Base price: $86.
1+ players.
Play time: 5+ hours.
BGG Link
Check it out on Kickstarter!
Logged plays: 1
Full disclosure: A preview copy of Threads of Fate was provided by PostCurious. Some art, gameplay, or other aspects of the game may change between this preview and the fulfillment of the Kickstarter, should it fund, as this is a preview of a currently unreleased game.
There are some companies whose releases I always look forward to. Scorpion Masque, Button Shy, the EXIT series, Oink, itten; it’s nice to have a set of games that I’m really excited about pretty much constantly. It’s worth mentioning that another name has been added to that list recently: PostCurious. I’ve been reviewing escape room board games / puzzle box games (there is not a good genre-inclusive name for them, so expect some spluttering on this subject during the review) for some time, and after they blew me away with The Emerald Flame a while back, they absolutely floored me with, I believe, my favorite game of this type in recent memory: the unparalleled The Light in the Mist. Impeccable. Now, when PostCurious comes calling, I’m always excited to see what waits behind the curtain, even if, frankly, some of their puzzles break my poor brain. Naturally, a remaster of The Tale of Ord, their first puzzle game, was particularly interesting, so here we are. Let’s check it out!
In Threads of Fate, players are private investigators asked to look into the disappearance of two professors from a prominent institute. Simple enough in concept, but what you find might change the very fabric of the universe itself. Dive into Norse myth and determine where these professors went, what prompted them to do so, and what they’ve left behind for you to discover. Will you be able to solve the mystery of what happened? Or are you fated to fail?
Overall: 8.5 / 10
Overall, I thought Threads of Fate was pretty excellent! I’ve played a lot of escape room / puzzle games, and I consistently find myself coming back to PostCurious and their work. It’s expansive and intricate and a little terrifying, but it really stands apart and shows what you can do with a puzzle narrative board game. I’ll freely cop to the terrifying part; these are tough games to review because I both want to spend a lot of time with it and also kind of need to get through it quickly, and these are not games that you want to try and bust through in a couple days. Honestly, there are four parts to the game and you could easily break Threads of Fate up over a month to get the full experience. Sometimes it’s worth letting it sink in. The game purports to take about ten hours from start to finish, and we found that to be a pretty fair assessment. You could probably get through it faster if you’re riding the wave of the hints.
To the point of hints, though, it’s worth talking about how well-implemented the hint systems (and the other various systems) of Threads of Fate are. Like a lot of recent escape room / puzzle box games, you’ll need to have some internet connection over the course of the games to log in, check some emails, send some emails, and experience a few puzzles. They’re all really cool. The hints are also online, and they tend to walk you through the puzzles fairly Socratically, asking questions and trying to steer you rather than just tell you what’s what. I love a robust hint system, and I think at least one of the puzzles had eighteen or so hints to make sure that we locked everything down. You might need the hints, too! I’d like to call myself an expert in the escape room / puzzle game space, but a few of these puzzles were an absolute doozy. I love getting stumped, personally, so it’s fine, but my coplayer was sometimes a bit frustrated. I usually rate PostCurious on the hard end of the space for these kinds of games, and Threads of Fate is certainly a heavyweight ringer in the category. I think I remember The Emerald Flame being a bit harder and The Light in the Mist being much easier, if you’ve played some of their other stuff and that’s a helpful calibration for you. For me, the difficulty of the puzzles encourages the kind of deep engagement that I want from the PostCurious line of puzzle games, though I will occasionally need to take a break. This is partially why I don’t recommend rushing through it; this is a tough game and your brain might want a break. That said, if you’re worried about the difficulty or just want to experience the story, I appreciate how thorough the hint system is for helping players along. It’s my favorite kind of difficulty slider; it starts off at extremely challenging, but it provides enough scaffolding for everyone to find their preferred method of engagement. It speaks to smart design, and if there’s one thing I’d credit the PostCurious folks with, it’s absolutely gifted design work.
Plot-wise, I enjoyed the game as well. My coplayer has a deep understanding of Scandinavian lore and history and so consequently took umbrage with some aspects of their interpretation of things, but also acknowledged that this was significantly better-researched than some other games we’ve played together on the subject. As someone less immersed in that sphere, no idea on my part, but worth mentioning just to speak to her experience. We both still enjoyed the game. Aesthetically, though, the game is brilliant. I mean, even the box cover is beautiful; it’s subdued and minimalist but inviting and shiny. Inside the box you’re going to find a variety of different pieces of puzzle-based art, culminating in a puzzle that’s as impressive logistically as it is visually. The PostCurious advantage, I suppose. Rita is really always giving it 1000%, and it shows. Threads of Fate is another top-tier offering from them, and if you’re a fan of runes, you want a deep and challenging puzzle experience, or you’re excited about the idea of grappling with a puzzle box game that got a great narrative attached, I’d definitely recommend checking it out! It was a great time.
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