Unconscious Mind Review: Leggo My Ego

[@thedicetower]

NOTE: This is a re-upload of a review that had an audio issue.

[@FoolishFishBooks]

Agreed. This was HARD to learn 1st time, but a real, deep pleasure to play, and not that complex in the end. So satisfying in the end.

[@ProfGuppy]

Fascinating and so complicated. Chris did an amazing job of capturing the essence of the game in less than 10 minutes.

[@sarumon17]

I really thought all the anticipation for this game was possible over hype, but I’m happy that it delivered, especially to different gamers like these 3. Like Mike insinuated, it could be that all that time in delay release was useful to hone a good game into a great game.

[@jonnypac]

Thank you for the great review! 💚☕️💡🤠

[@jareduxr]

Love the theme and art but was worried about the basic contract fulfillment so I'm happy to hear that it doesn't feel that way. Can't wait until it arrives.

[@chrissiestern9359]

Great review and I can't wait to hear Wendy's opinion on it! I know she was really looking forward to it as well.

[@jasonsmith1133]

I agree with everything the three of you said. It is huge on the table, rules are kind of funky and the teach and game length are a bit much but the game is so good. Every part of the gameplay works so well together.

[@anthonydebot45]

Been playing the game since I received the deluxe edition, and it's an absolute treat. The wife and I love this game,. It looks amazing and the theme and mechanics work so well together. Next game, we'll try the Nightmares expansion, which promises to add some interesting variations to the base game. Well done Fantasia games. Easy 9/10.

[@ScytheNoire]

Camilla's shirt is awesome. Feel the fear, but only those who know Spirit Island would know that.

[@robkanngiesser5463]

Ahhhhh!!! I was wracking my brain trying to figure that out!

[@jurds216]

I love this game! As a therapist myself the theme was enough for an immediate back for me. I agree with all the points made here and my biggest gripe with the game is table space. The game is unnecessarily large and I don’t think I could play it at my FLGS bc they have normal sized folding tables there. It definitely requires at least a kitchen table sized area or larger. I’m hoping to play more solo before I get it in front of my game group.

[@sidetracksbgc]

The box artwork on this one is a masterpiece - so compelling. Definitely doesn’t sound like my kind of game though. Too long, too complex, and too much table space required. This is one I’d love to peer over someone’s shoulders and watch for a few minutes at a convention.

[@redshadow310]

I would have given this an 8/10 when I played 2 years ago online, but the final version is 10/10. Fantastic production and meaty gameplay. I think the only issue is teaching it to AP prone players. The decision tree is so large from the very start, and players are thrown into the deep end pretty fast.

[@crosscutgames]

This one is in my game group - so I hope to play it soon! It looks fantastic - thanks for the enthusiastic review!

[@jtt8886]

Have played a couple times last weekend. Great game. Fun theme that feels like it fits with the mechanics. Beautiful on the table. Medium-heavy, so not too much a brain burner. The game never feels that hard even though there's a number of interlocking mechanisms. We'll see how that translates over many plays.

[@FrasierFanMSU]

Hopefully, there will be a co-op Jungian sequel called Collective Unconscious.

[@Julian_t_x]

Deep cut! Love it

[@andrewellis712]

Jung >>>>> Freud!

[@TeamCGS2005]

Love the artwork!

[@LegoAssassin098]

I think its at 7.5-8 for me. I really enjoy the game and it may be one of the very best games this year in terms of production. Its a game i really need to be in the mood for. Theres quite a few moving parts that take time to understand. I think if youre considering this game you should absolutely do your research because it wont be for everyone.

[@TheRatedOniChannel]

I never thought I would see this day, the game exists! At last!

[@markusbaumgartner9266]

I don't think the play time is an issue... we managed a 4 player game were 3 players were new in 2:40 which I think is pretty reasonable, and I am sure with a few plays it might hit 2 hours. There isn't nearly as much ap going on as in Inventions, for example.

[@konignickerchen7265]

Played a very brief session of it today and while it took some time to explain the rules, the gameplay moved on fairly smooth afterwards. I wish there was a way to play without the research component (and maybe the Vienna map as well) since those two mechanics feel less connected to the loop of placing thoughts, gaining insights and curing the patient. It'd be a great way to introduce the most fundamental mechanics of the game, and could save a bit on space.

[@alxgonzalez4038]

Amazing game, the wait was worth it.

