Inspectors' Review:
Box smells weird
STRING
Sensing bad voodoo!
Didn't you say you broke this lid?
Nice newspaper
Boss doesn't like us playing with the nails in the box
Boss' Review:
Now, this was the first puzzle game I ever played back in 2017. This was before the inspectors, before my collection, and before joining my lovely puzzle community. It was the game that put me on the path to here. As such, I never wrote a review.
One of my goals for this site is to post reviews for every tabletop game I have played – this even included updating older ones and such. Thankfully, while this gave is 4 years old to me, I recently replayed it with a friend who I introduced to the amazing world of MPC.
The premise of the Weeping Book is that you receive a nailed crate with a note from someone telling you they pass on this terrible burden to you. After taking painstaking amount of time trying to open said crate without breaking the lid (and failing), you find a leather bound journal, some flyers, a strange medallion and news clippings tucked in the pages ever so carefully. Opening up the journal you are immersed into the life of a young boy who has become involved in something he never meant to. The question you have, is how and why?
This experience is primarily narrative where the news clippings, flyers, etc contribute to the narrative. There is one puzzle that spreads across the journal. It can be a little tricky but ultimately isn’t hard once you begin. Older versions of the game had certain components that made the puzzle really hard to solve because of lighting but in my friend’s copy she didn’t have any issues. The solution of the puzzle ends the narrative with a bit of ambiguity but I felt it was apropos for the story. I wish there was more to it but I understand why it ends the way it does. I also found googling contents from the experience afterwards to be fascinating and a great way to merge the game with reality. I will say the gameplay doesn’t require any online components and there is no hint site.
Customer service is perfect. This is a statement made from 4 years of buying from them. I tend to email them a bit (cough cough A LOT cough cough) with questions and they always respond politely. If I want something shipping sooner or together they are accommodating and they even rush ordered something for me to arrive by a set date. Vaughn is the concierge I mainly deal with and he is awesome.
Overall, Mysterious Package Company is not for everyone. If you enjoy puzzle heavy games, this experience is not for you (though they have other that might tickle your fancy that I will post reviews on later). If you love a well crafted story that is immersive but carries fewer puzzles (ie. one) that help bring you closer to the narrative, then I think this is a great option. I will say Weeping Book is one of the weaker games of MPC in the sense it has fewer puzzles and components to build story but it’s price point balances that out as it is one of the cheapest experiences. You get the immersion, a puzzle, and approximately 2 hours of engagement. MPC, I find, is about the experience more than the puzzles and, if experiences become your fancy, be warned, once you start buying you may not stop (and these get pricy!).
If you are interested in checking out Mysterious Package Company, there website is here.
Weeping Book is $99.00 but usually goes on sale quite a bit (as of March 15, 2021 it is 89.00).
Also, these cat photos are from the replay because, you know, my cats weren’t alive in 2017 :P