Board Games | Tabletop Gaming
Unconscious Mind by Fantasia Games!
Unconscious Mind by Fantasia Games. A game for 1–4 players with a playtime of 45–90 minutes for ages 12+.
If you are anything like me, you are (I am) patiently awaiting the arrival of Fantasia Games' last mega game Endless Winter. While Endless Winter puts players in the role of Paleoamericans during an ice age trying to survive, Unconscious Mind puts players into Sigmund Freud’s inner circle of early psychologists who hope to resolve the issues stressing citizens of historical Vienna.
Fantasia Games was gracious enough to introduce the game to me. Although it was a digital prototype I was still able to get a good handle on what this game is trying to do and what it could ultimately end up being.
The designers would like to emphasize that the game — including its rules, components, etc. are all still in the developmental stage. What you see here might not be indicative of the final product. In any case, let’s dive in, shall we?
Unconscious Minds features Worker Placement, Set Collection, Programmed Movement, Contracts, End Game Bonuses, and a mini Rotunda of sorts. If you direct your attention to the photo above you can see the components and various boards of the game. In the center is where the action selection takes place.
Thematically, this is a weekly meeting between Freud and his psychology understudies. It's a place where players can gain resources, cards, psychological techniques, and movement that will all be useful in accomplishing the goals of Unconscious Mind.
Players will accept clients and help treat them and do dream analyses. Resolving dreams and listening to clients to carefully treat the citizens of Vienna can lead to the development of new research!
Players gain insights throughout the game. Insights can be surface-level or much deeper. — In reality, it’s the opposite. You try to bring insights from the center of the wheel (Unconscious) to the outer rings of it (Conscious). The more the insights reach consciousness, the stronger they become. The insight categories are Growth, Passion, and Freedom.
In the photo above, you can see the 3 types of insights on the circular Insight Wheel. There is a client with an unresolved dream too!
On the mainboard, players will select an action location that will give them an effect as well as a number of Ink Pots. Ink Pots allow a player to move around the mini rotunda on the left side of their personal player board with the goal of unlocking the rows to the right or triggering their effects.
This tableau was described as having some similarity to Wingspan. Players can unlock rows and fill them with technique cards that can contribute to a player’s advancement in Unconscious Minds. But unlike in Wingspan, Unconscious Mind lets players activate columns as well!
Players will accept clients and select dreams from a face-up area underneath the main action board. These clients include historical figures, adding an element of realism to the theme.
Above, you can see the available clients in the top row and the available dreams in the bottom row. The symbols on these cards will let the players know what type of insights and techniques interact with them and how many heart points one needs to resolve the clients' worries.
As players, you will take actions on the main board gaining insights needed (through consulting with other psychologists, including Freud himself), accept new clients and gain dream cards, learn new techniques, pick up newspapers, write research, and move around Vienna.
Players can move around the city of Vienna as well! This type of action can gain players renown that will eventually lead to the endgame condition and help the player gain Victory Points. Players can gain bonuses by traveling to various locations and matching their location with that of Dr. Freud.
Players can gain newspapers which can help them complete tasks, and eventually after the players help clients resolve their dreams they can write books with original research. Players can also cite the works already written by other players to help finish their own research. In that case, both players will gain victory points!
That is a brief rundown of what I learned about this exciting new game. I will be covering Unconscious Mind more as we gain new insights into the game’s development and the crowdfunding campaign.
I hope this short preview has piqued your interest in a game that’s sitting atop my Most Anticipated List!
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Until next time!
BoardGameNerd
