Fancy something a little Cluedoesque with an Addams Family twist? I might have just the Thing for you. Come right this way. *Click, click*.
You and 7 other members of the Nightshades have been invited to the Library. You are a diverse bunch, but then, I’d expect nothing less from Nevermore. Wednesday Addams has summoned you because she has seen a vision, and that vision is of a murder. Unfortunately, she is hazy on the details. She saw all of your faces in her vision, but cannot be sure which of you is responsible or when and where exactly the deed will take place. Can you determine who is the Murderer, who the Accomplice, the location, the weather conditions and whether this will be during the day or night? The clock is ticking. (*Tick, tick*?)
In Wednesday: The Raven’s Truth, you will spend the game visiting locations in Nevermore. Use Action Cards at these locations and the occasional Vision to narrow down options. When confident, make your guess to determine whether you win or are eliminated from the game. Unless of course you discover yourself to be the murderer, in which case you want everyone else to self-eliminate, or for all of the Visions in the Library to be used up before the details of the murder are correctly guessed.
Fancy something a little Cluedoesque with an Addams Family twist? I might have just the Thing for you. Come right this way. *Click, click*.
You and 7 other members of the Nightshades have been invited to the Library. You are a diverse bunch, but then, I’d expect nothing less from Nevermore. Wednesday Addams has summoned you because she has seen a vision, and that vision is of a murder. Unfortunately, she is hazy on the details. She saw all of your faces in her vision, but cannot be sure which of you is responsible or when and where exactly the deed will take place. Can you determine who is the Murderer, who the Accomplice, the location, the weather conditions and whether this will be during the day or night? The clock is ticking. (*Tick, tick*?)
In Wednesday: The Raven’s Truth, you will spend the game visiting locations in Nevermore. Use Action Cards at these locations and the occasional Vision to narrow down options. When confident, make your guess to determine whether you win or are eliminated from the game. Unless of course you discover yourself to be the murderer, in which case you want everyone else to self-eliminate, or for all of the Visions in the Library to be used up before the details of the murder are correctly guessed.
The lineup
Amongst the Nightshades we have a werewolf, a gorgon, a faceless, a shapeshifter, a normie, a siren, a vampire and a psychic. All have a unique ability, introducing asymmetric play.
How does it play?
Wednesday: The Raven’s Truth is a thematic deduction game for 2-6 players, with quick turns and little downtime. It feels light and is relatively short, making this an accessible introduction to deduction games. There are layers of strategy for those who are looking for it, with the choice of player movement potentially revealing a lot. The hidden murderer element provides a flavour of social deduction, as a player’s actions might change when they realise their own guilt, and others might tailor their Visions or questions from Action cards when they think they are close.
Design
Opening the box reveals an interesting-shaped board protected from movement by a thoughtfully-added piece of
shaped foam. Grooves in the plastic insert hold the Vision board, Guess Pads, and Thing nicely, with a section for player tokens and Day/Night and Weather markers, and another for cards. A groove for each of the Day/Night Weather tokens would enhance this, but its absence causes no great difficulty.
The board is not only interestingly-shaped, but thematic and dark. Each location has appropriate artwork, which is beautifully continued on the Action Cards that sit atop them in the well-defined areas. The rooms are labelled and numbered using Roman numerals, which again feel thematically correct (although more traditional numbering might cause less confusion when reading ‘IV’ or ‘VI’ across the table). The indents for the character tokens at the board edge are delightful.
Tokens are card stock and the markers wooden, in a simple and effective move away from plastic. Markers are colourful and pleasing, although some colours are very similar to each other. The use of character icon on the top goes some way towards disambiguation, but mistakes can still be made across the board with some pairings.
The dual-layered Vision Board is well done, serving as both a place to show Visions and as a reference for the character types in the game. The slots for the chunky wooden Day/Night and Weather tokens fit well, and allow for rotation of both in a satisfying manner. Similarly, the slots for the wooden character markers hold them well in place and create some order. An additional slot to hold markers between visions could enhance this further, but only as a precaution against table jolts.
Is this just Cluedo with a new theme?
Thankfully not. Whilst I enjoy Cluedo, I would have been disappointed had this game not made an effort to do something different.
As in Cluedo, players must guess the murderer and location, but that is where the similarities end. Players must also guess the accomplice, the weather conditions and time (day or night), using a range of interesting mechanisms.
Mechanisms
Truths
Instead of all players having most of the possible combinations on cards in their hands, each only have their ‘truths’ which show the location, time, and weather related to their character. If your character turns out to be the murderer, the other players need to ascertain your truths to win. (Accomplice truths do not need to be guessed).
Visiting rooms
Seven player tokens are slotted into place in rooms around the edge of the board. One will move to the Accomplice spot during play, next to the remaining token in the Murderer spot on the Vision board. This Murderer token belongs to one of the players around the table, narrowing down potential murder suspects. The Accomplice could be any character. Players deduce the Murderer and Accomplice by visiting different locations and hoping that an Action Card enables them to learn about the Accomplice, or the character at that location. Action Cards also provide opportunities to learn about player truths, but be warned; this includes the truths of the active player.
Rooms provide different Action cards, with iconography hinting the types of information you might find. There are limits to how many people may visit a room at once, and players must move between rooms each turn. If Thing is present, players are blocked from visiting a that room.
Visions
Players can perform a Vision in the Library or occasionally elsewhere if an Action Card allows. During a Vision, they set a time and weather condition on the Vision board, and place all other players in locations. These players all indicate on the Vision board how many pieces of the selected information are among their personal truths.
Conclusion
Wednesday: The Raven’s Truth is a fun and light deduction game that can be enjoyed regardless of familiarity with the series. It is well-designed, thematic and enjoyable, without being a table hog or lasting for hours. It is easy to learn and seemed quick on my first play, although our player conditions and count probably meant for a quicker game than is typical. Even with a higher player count, I doubt it would overstay its welcome. Repeated play could provide familiarity with the Action Cards and a preferred strategy, although the player asymmetry and randomness of the Murderer and Accomplice would hopefully keep it fresh. Unlikely to Fester on my shelves, I predict that Wednesday will darken ample game sessions in my future.
