With the chills of Halloween lingering in the air as All Hallows Eve draws ever closer you may find yourself looking for fun and spooky ways to pass the time whilst waiting for the night of costumes and candy to finally arrive! Mansions of Madness provides the perfect supply of entertainment and horror-infused adrenaline to suit your spooktacular needs. Mansions of Madness, a tabletop game created by Fantasy Flight games, combines the unique elements role playing, mystery, and horror to create a wondrous cacophony of Lovecraftian style storytelling.

“Up ahead, isolated in the Massachusetts countryside, stands a secluded mansion. This is where the clues have led you. This is where you will finally find the answers you have been seeking. As you advance through the cold, driving rain, the dim light dancing in the ornate windows gives the appearance of a dozen sinister eyes watching your approach. The very walls are infested with evil and the great house seems to stare at you with hostility, but despite the growing fear gnawing at your soul, you press on. You must. This madness has to end, and by God, it will end tonight… even if it kills you.”

Mansions of Madness is a scenario driven game played with two to five players. There are two types of Roles players can fill. One player is the Keeper, who is antagonist of the story, while the rest of the players are investigators who have to track down and solve clues in order to prevent the sinister plot of the Keeper from coming to fruition and most likely preventing great evil from being released upon the world. (In the case of the Second Edition of Mansions of Madness a companion app is used in place of a player controlled Keeper to allow for full on cooperative game play.

“Every game of Mansions of Madness creates an immersive story that, depending on the players’ decisions, can unravel in countless different and exciting ways.”

The base game comes with five different story arch scenarios which each contain numerous possibilities of story progression based on the decisions of the players. Now as many games have a clearly defined end goal, Mansions of Madness is a bit more illusive in as much as the players taking on the roles of investigators will not actually know what they are attempting to accomplish until they find and decipher enough clues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ5mZStU5zI

Now when we say decipher clues, we literally mean decipher clues. Each clue the investigators must find isn’t simply lying around in a room waiting to be found. No these precious bits of the puzzle are themselves guarded by riddles and actual puzzles that the players will need to decipher in order to obtain the clue. Well that doesn’t seem too bad right? That depends entirely on your Investigator. That’s right each Investigator has different sets of skills, very particular skills that may be extremely useful in some situations and hindering in others. We all know what that means don’t we. Lone wolves are not gonna make it out of this Mansion in one piece. Team efforts are absolutely crucial to the success of the investigators in this game. You either win together or die alone.

“Investigators must work together, finding the clues and discussing how best to proceed. Meanwhile, the keeper is ever vigilant in pursuing his own agenda, and if he completes his secret objective before the investigators discover and thwart it, then dark forces will prevail. The result is an engaging race between good and evil!”

Mansions of Madness is a game that provides a depth in story, player involvement, and intricate game mechanics that are all beautifully woven together to create an adventure that you won’t soon forget. With a narrative environment absolutely saturated in a shroud of mystery and a variety of paths to choose you just may very well find yourself playing over and over again. Will you be able to assemble a team and succeed in keeping the forces of madness at bay? Or you will you fall to the fear and terror that awaits you around every corner?

Want even more tabletop? Check out the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer tabletop game here!