Review: Mice and Mystics

Mice & Mystics was sold to me as your perfect gateway game into TableTop RPGs. While I have less experience playing RPGs as some of my fellow BRB crew members (check out Michael’s articles for more educated RPG thoughts), I thought the game was perfect for me. I love the idea of RPGs, I have played some, but not enough to really get the taste for them. While I would like to play more, the thickness and complexity of rulebooks for some of the most praised RPGs scares me. Also, currently, I am lacking the time to play a campaign that lasts more than a one or two hours, and would need a relatively quick game. It seemed, Mice & Mystics ticked all of the boxes.

After playing the game, a lot of the above still stands true. One chapter of Mice & Mystics is not that long to play through, when you get the handle of all of the mechanics. Although I would still suggest about two hours, rather than 60 to 90 minutes that are stated on the box. The rules are quite simple and straightforward, and the main mechanic of the game – attacking – is incredibly easy to understand.

In Mice & Mystics each player takes on a role of a heroic character on the path to defeating evil queen Venestra and save their bedridden king. Trapped in the palace, the heroes escape by turning themselves into mice! The heroes have many dangers ahead of them, including Venestra’s evil minions but also unexpected threats that come from being tiny in size. Each character comes has their own background and set of unique abilities. There is Maginos the wizard, Tilda the healer, Filch the scamp (who can also hold an extra weapon in his tail!), noble Prince Collin and others. Together, with the little help of some cleverly appropriated house hold devices, these heroes must save the king and his kingdom!

While I can see how someone can refer to Mice & Mystics as your gateway game into pen and paper RPGs, it would be a stretch to refer to this game that way. Rather, it is a cooperative game which has some RPG elements. For example; levelling up characters and equipping different items that bolster your character’s abilities. Unfortunately, in my opinion, attempting to take elements from both worlds makes the game miss what is so great about both genres.

Why do I love the idea of RPGs? I like the dynamics of the game, a constantly changing landscape that is influenced by the players’ decisions. While there is still some control over what is happening in the game, through the hands of the GM or even through the script, for example in the Star Wars: Imperial Assault, the players feel like they are creating the story as they play.

Why do I love cooperative games? Usually because the mechanics of the game are solid enough to be challenging for four people playing together against the game. When playing Forbidden Desert, it sometimes took us as long as fifteen minutes to agree on one move. This was because there were some many options that could change the game’s difficulty dramatically, and there were so many different ways to achieve one goal.

Getting back to Mice & Mystics then, I do not see either of the above represented solidly in the game. On the cooperative aspect, yes, indeed, players have to work together and can exchange items and cheese (used for levelling up and activating special powers) as well as heal other players, if need be. More importantly, players need each other to defeat the waves of cockroaches, centipedes and rat warriors that will cross their path. However, all of the above can be performed by simple – which is a plus – yet repetitive – which is a minus – fighting mechanic. I would have no problems with this, if the combat was more exciting or at least allowed for some interesting decisions to be made as a group. Unfortunately, most of time the hardest decision the player will make is whether to hit rat A two spaces away or rat B three spaces away. Even when fighting against someone particularly buff, defeating that enemy, even by the skin of you teeth, does not feel particularly satisfying.

As for RPG storytelling elements, Mice & Mystics already has a well defined and thought-out story. In fact, in my opinion, there is a bit too much reading to get through before starting the game. While the story might not necessarily be for me, as it is written for a much younger audience, I enjoyed the world-building and the characters. However, this leaves very little space for roleplaying, and while you can try to embody the character that you are playing as, there is not enough space to add ‘you’ to the story. As I have loved the world, I desperately want to immerse myself in the story where I can catapult myself using a spoon. Yet I never manage to get this close to the characters because none of the cooperative decisions I make define my character. While having character classes and special abilities goes some way to make the mice heroes feel unique and decisions different from one particular game to another, repeating pretty much the same set of actions from turn to turn subtracts from that potential. Those set of actions can be narrative summarised into ‘we attacked that enemy and then we killed that enemy’. Where as I wish that there would be more of ‘we have a plan how to sneak through those rat warrior guards, but something went wrong and we have solved it all together by making narratively exciting decisions!’.

While the story and the simplicity of the rules seems to cater to younger gamers, the gameplay seems to be too relaxed to consistently occupy someone’s attention, especially the young active mind. However, Mice & Mystics could still be a great gateway game for the new gamers, who do not have as much experience playing cooperative or RPG games. Mice & Mystics introduces all the core mechanics that are present in these types of games in an approachable way, and while it might not hold up after several playthroughs, it will encourage players to seek out similar games in the future. In my book, any board game that encourages people to play more board game, is doing something right.

I have alluded to this, but would still like to emphasise, how much I loved the world of Mice & Mystics. Here even climbing up a chair presents a challenge and you have a powerful ‘Thundersqueak’ attack and an acorn helmet. The amazing artwork by John Ariosa nails the atmosphere of the game. The game comes with the rule book and the story book, both beautifully illustrated and detailed. In fact, every piece of the game is a pleasure to look at, from cardboard tokens to mice, centipede and other miniatures. The game has modular boards, different on each side, and the further you progress into the story, the more elaborate and interesting the landscape becomes. Oh, beware of strong water currents when crossing the sewers!

Everything in me really wants to love Mice & Mystics, and some parts of the game I really do! The world building is amazing, the artwork and physical design is simply stunning and the characters are well developed. Also, every mechanic in the game is completely solid and works. In fact, maybe the design was a little bit too safe, and if some risks were taken with combat mechanic, the game could be more exciting.

Tags: Cats, cooperative boardgame, Jerry Hawthorne, John Ariosa, Plaid Hat Games, RPG