[@kennychan8054]

I feel addictive is the word to describe this game.. Think it isn’t doing anything ground breaking as we have seen the mechanics before. But it just felt addictive the whole action selection. We didn’t like the end game scoring though, so that’s a negative from us

[@equinox64]

Played it twice and really liked it! It is heavy, indeed, but I do like that. But I would definitely not consider it a medium-heavy one. This one is MEATY. But again, I like the game for it. It's absolutely gorgeous and I do love the theme. There's something really satisfying about healing patients. I agree with what others have said; i.e. that the Vienna Map Board should have been a much more integral part of the game. Every time I have played it, players decided to play the City Map location actions more out of a "guess I'll do this because this card forces me to, or because I can't do the action I'd really like to do" situation than wanting to. Each game I have played so far was a 4-player game, and only one gamer managed to claim 1 District bonus. It should be something that happens a lot more often, IMHO. The remarks about the rulebook were fairly on point. The rulebook looks great, but the structure is a bit iffy, and the iconography is inconsistent at times. For instance, on page 12, it explains what the 3 main action options are. Then, it shows the "State Actions" chapter. To start, that chapter's icon does not match the icons of the Office board. And later on, the other action options' chapters are shown as full new chapters, instead of being sub-chapters like the first one. It's just not very well organised. Another example of a weird inconsistency is the iconography of the location effects. On the little player aid, the bright ideas, the location tags and the Figures yield lightning bolts … but then the location effects are shown as cogs … they should have both been lightning bolts or cogs, but not different icons for essentially the same thing. One other thing that I find a bit of a shame is the lack of a proper player aid. Yes, you do get a wonderful iconography list and a very handy list of the patients' effects. but I would have preferred a small booklet that also contains the flow of the game, a list of the actions, and the end-of-game scoring. So, these are some grievances, but other than that, I really love the game so far, I love its ambience, I love the incredible production value, and love how generous the game is. I can't wait to play with the Nightmares expansion next time.

[@AzureRaiden]

I think based on the video it might come off that this game is lighter than it is. This is definitely a heavier game with all of the things that you need to consider on a turn. I haven't gotten a full game in yet so I'm not sure of my own thoughts on it, but I know it's a heavier game with all of its concepts. Anybody playing this for the first time should expect that first game to be a learning game only. There's no way you're going to fully understand everything going on right out the gate

[@bambusbjorn3508]

Teaching 2 newbies + setup took already 1 hour!

[@rezakhan9153]

Hi! How does this game play Solo? I'm trying to decide my next crunchy solo experience between this game and Seti. Also, if you are not into the therapy theme as much but find the game play awesome, would this be a solo game for me?

[@ziomalZparafii]

That was surprising. It's rather unusual for me to play a new game before DT review, but I've tried it with 4 players like 2 weeks ago. We were taught for exactly 1h and then playtime was 2,5h. Visually it's gorgeous, but mechanically it was meh for me. I've felt like I'm repeating few actions over and over. Moving beads around the circle and spending them to remove dream cards. And again. And again. Maybe I didn't catch the depth of the game as my score was twice as low as the winner (I've focused mainly on treating patients and for sure it was not enough). I don't feel the need to play it more.

[@thecaryou]

Treating people is the fun but not how you win that is what I did not like. I get most of your points.

[@WoshMKS]

I really wanted to like this game, but it just feels overwrought and needlessly complex to me. But I am surely in the minority here 😊

[@Rik77]

No i felt that too, and that's ok. There are many gamers out there who love having tons of stuff and icons to manage. I think it's a good game, but not for me for the same reason.

[@heathwashburn194]

Same. But yes, minority perhaps.

[@mikaeki5245]

Another minority member here.

[@andrewellis712]

The only thing it has going for it that appeals to me is nice art; the gameplay doesn’t attract me, and the theme doesn’t help. I’m glad others enjoy it though.

[@Vypper7]

Ditto here

[@KristoVaher]

This is like a smoother Cones of Dunshire. Great setting, but really abstract otherwise.

[@cryozeal]

Are there many player interactions? Or is it more of a multiplayer solitaire?

[@andymcguire237]

I'm a happy KS backer; loving this game!

[@nickm8425]

Rough first playthrough, decent second game, the next 98 plays will be in my top 10 games.

[@petercsm5769]

I like Andrew Bosley, but he's not the artist I would've selected for creative dreamscapes. I love the cover to this game, but the gameplay isn't for me. However, I'm glad after a long wait that backers are getting a really nice game!

