This card is no Shortcut, that much is for sure. It's not fast so you have to get at least two moves before it does anything, and it costs a whole resource too. Your target has to be unrevealed, and not only that but your path toward that target will be interrupted if any locations along the way are also unrevealed or if there are non-aloof enemies between you and your destination. But, for all those conditions, there is no built-in upper limit to the number of moves The Truth Beckons grants you, and in the right scenario, you can easily move three or even four times with it. To make this work, you need to either double back along a long path where you revealed multiple locations, or you can chase after a teammate who went out of their way to reveal a bunch of locations, in which case you can "leap frog" them with The Truth Beckons to the next unrevealed one. Not every scenario is going to have opportunities like this though, and while you might be satisfied that this card wasn't completely dead if it grants you just a second move, it will be strictly worse than Shortcut in that situation. So, where does The Truth Beckons pull ahead of Shortcut?

Slight spoilers for some scenarios ahead, in particular the location layouts.

Obviously, completely linear scenarios where you are crammed in with your teammates like The Essex County Express are right out. If this card is in your deck for a scenario like that, it's just its lackluster icons. A lot of Exploring in The Forgotten Age results in new locations being revealed in a linear fashion and players moving to and revealing new locations as they put them into play, so you can probably forget this for the majority of that campaign. In the core set mini-campaign, The Truth Beckons is probably okay for The Midnight Masks as the city of Arkham is quite a sprawl, and you might double back to search remote locations for cultists and clues.

Carcosa contains a couple of scenarios where this is a winner, though. As the most compelling example, The Unspeakable Oath ends by asking the players to trek all the way out from the depths of the asylum to escape, a task which is made difficult by the fact that the exit is a whole five locations away. Happily, unlike a lot of "resign to escape" endings, you do not start off revealing the exit, so in an ideal scenario (maybe you ask a teammate to clear out enemies that spawn along the way) this card generates four move actions and comes close to ending the game on the spot, which is unparalled value for a level zero card. Bonus points if you get your buddy out too using their Safeguard!

Spoilers over now, back to general analysis and a conclusion.

The Truth Beckons is far too narrow and conditional to be a staple movement card, but there are scenarios where it has the opportunity to blow you away with just how many actions it can generate. Foreknowledge of what you're up against helps a lot - don't play this into a scenario you know nothing about - and so does collaboration between you and your team to make it work. This is another level zero card that really makes Adaptable shine too, so any Rogues with access to The Truth Beckons should keep this card in mind. When it comes to interesting deckbuilding, I think the "narrow but situationally powerful" design of cards like this blows the "universally good but rarely fantastic" design of things like Shortcut completely out the water. I am delighted that a card like this exists, even if it won't make the cut over Shortcut in the majority of decks.

I generally like this card very much, use it even more than Drawn to the Flame. It's a big pro for me, that it has the Spell-trait for the synergy with Arcane Initiate and now also Robes of Endless Night. In multiplayer it can chain to big-clue-turns, if you cast it before using any version of Rite of Seeking as last action. Sure, that's also possible with Drawn to the Flame, but if you then draw an enemy, you have to take care of him first. Finally, and that's more of a personal thing: I have only one core set, and from RtS I can take two copies without proxying.

However, one thing, I never really considered was the "ignore" part, even though I played quite a bit of Diana Stanley. The trigger condition is very niche, how many locations are there actually, where it matters? Even worse for other investigators, many locations that might trigger (including, but not solemnly the ones with the "Haunted" keyword) only care, if you fail the test, something you want to avoid anyway on an event, that costs two resources. Sure, once in a while, you might draw the autofail, but I at least always look to cover the second-worst token, if I play RtS,it's normally not that hard. For Diana this still matters. After all, the card ignores the effect, does not need to cancel it and triggers her ability even on success. But for others not so much. Still I wanted an overview, where there potential locations, that care about this card, and because there was no review her yet, that covers this aspect, I thought it was time to provide it. Obviously, we are running into SPOILER-Territory here, so if you don't like that, I'd advice to stop reading after the next paragraph. I will cover for now only TNotZ and Dunwich (both with "Return to"), as well as Carcosa and TFA (each without "Return", as I have not played them yet, and did not want to spoil myself), but I will soon cover the next two cycles and plan to update whenever I'm ready for that.

Some notes regarding which locations work with the cards, and which won't, as this is quite tricky. It must be a triggered ability, so cards like Arkham Woods or Yard won't work, because they are constant abilities. I'm also pretty sure, that a card like Museum of Egyptian Antiquities won't be ignored, because it triggers after you investigate, so too late for RtS. However, if a card says "After you successfully investigate" (and there are some), it is fine to ignore, because just like "After you fail a skill test while investigating", this is checked in ST.6 and triggered in ST.7, so before the test has ended. I think, I found all the cards, that are eligible to be ignored, but if you think, I missed one, please mention it. Very much appreciated.

