Unconscious Mind

Playing Unconscious Mind feels like going through a rabbit hole with many steps. On one hand, it's cool because due to planning you don't feel the downtime which isn't small, but on the other hand, it's not easy to plan multiple options for a move. I really like it. The theme is wonderful. But it's really not good for people prone to AP.

✅ High variability and many options for a move ✅ Fun mechanics and planning ✅ Beautiful theme ✅ Production is top notch ❌ Analysis paralysis ❌ It can be long, especially with slower players ❌ Learning curve

KS - Estimated delivery September 2024

Mar 2024: On replay of final released game, raising rating from 3 to 7. Downtime is still terrible (managed to go to a food truck and get food between turns) and it's still under-streamlined. However, the mechanisms did 'click' together this time and I saw the relationships between different aspects and I just enjoyed the game much more. I do love the theme and that does help a lot. And the mechanisms are fun, with the chained actions making you feel clever. However, chaining is the cause of a lot of downtime, so I would be happy to play this at 2-3 players and only play with experienced players at 4p. Honestly, the game probably ends too fast at 4p anyway. I won and had only cured two patients fully. I only rested once during the whole game. Hope this comes to BGA because it'd be great turn-based as that'd skip the downtime. Feb. 2023: 3. Played prototype. Was very excited to try it, loved the theme & art, but this game is not at all for me. Downtime was painful - I took a walk, had a conversation, came back.. and only one player had taken a turn. It's not that the game wound up running long (I think 2.5h or so, including teach, for 4p), but it just felt painful to wait so long between turns - even worse when you have a 'rest' turn so you take a very quick turn after waiting for ages. The game itself has elements I really love - namely the dreams & healing. However, it does feel like several almost unconnected games... there's the city, the patients, and then the books. It feels disjointed. And there's a ton of tiny things. Like how you can cite books, or how if there's a certain symbol and you match that symbol then you heal an extra heart... a million little things. I like heavy but streamlined titles - Lacerda titles are top favorites for that reason.. but this feels like it needs some more development work. It should be noted that two of the other players loved the game and one had similar critiques about some streamlining being desirable but still felt more positively about it. And I don't consider it an objectively bad game - it's not broken in some major way or anything like that - I just really hated playing it and would be reluctant to play it again, even if just to see whether the final ruleset successfully did the streamlining.

This game is so beautiful!!! I have the KS edition with the holofoil cards and they are gorgeous. The game seems complex to start with, but after 2 games is straightforward (still in the medium-high scale of difficulty). The solo mode is also nice, I have played with easy mode and is too easy, luckily it has more modes. The game is a typical eurogame, with combos of actions. I like that there are different ways to achieve points, but they are not disconnected (as other salad point games). You have to cure patients, at the same time discussing with your colleagues in different places of the city, do research, read papers and publish papers yourself citing other published papers, etc.