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Ethan is missing. All that is left is a small piece of paper and an old compass that vibrates with strange energy. By reading his diary, Ethan's best friends — the "Elm Street clan" — start uncovering the creepy mystery: a fearsome creature that has kidnapped children for centuries to feed off their memories who has now taken its next victim. But by striking out into the Duskworld, the creature's den, the kids will have a chance to retrieve Ethan's memories and bring him back into the real world.
The Faceless is a full cooperative experience with a never-seen-before mechanism: You indirectly move a compass by moving and rotating the double-sided miniatures on the game board. By playing cards from your hand, you can rotate and move these miniatures and, since they have all a magnet inside, you change the magnetic field they generate, thus influencing the direction of the compass needle. After playing a card, the compass moves in the direction indicated by its needle, but after every movement, the direction of the needle can potentially change, forcing you to move in new directions. Learning to control and predict these movements is vital to success in the Duskworld!
Collect all the memory fragments that are scattered in the game board to save Ethan and win the game! But watch out for Billygoat, an evil creature that's haunting you and that will try to entrap you in the Duskworld forever. Are you ready to descend?
—description from the publisher
- Very interesting unique game
- Clever idea
- Neat theme
- Annoying shaped and sized box
- Some component issues that are a little bit annoying
- Limited number of plays
- friends trying to keep another friend safe from a stalking creature
- dream world or other world
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Play — Players are playing cards that are going to allow them to move.
- Cooperative — This is a cooperative game where players are going to be playing these friends who are trying to keep their other friend safe.
- Hex-based board — The center of the board has hexes.
- Magnet Compass — The enemy has an actual compass integrated into their miniature. Players on the outside of the board have magnets as part of their mini, influencing the direction the baddie moves.
- Memory Collection — Trying to move your friend to pick up these memories which are kind of little metal discs that are on the board.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is my top 10 horror themed games.
- Board games can't really evoke horror very well.
- Final Girl is another modular game where you're going to choose a final girl, which is a slasher movie trope.
- Nemesis is this idea of you are characters that wake up on a ship through cryo after cryosleep.
- This one really does evoke some sense of dread, right? Some sense of anything can happen at any time.
- Just a really really great the most cinematic board game probably I've ever played.
References (from this video)
- potential improvement path; exciting for RS Games collaboration
- unclear launch details in transcript
- mechanisms remixed into a new design
- under-the-radar design that could be reinterpreted
- conceptual, trials of evaluation
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- reimplementation / re-skin — existing mechanism reworked into new game
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's our monthly roundup
- this is more viby
- the game is an experience
- we're going to go to Birmingham very soon
- it's the best artwork that I've seen
- the art in this made me a little bit emotional
References (from this video)
- weird game
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Welcome back to the Dice Tours. We take a look at another shelf in the Dice Tower Library.
- if you like games about delivering the mail, this is it
- Just a solid game of quick, snappy turns
- AIA, what a great game about shipping. This is a fantastic, terrific game.
- You like Dominion, but you want it for dice. This is your game.
- Very very popular games all them. That's why there's two of each.
- Although, frankly, you should always play with the expansion.
- I just really am loving SETI. Fantastic game.
- I do like this game. I have a soft spot for it.
- Vast, not as popular as its successor, root
- My favorite game here is The Great Museum Caper. Nope. I forgot Magical Athletes there. Magical Athlete is amazing.
- I just love Tumbling Dice.