[@JPMatte06]

Great game. Deluxe components not that much better than retail. We felt that the last player was losing all the time and don't know what to do to turn it around. The last turn is soooo important and when you're last, you're screwed.

[@KingMePlease3]

Very solid review with the points that were given. I get the feel that it is probably replayable with plenty of variability, but my heavier and longer games that I get to the table these days need to have high player interaction which I think then creates that natural replayability. I would definitely play this if taught by someone, but not looking to own. Thanks again for the in-depth review.

[@jacobjslee]

22:37 From the day I first heard about this two years ago I labelled Unconscious Mind as a pure "heavy" game and not a midweight. Isn't it heavier than a midweight?

[@Rik77]

No, it has many mechanics and stuff but it's not very complex once you've got the rules and you can get your head round all the stuff to do. After that, no it's not very crunchy.

[@mikaeki5245]

Which for me is its biggest downfall: a lot of rules and stuff for ultimately a simple resource conversion game.

[@jenshenlaw3507]

​@@mikaeki5245This is the kind of trend these days that almost got me out of the hobby. I sold Golem (and consider it to be Luciani's worst design) even though he is one of my favorite designers because of this sort of thing ( I have not checked out the recent Luciani designs because I somehow feel he has hit his peak with Barrage) and this looks to be worse. . But the newer generation of board gamers seem to love this sort of thing (simple equation of "bigger and broader = better"). Kickstarter bloat is a real thing and it has even affected retail releases. . My go to publishers these days are Capstone Games and Devir.

[@jecabreradc]

Greetings from Canada. Got my pledge here, guess I need to get it to the table asap! , thanks!

[@jenshenlaw3507]

I generally stay away from the type of board gamers who consider stuff like Lisboa to be fillers. Not the kind of people I want to spend any extended time with 😅😂

[@cbazler]

Just played last night for the first time. My biggest issue with the game is that the theme kind of gets in the way of teaching/learning the rules. It's impossible to remember the names of "growth" "freedom" and "passion" (even Chris just called them "red, green, purple") and there is no thematic tie-in as to why "two median freedom" and "one major growth" have anything thematic in common with the dream of a "Lady swimming in the air with birds." As cool as the theme is, it actively impedes learning the rules. In Agricola, it's easy to remember that wood can be used to build fences, or that brick builds an oven. But when you've spent "insight" to help a client reach "catharsis," and you get... coffee?? It just doesn't make sense.

[@synicon]

I saw quite a few comments like this, not saying it's not valid but I think some players might be thinking too much into it (maybe due to how good the production is), as the same can be say to many other 'thematic' games. At the end, this is still a boardgame, not a simulation hah. For the coffee, I think of it as an indication for 'energy'. While the actions aren't physical activities like gathering wood resources, but mind taxing to come up with those insights, and when you treat a client successfully, you gets to relief your mind.

[@Ian-l3m6n]

This game looks insane xxx

[@ColaresFreeStyle]

I honestly don't understand why people don't give it a 10. For me, a game deserves a 10 if it does everything it sets out to do and I like what it does.

[@mike_howes]

Very surprised this was spoken about as midweight. This is a very complex game - its very hard to understand all the possible permiatations of your action. This is primarily because of my biggest criticism of the game - the amount of "free" actions you can do to augment a basic action. If the game was take an action and do it literally the game would be more approachable. But the game is littered with moments where you are meant to do X but you have the option to boost it for Y resource. The simplicity of placing a worker becomes any mix of speeches and bright ideas. Remeber to clean up the bright idea aftee though. Moving the inkpot can be boosted by bright ideas. Coffee can stop you paying the cost of moving a bead down a sphere. Spend 3 thinfs for a heart shaped box. End of tuen you can spend heart shaped boxes. Remember you get the special ability of patients as long as the plastic sheet has been removed from them. But your other special abilities will be left off to the side. Reputation remember move freud and then you. Remeber the difference of moving and triggering. But remember you can trugger an ability whre Freud is or lower. Draw a card. But you can put it back and take a new one. There are very few actions where the game is simplified - instead most of the game says take a worker placement spot and an inkpot movement and all actions in between can have some sort of modification. Because of all the little augmentations the game is actually quite high in complexity whilst its core premise isn't the most complicated ive seen of a heavy Euro

[@MegaSNES64]

I’m a nine as well

[@jefff.2052]

Why does your insight wheel have no center?

