Beyond the Veil - The Arkham Horror Card Game: Path to Carcosa - Unspeakable Oath

It’s been a strange time so far on the Path...

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Easily a top five all-time scenario for me. I think it's telling that Unspeakable Oath's Return to... update added just one new treachery card (a banger) and two alternates to act two. Can't mess with the best.

Honestly, the mechanics of this are pretty straightforward. Beside some inspired treacheries like the aforementioned Straitjacket, nothing playwise stands out about our visit to the asylum. It can even be a little irritating as the map is so big and backtracking is almost guaranteed that you will probably waste a turn or two only moving.

It's the literary elements that make this one as good as it is. No enemies appear in the encounter deck for the first few rounds, and the investigators largely control whether monsters show up at all. The theme of unreliability runs deep in this campaign, and Oath brings it out not with a throwaway line of flavor text but, in a real sense, by allowing the investigators to dictate what happens to them. It's a great use of the medium that film and novels can't replicate.

Losing an investigator so easily can feel like a kick, but it's such a low experience campaign and comes early enough that when it did happen to me I didn't mind so much. Does keep you on your toes, though. You always keep an eye on your resign options in a new scenario after this.

Yeah it's a really great scenario. I lost an investigator first time through but I felt they justified it so well that I didn't mind.