Your friend has gone missing. She’s been avoiding you for a while now, taking long walks through the misty haunted woods behind the old witch’s house every day. Now that she’s gone, are you brave enough to follow her path and explore the woods? Armed only with the things your friend left behind, her backpack, journal, and a pack of tarot cards, you stand before the witch’s door resolved to find your friend at any cost. But neither of you knows how high that cost will be…
The Light in the Mist is a storytelling puzzle game for 1-4 players created by Rita Orlov and Jack Fallows. Referring to itself as a “Tarot Puzzletale” it uses a complete tarot deck as the main game structure to lead you through a mystery.
Gameplay Overview:
In the box you’ll find an instruction booklet, two sealed solution packets that each have a backpack image on one side and journal image on the other, and a full tarot card deck in a tuckbox. Like a traditional tarot deck, there are 22 major arcana cards (The Fool, The Lovers, Death, etc.) and 56 minor arcana cards (the four suits, 1-10 plus court cards). The cards lead you on a journey through the misty enchanted forest. Each of the major arcana cards is a puzzle, and as you find the solutions you uncover memories from your friend that give you hints as to what led to her disappearance. Once you’ve completed all 22 of these puzzles, you should have the information you need to open up and complete the solution packet and rescue your friend.
The instruction booklet starts with the background story; has a ‘Wisdom’ section with guidance for each of the cards and a ‘Vision’ section with numerically coded information that you gain as you solve puzzles; has a guide to reading the tarot for your own pleasure; and then has a solution index and card reference chart.
To solve a puzzle you select a major arcana card. Some, like The Fool, stand alone, but most require you to pull a specific combination of the minor arcana cards out of the deck, indicated by symbols at the top of the card and listed in the card reference chart. Once you have all of the needed cards for that puzzle on the table, you can read the card’s story in the Wisdom section for an idea of where to start. All of the necessary information is included in the cards themselves, although it helps to have paper and pencil handy.
There are cryptograms, schematic diagrams, word games, maps to assemble, and more. Each of the 22 puzzles is different. The puzzle’s solution will lead you to specific keywords, which are coded to paragraphs in the Visions section, and those visions give you information about your friend. Some visions unlock equipment that you can record in your backpack, and certain pieces of equipment will allow you to see other visions if paired (cassette and cassette player, for instance).
When you’ve completed each of the major arcana card puzzles, you are instructed to open up a sealed solution packet with one final puzzle to solve to complete the story.
Game Experience:
When I see a puzzle game on the table at game night I usually want to make an excuse to leave, but we blasted through The Light in the Mist in one sitting because we were so sucked in. It took about five hours total with two players, each puzzle taking between 5-30 minutes to complete. The guide gives you ideas as to the seven puzzles that are the easiest, but aside from the first and final cards, you can take them in any order. The hardest puzzles require up to 14 extra cards to solve, and have more than five solution words to be found. The easiest requires only the base major arcana card, with one solution word. I’m not usually the best puzzle solver, but each of these was manageable for me. That likely means they reach at most a medium difficulty level, so advanced logic puzzle fans might find them a little basic, while tragically unskilled puzzlers like me will find it achievable, if tricky at times.
The instructions provide a QR code that takes you to a hint website, which we found to be very effective. It doles out the hints incrementally so that you can figure out the piece of the puzzle that’s stumping you out without spoiling the whole solution until you’re ready. This was especially handy on the puzzles with more than two solutions, to double-check our work before moving on.
The game provides two copies of the sealed final puzzle, so that it can be played more than once. In practice, we found that it’s pretty easy to open and re-seal these packets without damaging them, though, so if you’re careful you don’t have to destroy any elements of the game for it to be played again. The puzzles have set solutions that don’t change, so they’re not repeatable if you know the answers already. The cards are high quality and fully functional as a tarot deck with the provided interpretive guide, so when you’re done solving the mystery you have a unique set of tarot cards to keep and use.
The story itself is rated 14+, including trigger warnings for alcoholism and depression. The background of your missing friend is well written, but gets repetitive. It’s pretty clear within the first five puzzles or so what likely caused her disappearance, so there isn’t a lot of suspense or actual mystery involved. It’s more about a slow unfolding of the story, piecing her life together bit by bit.
We enjoyed collecting equipment and recording it in our backpack because it felt like tangible progress as we worked through the game. In places, this storytelling slowed down gameplay, especially when there were multiple vision passages for a puzzle that only repeated variations on the same scenes. The repetition means you don’t need to get every single solution to every puzzle in order to understand the finale, so if you miss a couple of clues here and there you can still appreciate the story. The conclusion is satisfying, and the journey has a complete narrative arc.
Final Thoughts:
The Light in the Mist challenged us and entertained us. I don’t have anything else in my game collection quite like this, which is a rare feat these days. The story is compelling, if a bit repetitive, and the product itself is well-produced. The skill and artistry of using the deck to create 22 unique and interesting puzzles while still adhering to the traditional structure and imagery for each card that allows them to be used for tarot reading is confoundingly cool. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a spooky, cryptic game night.
Final Score: 3.5 Stars – An inventive, tricky puzzle game with a compelling and emotional story at its core.
Hits:
• High quality cards with interesting art that double as a functional tarot deck
• 22 unique puzzles that vary in difficulty
• A complete story that drives the game
Misses:
• Puzzles may not be challenging for advanced players
• Story gets repetitive at times
• Hint system requires an internet connection and website access
Great review. I am about 3/4 of the way through the story, choosing to do a puzzle every (other) night vs. one sitting. I’m enjoying the unfolding story.
One thing that should be emphasized is the artwork. It’s spectacular! These cards are a pleasure to look at, and the details must have taken the designers and artists quite some time to put together. It’s brilliant. I view this as a one-play-through game, but I may hold onto it after because I like the cards so much.
I find the puzzles to be about the right difficulty, although there was one that I never would have solved in a million years and had to use the hint system right through to the solution. That puzzle got a thumbs down from me. Other than that, though, I’m really enjoying it. I would love to get a copy of The Morrison Game Factory from the same publisher. I’d be curious about your review of that game as well.