is there anyone there?

Ever remember the expression “we’ll see” when you were young and asked for ice cream on the way to somewhere? I had one of those moments.

Me : “Is mysterium worth buying?”

Gaming chum : “Hmmm, I’d Try it first”

Mysterium was a game that was mentioned to me some time back and I had a vague idea of how it worked. It sounded suitably different. I got to play it last Thur…. Ever play Dixit? Well then you’ve pretty much played mysterium. It uses the same mechanic of pictures to impart obscure messages. It’s a fun game. Mysterium is a fun game but. That’s it. It’s a bit of fun. It’s never going to blossom into a serious gaming relationship. It looks nice but it’s shallow. It’s a bimbo game 🙂

Mysterium sees you and up to five chums solving a Cluedo style mystery like regular scooby doos. One player takes the role of the ghost/GM and has to guide the others via a spread of crazy ass pictures to pick their associated killer, location and murder weapon.

Once everyone has done that it’s onto the final guess round where you need to figure who did for the ghost, where and with what. All working under the harsh regime of mistress egg timer.

It’s a lovely looking game. It’s got a nice bit of replay in there and it’s easy to pick up. It does however commit the heinous crime of being coop. To me if a game is going to be coop just like the coaches son it needs to work twice as hard to make the cut. For me it didn’t work. I prefer Dixit.

This is a fine gateway game and will appeal to new gamers. At least for one of two games. It will appeal to kids too and families and so on. There was a lot of hype around this game which can often be a bad thing.

The hype didn’t live up to the execution. I’ll play it again but I won’t rush out and buy it.

Huzzah!

Vic