the cabin game

I went in knowing nothing, I was just browsing. I saw that it was 1-4, and I played solo on the 'first timer' difficulty (which, strangely, is one higher than the default - be sure to check the difficulty settings on the table before starting the match). It's a low-budget mix of observation duty, phasmophobia, and jumanji. You (and up to 3 friends) take turns in order. Everyone has to be seated before a turn can begin. Each turn, you'll play cards that will change the cabin around you, add potential evidence for you to hunt down, manage the game timer (progress towards the end of the game), or you'll draw a (negative) event that will either start a spooky minigame usually involving completing some objective while avoiding some monster, but also sometimes just skipping turns or other nasty things. I encountered one event that was winnable but clearly not intended for one player, and another event that was more goofy than scary (not necessarily a bad thing), and overall I enjoyed my run. Will definitely play again - solo and with friends. The minigame events are the soul of the game in my opinion - they're the area where most of the challenge and variety is. I don't know how many there are, but I think I encountered 5 or 6 and of those I enjoyed 5 and would have enjoyed them all were I playing with friends. They're not masterpieces but they're entertaining and I could see them being especially fun with friends - particularly on their first playthrough. I'm going to point out some negatives - not to discourage you from purchasing the game (I'm recommending it for a reason) but to temper your expectations: -The actual board game mechanics are a little slow and clunky. The first few times you see how the actual board of the board game works it's really neat, but waiting for the little contraptions to do their thing after every turn while you can't move is a little awkward, and I imagine it would be more awkward if you were also with other people who were trying top figure out when they could stand, getting everyone to sit for the next turn, figuring out the hotkeys/controls (not super complicated but still)... So that might cause a bit of initial friction and a little impatience. It's only like 10-15 seconds, but it's 10-15 seconds between every turn, and there's a little bit of a lag when the animations have completed but you still can't do anything.... So basically, just a tiny bit of jank. I could be wrong here, I'll have to play more and see what I think: The minigames usually involve completing some objective while hiding from a monster. These minigames are completely disconnected from the evidence portion of the game, which seems like a bit of a missed opportunity, but they DO connectly /slightly/ to the cabin-room-building portion of the game... Basically, as you play, you should know that you're going to need to sneak by monsters and be able to reach any room you've played... So try to build your cabin accordingly. The trouble for me is that room cards were pretty scarce compared to everything else, and there were never that many options that enabled me to build strategically... I never really needed to. While the game is good as-is, it would be REALLY cool to see more choice in the room placement or event cards that interact with rooms... Like instead of clearing a random closet to hide in, let me pick one maybe? Maybe some cards that will keep the light in a room stuck on/off for some turns and you have to pick which room will be affected? A secret passage card that let you connect two rooms would be absolutely incredible both for making players feel smart and as though they have agency - or to stop such an effect from stacking, maybe there's always a secret passage in the main room and you occasionally get an event that lets you set/swap where it leads? Basically: The individual gameplay elements could be more connected and interactive, particularly the actual cards drawn. I frequently found myself in a situation in which I had a hand of 3 clues and I just had to keep fishing for a room card, drawing events and progress cards along the way. None of those negatives should dissuade you from buying if you're interested. If my one little match were a standalone experience I'd gladly have paid like $5-8 for it - the fact that I can get my friends in and that there are more difficulty options and events to see makes it well worth the price - just expect some indie/early access vibes. EDIT: I see some people claiming performance issues... I'm playing on a rig that was good when it was built literally a decade ago; I have a gefgorce gtx980ti and 16gb of DDR3 ram, and I had no issues more substantial than I have with any other game of this type... Though I'm also more tolerant of low settings and framerates than most; as long as the frame rate is consistent and above 45ish and there's no stuttering or pop-in, I'm usually fine. Maybe the performance issues are network-related? Or again, maybe I did experience what most would consider performance issues and I just didn't notice.