The Light In The Mist by PostCurious & Jack Fallows

For those unfamiliar with the phrase, a Tarot puzzle tale (as this game is subtitled) is a puzzle game hidden in a deck of Tarot cards. The Light In The Mist might actually be the first of its kind: I’ve never heard of any others, tho would be immensely pleased to learn that more exist!

In this particular iteration, you use each card in the Tarot deck’s major arcana to gather up a number of minor arcana cards that form a puzzle when put together. Once you solve that puzzle to a single word solution, you look it up in the accompanying booklet to uncover the tale of Sam, your friend who recently disappeared.

The premise is that Sam moved to your town just a few months ago but has already struck up a fast friendship with you. She’s been moodier than usual lately tho, so when she disappears into the woods, leaving her backpack behind, you decide to go after her. Players are encouraged to start with The Fool card (and ought to end with The World card,) but are otherwise allowed to pick whichever card from the major arcana you’d like to solve next. My best friend Karin and I decided that we’d just go in order, to help us keep easier track of what we’d already solved.

The puzzles here are definitely medium-hard, with some being much easier to figure out than others. The elegance levels also varied, with some puzzles making us go “oh that was nice!” when we’d come up with a solution after a tricky passage of play, while others felt difficult just for the sake of it. This variety will likely appeal to the puzzle nerd, tho even enthusiasts like myself and Karin definitely made use of the online hint system when we got stuck. Thankfully, that wasn’t too often, and it was nice to be rewarded with new insight into Sam’s life as reward for each completed puzzle.

Sam’s tale is introspective and, while not necessarily ground-breaking fiction, is well thought out and developed — as one can expect from designers who specialize in complex puzzles. I was most impressed with how surprisingly inspirational the imagery and story proved to be. I enjoyed sketching and illustrating several scenes from the book, and while my art is nowhere near as accomplished as the authors’, I greatly enjoyed how their story moved me to create in turn (with an example below from an early scene in the game.)

The physical construction of the game is also terrific, with a sturdy tuck box inside a bigger gift box, which also had space for me to pop in a short pencil and eraser below the insert. The entire product has been constructed with care, down to the extra “backpack” you can use to reset the game for another set of players.

The only thing I don’t particularly care for about this game is its utility once you’ve finished solving it. I love Smith-Waite-Ryder-style tarot decks, and while the designers have tried to stay true to that, they have by necessity had to forego many of the traditional illustration hallmarks of the deck. While some of the imagery hews true to intent (e.g. The World,) many others do not. Drawing a glum-looking Six of Wands, for example, is honestly a bit of a downer. And while I love the hand feel of the cards while holding and shuffling them, that doesn’t quite make up for the overall somber tone of the art: well-suited to Sam’s story, but less fun when doing a personal reading. Perhaps it will resonate better with someone less ebullient than I tend to be, or with those who prefer a Marseilles-style deck. I just know that I’m not going to be reaching for this Tarot deck very often now that I’ve solved the puzzle game within.

But hey, I could say that about most, if not all, of my completed puzzle games, and at least this one inspired me to create art myself. Definitely get it for people who are already puzzle and Tarot enthusiasts, tho novices to either might be better off looking elsewhere to start their journeys in both.

The Light In The Mist by PostCurious & Jack Fallows was published July 2022 and is available from GetPostCurious.com.