Unconscious Mind Review - I Can't Stop Thinking About This One...

Vienna in the early 1900s: The Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud established a revolutionary set of theories and therapeutic techniques called psychoanalysis, which are related to the study of the unconscious mind.

From the autumn of 1902, a number of followers who expressed interest in Freud's work were invited to meet at his apartment every Wednesday afternoon to discuss psychology and neuropathology. This group was called the Wednesday Psychological Society, and it marked the beginnings of the worldwide psychoanalytic movement. In 1908, reflecting its growing institutional status, the Wednesday group was reconstituted as the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society with Freud as president.

As a member of this society in Unconscious Mind—a game that blends worker placement, engine building, multi-use cards, and action programming—your goal is to master therapeutic techniques, establish a practice, and grow your clientele. By delving into your clients' dreams—their unconscious minds—you can help them recover from various traumas and complexes. As a result, the people you treat will live happier and more productive lives. You can also publish volumes of your groundbreaking work—which will hopefully get cited by other researchers who come after you, furthering your legacy.

In more detail, each turn you may send a figure to one of the various action spaces on the main board. Then, depending on the row of the action space, you will advance the inkpot on your player board's rondel a number of steps—triggering the effects of all the tiles you have in the given line. From there, you may use dream cards and Insights (a form of resources)to treat the patients in your office.

There is also a map of central Vienna that features historic locations that you may visit with your professor meeple. These spaces allow you to perform additional actions, gain reputation, and unlock bonuses when you eventually withdraw your figures from the main board. The game has many interconnected systems that flow into each other, making every turn one that results in cascading effects.

TimeStamps:
0:00:00 - Overview
0:10:50 - Disclaimer
0:11:12 - Ease of Play
0:12:25 - What I Like
0:15:00 - What I Don't Like
0:16:40 - What I Can See Others Not Liking
0:17:30 - Final Thoughts
0:18:55 - Recommendations

5.0 - My absolutely favorite games. You can pry them out of my cold dead hands.
4.5 - Love this game! At the same time missing something that would make it a 5. Could be hard to table, lacking variability, a little light, etc.
4.0 - Really great game, almost always keeping, although has meaningful complaints as to what takes away from the experience.
3.5 - Really enjoyed, don't love it, may lose out to better games but the idea of never playing again is a bit sad.
3.0 - A good game, would play and suggest with the right people, if I never played it again wouldn't lose any sleep.
2.5 - A game I'd play again , but will never suggest it myself
2.0 - A game I don't want to play again
1.5 - A game I can't find any reason to recommend
1.0 - A game that is just bad.

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[frankmumann]

I'd love to see a three or four player count with you and Quackalope like you did with encyclopedia. Your logic style and his chaos

[HorseIRL]

I wish this was based on Carl Jung concepts rather than Freud. Although he's a playable character I think the creativity of his concepts are much more interesting than Freud's. Can't wait to get my hands on it though!

[chunkcurtis]

Instant back for me. Endless winter has created a lifelong fan for anything Fantasia creates.

[BoxedMeeples]

Saw this at Essen and it looks amazing, it even made Libby's game of the month for October. Enjoyed watching your thoughts, as always

[Halcyonbane]

Your 5 out of 5 reviews are always instant backs for me. Looking forward to this game!

[srebme]

Thanks for the coverage. Your insights helped us to decide to back this game. Excited!

[kumanight]

The theme is so cool and Fantasia's production of Endless Winter is fantastic so I can trust them with this. Just need to see a gameplay to see if it's my style

[tonybowers]

Thanks for sharing. 5 out of 5. I don't hear you say that often, so I'm gonna check out the KS. I do like the unique theme.

[successfulgeek]

I need to not back this but wow does it tick a lot of boxes for things I like. The theme just seems really cool too.

[sAKecOkE]

Is this a reupload? I could have sworn I saw it already a few days ago, am I going deja vu crazy or something o_O ?

[oTiMMeYo]

Hope we will see you treat a few pati-ehhh... CLIENTS soon! ;)

[HashStrid]

"Through dreams, Freud's followers delve into their patients’ unconscious minds."

[coffeespoonman]

My wife is a psychologist. There is no way I can NOT back this.

[pnutbutrncrackers]

You mentioned the excellent look of the game (couldn't agree more) and that the thematic tie-in works. Just wanted to ask a follow-on question: Would you go so far as to call Unconscious Mind a "richly thematic" euro? (I ask because that is a major consideration for playing a board game with my wife.) Thank you.

[ByDylanYoung]

@BoardGameCo as we hit the last days of the PM, can you make a judgment of where UM stands in relation to Endless Winter, Carnegie, Food Chain Magnate, Hegemony, Dune Imperium, etc.? Curious about whether it deserves a place on my shelf. I try to keep games that bring something unique to the table.

[kitcarpo]

Wow. How long did it take to learn those rules well enough to deliver that? Thanks for the vid.

[MicLarson]

maybe it's just me, but all the mini games remind me of the style of Endless Winter. Does anyone see a fresh idea in this? something we haven't seen before in another game? or just the nice design catches the eye?

[miketaylor]

One bit of feedback: for such a thematically rich and integrated game, your rules overview was *incredibly* mechanical. Eg. "You're going to increase this attribute here and also your own attribute" was one of many lines that didn't sell the game on theme in the slightest. In fairness you did speak to theme in the overview though so all's well, and overall I think this video has tipped me into backing :)

[carlodechiro]

Just watched the Floe review and had to go back to this as I've backed unconscious mind to the hilt. I think I will pass on Floe. Makes me smile as I work in social services about your difficulty with patient and clients, just at service users and person is and welcome to my world.

[bigd]

On the fence about this one. Endless Winter was a bit of a miss for me and my group. It seemed a little too complex for what it does (we enjoy Lacerda games, so it isn’t just that we are light gamers). But listening to the game overview here and elsewhere, this game seems like it might end up about the same. Just a jumbled mess of lots of different things all thrown together. Does it work? Looks like it does. Is the juice worth the squeeze of the Rube Goldberg machine of a juicer? Not so sure… and for $100+…I don’t know.