(Return to:) The Night of the Zealot

There is not a single location, that would trigger in the core box, however three in the "Return to" box. Two of them are in "The Gathering". Even though one is "basically Haunted" without the keyword, so not very interesting for anybody except Diana, the other effect might sound familiar from Rite of Seeking and is sure nice to ignore. Both of the cards you will see reliably in any game of "Return to the Gathering", unlike the third card, which is randomly chosen or not among the "Arkham Woods" location in the third scenario. But if you get it, you'll sure like to ignore it.

(Return to:) The Dunwich Legacy

The Orne Library won't trigger, because it is a constant ability and furthermore even a cost you have to pay, before you are able to play the card. However in "Return to Extracurricular Activity" it may be swapped with the Warren Observatory, which has a nice effect to ignore. There are quite a lot of "basically Haunted" cards in Dunwich, one in "The House Always Win", four of the eight "Exhibit Halls" in "The Miskatonic Museum" (one of them from the "Return to" set) and one of the two original Burned Ruins in "Blood on the Altar". If you are playing with the "Return to" set, you have a 1 in 3 chance to draw the new Burned Ruins, that triggers on success. Finally in "Lost in Time and Space" Prismatic Cascade is sure nice to clear with RtS, while Towering Luminosity from the "Return to" set is yet just another "After you fail a skill test". So in total there are six original and 5 "Return to" cards eligible, but only one original card and two from "Return to" trigger on anything else than failing the test.

The Path to Carcosa

In general, all eligible locations in this campaign trigger one way or other on successful investigations, which is particular nice, as they have either one or two shroud. But only two of them, in The Unspeakable Oath and A Phantom of Truth, have 2 clues, all the other only 1, which is less nice for solo investigators. The location in Curtain Call deals you 1 horror, if you succeed by 2 or more, while in Black Star Rise you are punished with doom for succeeding by 1 or less. In "Dim Carcosa" there are even 6 locations, 3 versions of Ruins of Carcosa and 3 of Dim Streets, each triggering after discovering the last remaining clue. You won't have the card from "Curtain Call" in every game, and neither all six from "Dim Carcosa", but a total of 10 locations, where you can ignore something is quite high, and it might be worth considering RtS for that aspect alone, in particular in a 2 player campaign.

The Forgotten Age

Here you will find only 6 locations: Ruins of Eztli in "The Untamed Wild" threatens you with drawing an encounter card on a failed investigation. Investigating Grand Chamber ("The Doom of Etzli") and Perilous Gulch ("Heart of the Elders" B) might end up with doom on the location. The last three are all from "Shattered Aeons": Plateau of Leng is probably not worth considering. It has a very minor triggered effect and only 1 clue, regardless of #. Atlantis triggers independent on the location an is revealed during a test. Of course, with RtS you could only ignore it, if you are investigating while in Atlantis with this card. Mu's effect triggers on revealing , , or and would be sure nice to ignore.

Of course, Calvin Wright or Tommy Muldoon want this card for dealing damage/horror source. But, this card is great with Father Mateo. You could play Priest of Two Faiths, and trigger ability and assign damage and horror to Priest of Two Faiths. You could add total 7 tokens (and 1 token if you have only 1 Spirit of Humanity).

Try and Try Again works at ST.6, so it don't work with Take Heart or Predestined working at ST.7. However, Try and Try Again works with skill cards working at ST.2. You could commit Unrelenting to draw 2 cards and return it. You could commit Signum Crucis to add and return it. Try and Try Again don't require any slot unlike Grisly Totem. You don't need to pay additional 3xp for Relic Hunter. Eventually, Try and Try Again can be utilized for fail-based deck.

2 Drawing Thin + Grisly Totem + Take Heart + Try and Try Again + Unrelenting + Rabbit's Foot (+ Relic Hunter) 5 cards + 6 resources. Stella will be very happy with 10xp (or 16xp if taboo).

I suppose part of the value of Anna might be for the specific campaign she belongs to. For those who choose to accept their fate (which is the Anna path anyway), Anna in the opening hand can eliminate the risk of The Tower • XVI by having that be the tarot you search and play. Even Anna drawn after opening hand but early in the scenario can be a cheaper way to get the Tower on the table and also protect another tarot you might already have out. To me this seems the best use for her - picking her up along with Charisma if you chose the "accept your fate" path. If you kill her off you can discard the bad tarot and keep a good one.

The trick of course being to get Anna in your opening hand and not the Tower as well. Calling in Favors could be used if you have other allies in the deck to let you keep whichever ally you start with and swap for Anna quickly.