Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition (BASE GAME) | Horror Game | Mystery Board Game for Teens and Adults | Ages 14 and up | 1-5 Players | Average Playtime 2-3 hrs | Made by Fantasy Flight Games

I used to play D&D 5e, but could never hone the necessary DM skills to put a game together, so I figured I'd give Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition a try--I just love an immersive RPG /dungeon crawl experience, and this game pulls it off BEAUTIFULLY!While I am a huge fan of This War of Mine, Waste Knights 2nd Edition, Fallout and similar rpg games, this is the first app driven rpg which I've had the pleasure of experiencing, and I keep wanting to play it again. While the game is intuitive in many respects, you'll definitely need to study the rules and do a few playthroughs during which you write down questions you have, so you can keep notes on what you'll have to share with other players.For me, I needed straightforward notes on: 1) which skill checks are needed for various actions (Strength Test for Heavy Weapons, Agility for Bladed Weapons, etc) 2)How to use the app during the Mythos Phase when Monsters will spawn and attack you/how Horror Checks are done 3)how to attack monsters using various levels of weapons and spells 4)Understand how Damage and Horror cards function. Once you understand these elements, you're ready to play--Remember, the app times you, and if you're taking too long when taking actions/making decisions, you will risk losing the game--so learn the rules!Mansions of Madness second Edition is worth the money spent on it, worth the time you invest learning to play it--it is a solid, well crafted story experience which will challenge you and entertain you. If you're unable to read the app text on your phone because it displays too small, download Steam on your laptop, and download the app for free there.My one complaint about this boardgame, it is that the app doesn't really allow you to go back to look up certain things--if you don't pay attention to some text, don't try to go back or the game will at times restart, asking once again for the investigators being used, while new starting items will be generated. Other than this, I'm loving this game, and can't wait to play it with friends!

Fantastic game. A total blast to play. Dying horribly has never felt so fun!Be forewarned -- the shortest scenario is going to take you close to three hours the first time you play it, because it takes a few playthroughs to get a firm grasp of the rules. Once you get a feel for the game, play times will be closer to the estimates. It's absolutely worth sticking it out, because this game is beautiful, smooth, engaging and entertaining. It's the closest feeling yet to being inside an RPG.There are several scenarios included with the basic game itself, five or six I think, and each scenario has TONS of elements that change randomly, so you could play the same scenario in back to back games and have entirely different plots, antagonists, layouts, items and conditions of victory. There's no rush to buy any of the expansions; you're not going to run out of game for a long time.The game CAN be played on a smartphone, but a tablet will make the experience significantly better. Everything is easier to see, and having more room to manipulate the various puzzles is a good thing. I do wish the game came with a hard-copy book of different scenarios to allow play without a smartphone or tablet (like Betrayal at House on the Hill), but I suppose there are just too many variables to properly reproduce in a booklet, and letting the device handle the crunching of numbers and variables does let everyone focus more on the Star Spawn plowing through a wall instead of the effect of two successes on trying to pick the lock on a safe. As such, I'm not docking this game a star, because I think the tradeoff of ease of use vs. offline playability is acceptable and likely for the best.Very happy with this game, as is my gaming group. It makes for a fun night when nobody has an adventure ready to run, and everybody still gets an RPG experience!

If you aren't familiar with Lovecraft this may be more like a 4 out of 5, but still really good. The thing to keep in mind is the scenario structure. You're going through all the scenarios (20+ in this box I believe) and trying to "beat" each scenario. In other words it's not like a traditional board game where you're playing against each other using the same boards and the same pieces every time. The map, enemies, items, etc. are all different depending on the scenario. This is a cooperative game as well so the players work as a team trying to solve a mystery.The rules aren't easy but they're by no means hard to learn either. A large chunk of it is just learning to use the companion app, which does half of the work for you honestly. There are definitely some weird situation where you won't be sure what the ruling is but I don't mind looking these up on the internet occasionally and the rulebook often has them covered.The structure kind of reminds me of a video game in how you can sometimes get stuck on a scenario but then eventually beat it and move on to the next one. Don't worry if you don't like video games though. It's just a comparison I drew because the progression is similar. You don't have to be stuck either. You can play whatever scenario you want. Overall the game takes a little bit of dedication but it's not intimidating to play by any stretch, and you'll have even more fun if you've read a few Lovecraft stories but it's not required.