magnum opus of KSF houses to me. The "exterior" scene is incredible. Even where they could've gotten away with putting a black wall by the side, they didn't! They put a mirror in front of some hanging vines to sell the illusion of a massive exterior space! It really feels like I'm outside when I'm not. The detail and effort they put into it rivals that with a house you'd find at HHNO! There's different kinds of scares; there's roaming ones, there's audio triggers, there's aerial stunts, there's great SFX....there are just so many awesome things in that house. Contrast that at HHN and, while the audio trigger does work as a scare, they get lazy and only use it for one kind of scare. At least Knott's changes it up.
To keep this post from getting too long, I'll sum it up with this: HHN used to be top-tier for me. I still like it....at least the new mazes they put out, but it's obvious they feel too comfortable. I feel less inclined to give HHN my money while I get more excited for Knott's as, while they offer fewer new mazes, the few they offer have usually "wow'd" me with their set design, effects, and variety of scares. They clearly have less bureaucracy and creative hindrances to deal with. HHN could literally be better than the new mazes Knott's does and be up their with HHNO quality, but choose not to. It's very frustrating. All USH has to do is prioritize, consolidate their resources, and get more creative with what they have to work with. If HHN would just do less mazes but no black walls at all, I'd be happy. But man, I really wish they would cut the black walls, but use the kind of scares Knott's has with an HHN-twist.
But c'mon. You cannot tell me that mazes like Pandora's Box, HoTC 2019, TiTE, Ash Vs Evil Dead, Blumhouse, or First Purge compare with any of the mazes at Knott's from the past few years.