Mysterium: The Board Game
A fun game that stumbles on iOS
Mysterium is fantastic – a board game in which all the players but one are trying to solve a murder, and that last player is the ghost of the murderee, attempting to tell them what happened without being able to speak, only being able to show them frustratingly obtuse and abstract pictures.
Let’s say the murder weapon was poison, and the ghost picks a card with a well in it – signifying liquids, obviously – but the other players are convinced that the well represents the knife, because the metal bucket in the image could be the knife’s metal. Meanwhile, the ghost is tearing out their hair, unable to correct them.
Mysterium is very much worth playing, but is not as compelling in this version. There’s a one-player story mode that you play to learn the rules, but playing the game with AI is impossible – they’re unpredictable and you have no idea how smart they actually are.
The multiplayer mode is fine, but it requires you to register an account with Asmodee, and though the art is good, it’s so much better in person where you can appreciate the details. It’s also pretty hard to find people to play with online, especially if you want a larger game of up to seven players. Granted, the board game version is significantly more than the $6.99 iOS game, but it’s worth it if you want to appreciate this game at its best.
the bottom line. A very good board game that doesn’t translate too well to mobile.