This was played January 2021.
Inspectors' Review:
Big paper is great for sitting!
Envelope was nice to lie on!
Wooden box but I no sits because it was sealed!
There was STRAW!
Boss kept us up late with this game!
Boss' Review:
For those who have followed my review in the past on Facebook, you may know I have a little obsession with the company Mysterious Package Company - just a tiny one! Recently, MPC has been bringing out older games from their vault that have been revamped or tweaked - games like Curse of the Werejaguar (formerly known as Under the Ceiba Tree), Contagion R (formerly known as Risen), etc. I decided, since I have played pretty much all their other games (reviews will come for the rest) that I would try out these new versions since I had not played the original.
Carcosa: Rise of the Cult is a revamped edition of the original “Rise of the Cult.” The premise starts with the traditional, "you receive a mysterious package" and transitions to a shipping company apologizing for losing these packages that were sent to you. They promise to investigate and will continue to search their warehouse for more lost packages (this is a three mailings experience). As any curious individual would when you receive a strange package with your name on it, you open these packages uncover the mysteries of a something very curious... history of strange happenstances surrounding a cult. The title of the game itself, Carcosa, refers to a connection to one of the fictional cults created by H.P. Lovecraft (Cthulhu Mythos). You do not need any prior knowledge but for any who have previous knowledge it might be fun to see connections. I have played MPC’s HASTUR (also a Lovecraftian reference) and enjoyed seeing the small connections. They don’t impact the story but think of them as easter eggs.
The theming and narrative was immersive and engaging. These experiences encourage theory development and don’t necessarily give you black and white answers but I love the lore development. The narrative was well developed for me and I enjoyed the contrast in two stories overlapping. The use of artifacts, ages newspapers, scrolls, and more really give you a sense of time and place. You do jump between past and present, which can be confusing to some.
Now, there is one easter egg (very small and easy to miss unless you like to google everything like I do) and one major puzzle (it is multistep and took quite a few hours) that carries a little into the next package. The puzzle is cipher based where you are translating text BUT it is by no means an easy cipher to decode as you must double decode. I played with a friend and it took us a few hours to make it through the steps before doing our final decoding. I admit I found the puzzle pretty interesting but it can be a little tedious if you are working alone. Another thing to note, as always, MPC does not have a hint system. You can email their concierge for assistance but they only run it during business hours.
Customer service was excellent for me. I had initially ordered the experience and then asked, after receiving the first package, if I could have mailings 2 and 3 shipped together, which Vaughn okayed and I was able to get them quickly. I will note my package was missing two items (thankfully I was playing with someone else so Rose had the sheets) but MPC was quick to ship out the missing pieces and added a bonus gift to apologize. In this vein, even when there are issues I always leave the conversation on a positive note.
In the end, if you love well crafted, immersive games that are heavy of narrative then I always recommend MPC. These games are not cheap (without sale price this game is 199 USD, though they usually have many sales throughout the year. I got this game for 20% off.) but if you love old papers, cool artifacts, and wooden crates in addition to a big puzzle, then I think you may enjoy it.
Check out MPC here.
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