[@LegoAssassin098]

I think it might be a deluxe version vs non-deluxe version thing.

[@jefff.2052]

@LegoAssassin098 hmm, yeah, I assumed that was the same...

[@Rik77]

They are showing the retail version, I think the dials are single boards.

[@peterkarlsson1825]

number 9, number 9, number 9 ...

[@harleygrattan2851]

We love this game but our first game took 8 hours

[@martinpersson1412]

Honestly thought this game was a fiddly mess. The game looks gorgeous, but none of the mechanics are all that interesting and don't fit together particularly well. During our second game my girlfriend asked me if I was also kinda bored.

[@RemcoHaarlem]

Same, the game is a big mess. It looks absolutely gorgeous, but the theme doesn't make sense and isn't intuitive at all.

[@TheBerserk83]

Same here

[@Boardgametherapist]

I wanted to really really love this game but for me , the game feels far too loose. By that I mean the game basically gives you resources at every action and you never feel like there’s any challenge in strategy and thereby, minimal tension. In my games the therapy tiles fill up half way through and the top spots become duds. The 2 bottom left spots (for getting minor insights and for elevating) were never even touched in my games because there are so many other ways to get those benefits. In short, I feel like the game initially surprises you with the many buttons and levers you can press and pull, but in the end, everything washes out because they all lead you to the same place. Many aspects of the game pretty much do the same things and leads you to the same resource gathering and there is lack of tension. Again, that could be more of your preference for games and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I like a little more tension in a euro. That’s too bad because this was really my most anticipated delivery for the year. I do still like it however for the uniqueness of theme and would love to keep it for the art and production alone. But unfortunately space is a luxury where I live and I likely cannot justify keeping it. Oh, and I strongly feel like this falls as a mid weight game through and through. Not anywhere near heavy in my opinion

[@BottomThirdMelendez]

Can I ask have you played Arnak and do you find it easy to get most everything you need in that game. I prefer Dune over Arnak, since gamers make the comparison. Unfortunately do not have time or money for this Unconscious Mind. Looks gorgeous. But I play Dune:Imperium two player often. Tense race to ten or twelve Everytime.

[@Boardgametherapist]

@ I also wasn’t too keen on Arnak, but do remember worker spaces and resources were definitely more difficult to come by. With UM it felt overly open. I will try it at a higher player count and see whether that changes but I doubt it

[@DerPipo]

For me it’s a 6/10. The Art is awesome, components are awesome, the theme/setting is awesome. The gameplay itself is about fulfilling recipes with combo turns that took us 10 to 15 minutes (= downtime for all other players with almost no interaction) with so many possibilities that it was hard for me grasp what’s the best one. And the theme didn’t come through at all for the three of us. Maybe heavy euros aren’t for me/us.

[@moosescorner]

I had been glancing at this game, and then seeing the table space needed, I'll have to pass, i simply don't have the table haha. Whichis a bummer because it looks soooo good

[@thegameknightuk8156]

Took us 5 looooong hours to get through a 3 player game of this. It's an ok game but does nothing new and we couldn't figure out for the life of us why they felt the need to add a second worker placement board. The city board seemed very much like an afterthought that adds nothing to the game. I think this is sadly the trend with modern Kickstarter heavy Euros. It's the "more is more" philosophy. The downtime is insane. Players turns can be incredibly long and there is zero interaction so you 100% don't care what they're doing on their turn which makes it incredibly boring. You can't have a game with very long turns and no interaction. Parts of the game I enjoyed a lot but overall it was just too bloated, too long and fairly generic in terms of game-play. Art and theme are the best things about it.

[@untilmay9323]

Im a licensed Therapist so i'm slightly weary about this. just because of how delicate the subject matter can be. Hoping its bullet proof!

[@achang101]

Wow - high scores.I have played this game twice (one at 4 players and one at 2 players). Whilst I enjoyed the game, I think the game is a bit bloated with little player interaction. We all played our games without really looking at what the other players were doing. We all thought the game played too long, was too fiddly with very high downtime between turns. I would play it again, but it would not be high on the let's play again meter.

[@nerdyjawsh]

Personally I feel like if a game is longer than 2 hrs, then you have to have a different victory condition besides most victory points. Nothing is more anti-climatic than waiting 2+hrs just to have each player count up their points.

[@samandrepeat]

Lisboa only has two things you can do on your turn so it must be a filler 😊

[@Shuckleking87]

We are back!

