Mansions of Madness

Mansions of Madness brings investigation, map exploration, and horror scenarios into one cooperative tabletop package. By our assessment, it is strongest when the app and the board game pieces work together to push a story forward, because the puzzles, clues, and creeping pressure give the session real momentum. The downside is the amount of setup and the fact that this style asks for attention from everyone at the table; it is not a light filler game. In practice, it feels more like solving a haunted case than simply fighting monsters, and that investigative structure is its main identity. Compared with pure dungeon crawlers, it has more scenario craft and less straight combat. The name fits people who want a guided horror mystery with minis, cards, and a companion app doing part of the table work, and it stops working well when the group wants something quick and loose.