Bruno Gaia
France
Asnières
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Yesterday I suddenly realized that I hadn't reviewed « The Witch of Salem », one of the coop games I've played the most (just after Ghost Stories)
Soooo: here it comes!
Components:
Let's make it clear: being a Lovecraft fan, I should have bought Salem long before I did. What put me off was... The box's design.
Honest: the artwork on the box is okay, but it somewhat makes you think that what you'll find in the box will be coarse or not really appropriate for a Cthulhu game.
And it's exactly the opposite within the box:
The board is one of the most beautiful, thematic board I've ever seen.
It really is an atmosphere on its own.
The cards that represent the leser monsters and the «old ones » are very good and add some more to the ambience.
The small boards representing your characters are good too and the icons of the game really are great (especially the « monster » icon, which is one creepy piece of artwork in its own right!
Only negative point: the wood pawns representing the characters and Robert Craven. They're okay when it comes to read gale clearly but somewhat look weird with tehri flashy colours amongst the dreadful things that lurk in Salem.
Overall the components are very goo though with another slight disappointment with the location cards which are very small and therefore don't fit your usual sleeves at all...
Game:
A « Salem » turn comes in three parts: draw a monster, each player plays his or her characters, draw an event card.
The whole game mechanics relies on two or three main points:
1: Artifacts that you collect to beat up monsters on the board (allowing you not to get attacked by them anymore and preventing them from starting negative effects
2 Monsters which have effects that are triggered when you draw the same card a second tile when the first one is still on the board
3: Robert Craven , a sorcerer who helps the players and is moved via the event cards. Once on a location, he gives bonuses (you can't be attacked by monsters, healing with a potion gives twice the amount of « sanity points » and you can kill the monster in the location using just one item (a dague), whereas you otherwise need more items to kill a monster (BUT when you beat a monster on your own you do'nt discard the times)
4: closing the dimensional doors from which evil leaks. For that you must use your magical glasses to check « wall tiles »and then (strange as it seems) you CAN'T talk about it with your mates. The dimensional breaches can be closed using the artifact of the colour indicated on the location.
This rules as often been decried as really off topic and, to be honest it celarly is BUT , in all the games we played it lead to some interesting « side role-play ».
Let me explain that: you can't say if there's a dimensional breach in a location BUT you can say plenty other things can't you?
Like « wow, this hotel reeks of the scent of Cthulhu » or « It's a quiet cemetary, even with the zombies roaming around »
Of course there's a track that shows the progression the necromancer « the baddies who started invoking the great olfd ones in the first place) AND a die that you roll everytime you enter a location occupied by a monster and that can make you lose an item, your sanity or make the Necromancer pawn go further on the time track
Good thing: even before you try to beat the old one dwelling in R'Lyeh (you won't know which one it is before you've discovered all the ones he is not using Necronomicon items) you'll have to beat up « shadows » in the university. These shadows are the old ones that are NOT in R'Lyeh but start munching at reality all the same. As they have devastating effects, they have to be beaten quickly if you want to stand a chance.
Ok now why is the game good?
1 It really is pretty (if you're int Lovecraft andthe Cthulhu Mythos
2 you really need to cooperate and discuss everything before acting.
3 (linked with two) you have plenty of relevant choices to make each turn
4 It's hard to beat even in normal mode but can surely often be beaten when you play well.
5 The luck factor is there obviously but it doesn't make itself feel as much as in Ghost Stories as an example. But of course if you really hate luck, you'de better forget about tackling Old Ones and play Pandemic instead (it surely has a more elegant, less luck-ridden mechanic)
Conclusion:
« The Witch of Salem » is a good game. We are NOT real « casual » gamers and it really appealed to us. And I think it can also appeal to gamers who are much casual than we are.
I think it's one of the best coop games to start that kind of gaming (I've owned and played four so far)
I know we should pay Arkham Horror, and I wish we could but everybody I know told me that your AH game lasted at least three hours and that definitely is too much to our taste AND lifestyle.
So if you're searching for a good, easy and fast coop game in the Lovecraft realm, I think this could be the one! :goo:
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Shaun Fable
Germany
Hamburg
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Thanks for the review! It's concise and to the point.
Now I have to reconsider buying this game 
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60th Regiment O'Foote
United States
Claremont
New Hampshire
Devotium Popcornicus
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brunogaia wrote:
This rules as often been decried as really off topic and, to be honest it celarly is BUT , in all the games we played it lead to some interesting « side role-play ».
Let me explain that: you can't say if there's a dimensional breach in a location BUT you can say plenty other things can't you?
Like « wow, this hotel reeks of the scent of Cthulhu » or « It's a quiet cemetary, even with the zombies roaming around »
I love the way you explain/do this.
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Bruno Gaia
France
Asnières
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ShaunFable wrote: Thanks for the review! It's concise and to the point. Now I have to reconsider buying this game
I can't be 100% sure but I,d say it's a game that should at the very least provide its good amount of Cthulhu fun 
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Bruno Gaia
France
Asnières
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Slabcity wrote: brunogaia wrote:
This rules as often been decried as really off topic and, to be honest it celarly is BUT , in all the games we played it lead to some interesting « side role-play ».
Let me explain that: you can't say if there's a dimensional breach in a location BUT you can say plenty other things can't you?
Like « wow, this hotel reeks of the scent of Cthulhu » or « It's a quiet cemetary, even with the zombies roaming around »
I love the way you explain/do this.
Thanks a lot! We actually really like that part of the game. It would really spoil the fun for were we to just say "there's a breach here" 
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