[@thecaryou]

Really thought this would be a lot lower based on how other games have been scored. The art is a 10 but the game is a little bit of a mess. The city board was total unneeded. The aspects of the sorties should have been related to the patient’s not random action cards felt disconnected. The main part of the game the curing people with the layered cards is pretty cool like that the action selection and ink interaction. That does not makes up for all the other stuff that piled next to it because feels like a separate game but you need to do it because that is how you trigger the end of the game which felt random. It was a disappointment because looked so good and we like one part of it but did not hold up to other chunky Europes if you want a better version I think like Darwins Journey not my fav but it did what this was trying to do better.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

A solid game for sure, in the high marks, but Excellence...........hmmm. There can a decent amount of downtime and with 4 players this game is take you into next week to finish - a lot of it is dependent on the reputation tracker and this will increase at different paces. There's also not a great ton of variety in the clients and the map is the weakest element for sure.

[@mike_howes]

Are you reviewing this one? Would love to hear your thoughts on how most actions in the game have some sort of modification that actually makes it a quite complex game. For me the game shone as a worker placement and inkpot game. But the Vienna board and set collection felt added on and too many actions had an "if you pay this out can: move +1, -1, re draw, don't lower the bead, turn into a heart, take extra location actions".

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

@@mike_howes Review is out later today. 🙂

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

It seems like there are a couple of companies doing a series of scientific games like Genius games or the company doing the "In the footsteps of..." games. Is this the first in a line of junk science games? First psychoanalysis, then astrology, then Lamarckian evolution? Maybe Lysenko's agricultural ideas or some ancient aliens stuff?

[@Patrelcus]

What is the relevance of that?

[@Rik77]

I really like this game, however i absolutely hate the size of it ftom a practical pov. Its too much for to take in, too many icons, too many colours, abc j dknt have a table big enough. So i sadly decided to sell it. But yes its a good game.

[@RynoKenny]

Surprised at 9s across the panel. While beautiful, this seems like a prime example of Kickstarter bloat. I'm likely passing my copy along to another.

[@defiantj975]

I like the theme but this game really fell flat for me on a first play. I'll try it again but idk just didn't really excite me.

[@NotLikeTheOtherBees]

This is a game that I backed and then cancelled. I loved endless winter, and this game certainly looks well produced theme is nothing special to me and it kinda just has too much going on for me in the same way as the last few Lacerdas do, it even visually looks like a Lacerda game.

[@ilqrd.6608]

I don’t see it folks

[@Stolovky]

Me neither :( i am surprised. This in a nutshell has an inverse complexity to depth ratio - so much gymnastics with components and so many rules and table presence for a simple, repetitive recipe loop. Tiny decisions, no tension (2p game), city walk that repeats resource collection, actions on it repeat (and elsewhere). Everything done without problems and nothing much to do in the last turn (same as endless winter - no game arc really just fulfill recipes over and over). All the notes do the same, the insights don't matter, you can easily have them all. Its a tedious minutia upkeep game to me. And I wish it was not, cause the art is breathtaking. Yes its gorgeous and production is great, even in retail, yes it tried hard for theme and even succeeded to some degree, but 9/10?

[@HylianPirate]

Tap into your unconscious mind.

[@mrdarlok]

i have only played once with 4 players, it was really boring for me, but my mates enjoyed it. some games like this feel more like work than fun to me, i'm not quite sure why exactly as there are other games that i enjoy which have similar trade resource for points mechanics, such as After Us or Furnance. The artwork is amazing and the KS edition i played was really nice aside from the resource circle and the reputation track which was difficult to read. Having played the base game, and none of the expansions, there isn't much more i would interested in exploring, as i want to feel with a new deep game. either way, we're certainly in the (early) minority and that's ok, i hope people who invested are really enjoying it!

[@Rik77]

​​@@Stolovkyyeah I never had a problem getting resources but it was still kinda fun nevertheless. The biggest thing I don't like is there's too much stuff to look and and take in making it feel like work when the puzzle isn't difficult. Im doing admin with some satisfying combos and moving well designed pieces around. But there's plenty of people who really love this kind of thing and that's fine.

[@ilqrd.6608]

@@Stolovky perfect summary

[@goldsmeeth2771]

Good but not great game. Too many fiddly rules without significant impact, the curing resource got boring fast as it was too easy to get what you need, the nightmares could be more thematic like it starts hidden, the location board needs a boost

[@delorean-88]

No interaction, no sale