Mysterium is a cooperative game for 2-7 players by Ukrainian designers Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko, released in 2015. This game puts one player in the role of a voiceless ghost, the victim of a gruesome murder, while the other players take on the role of psychics who have the grim task of trying to interpret imaginative visions from the very confused ghost.

Mysterium plays simply. Each round the ghost gives out a card or set of cards to each psychic in order to guide them toward a particular suspect, crime scene, and murder weapon from the pool of options laid out on the table. Being a little muddled from the whole being murdered ordeal, the ghost points each psychic toward a different person, location and weapon card. After receiving their beautiful and vague vision cards, the psychics discuss which of the cards on the table correspond most closely to each of their visions. They then make their own choices as to what the ghost is trying to point them towards, and place bets on the choices of fellow psychics.

If all psychics correctly identify their individual murder story combinations before the clock strikes seven (seven rounds), the game shifts into a second phase in which the ghost miracuously remembers (or rather, chooses) which of the psychics’ stories was the correct one. The ghost sets down three final vision cards to hint at the true killer, location and object. Filled with utter suspense or perhaps a side effect of all the necromantic antics, the psychics are rendered speechless in this second phase and can no longer help each other out. Each psychic must silently vote on the correct murder combination after seeing one, two or all three of the vision cards laid out by the ghost, determined by how well they did in the first phase. The group’s decision is laid out by votes, and the game ends with a collective loss or win.

Right away from the description alone, it may be apparent that Mysterium is clumsy and a bit awkward. You break the game out with six of your friends (seven being the best player count), get everyone excited about how great the game is, and then spend the next 15-20 minutes sorting through all of the pieces and cards. Even when you delegate tasks for set up, the process drags just a bit too long. People’s eyes begin to glaze over, and minds begin to drift to visions of something more approachable before everything’s ready.

“But this game is approachable! I promise!” you protest, summoning essence back into your friends’ bodies like some sort of reverse exorcist. You begin to explain the rules, but despite how straightforward they are, something doesn’t quite fit. Thematically, there’s a ghost imparting visions to each player about who killed them, but this is inconsistent for each psychic. The game’s explanation of ghost-PTSD/amnesia does put a small band-aid on the spiritual hole in the theme, but I’ve yet to explain this game to a group of new players where I didn’t hear someone realizing these fundamental points somewhere into the second or third round. This isn’t even touching upon the experience of trying to learn this game from the rulebook, which is about twice as large as it really needs to be.

But just like that awkward kid from school, Mysterium is incredibly fun once you’ve become acquainted.

When you’re the psychic, you’re sitting around looking at these bizarre cards you’ve been handed, and trying to figure out as a team how they could possibly be related to any of the guesses on the table. Very quickly you and your friends start inventing obscure theories explaining how the ghost is pushing you to one card over the others. You create nicknames for the characters, and are constantly finding new small details in the art that change the way you look at the card as a whole. You’ll place bets down on your fellow psychics, encouraging them, or telling them that there’s no way their interpretation of the hint could be right. And everyone will get to gloat and laugh one way or another in the end.

But when you’re the ghost, the game is completely different, and often even more fun. You’ll sit there looking at the seven gorgeous cards in your hand, getting over the urge to simply admire the art and get to work trying to communicate. Then you’ll spend time wondering whether the harp in one card will point to the bedroom with the harp in the corner, or if your psychics will assume you’re trying to point them toward the music room. Finally you’ll puzzle out some genius way to give out three visions that perfectly direct your players to the right guess, only to then silently wail inside when they start seeing connections you couldn’t even imagine, sending them on the complete wrong path

The huge majority of the game is a massive bucket of fun until you hit the second phase. Here the game drops the ball. The best part about Mysterium is the communal feeling of puzzling things out, but the second phase squashes this. It feels competitive even though the game still claims to be cooperative, and the end never feels very satisfying. Whether everyone votes for the correct combination or not, the fun part of the game is over. This makes the denouement anticlimactic and frankly a bit of a chore.

Even with these reservations, Mysterium is worth it, but only if it’s worth it. Did that make sense? Probably not.

Mysterium gives you what you put in. If you play with a serious attitude, it will probably fall flat and you should look to play something else, however, if you’re looking for a good time and good laughs, this game will bring you to new heights. This game is great for larger groups of friends looking to relax and play something light, but aren’t too daunted by components (which are, by the way, beautiful). This game is also great for families. Kids can play it very early on, probably able to grasp the concepts as early as age eight.

I’ve had Mysterium for more than a year now, and I’ve played it even more than I first expected. It’s refreshingly different than most other games, fitting into the social category without relying on bluffing like The Resistance: Avalon or Deception: Murder in Hong Kong do. Despite its few hitches, Mysterium is still one of my go-to games for a larger number of people, and brought enough joy to spur the purchase of an expansion.

If you enjoyed this review, check out our other reviews (including Patchwork, Terraforming Mars, Dominion, and Wingspan so far). Also please comment below with your thoughts, especially if you end up trying Mystrium after reading this!

• Mysterium: https://amzn.to/2GsqEgi
• Secrets & Lies Expansion: https://amzn.to/2Vntmx8
• Hidden Signs Expansion: https://amzn.to/2GtUP6L