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Review of Lumen Fidei
Blurb from the publisher: '1419 NT: In Spain, the Reconquista is coming to an end. Undertake a diplomatic mission on behalf of the Papacy.
Travel back to 1419 and Reconquista Spain in Lumen Fidei, the fifth adventure for T.I.M.E Stories!
Spain is still divided by religious conflict between the Christians and the Moors, but in the midst of this conflict, a supernatural power is rising, tied to an unnatural stone. Your mission is to travel back to Spain, recover the stone, and return it safely to the T.I.M.E Agency. Enemy agents have been sighted in the time stream as well, so you'll need all your wits about you as you travel back to medieval Spain!'
What you get: Your USD 29,95 or equivalent will buy you Lumen Fidei, the fifth expansion for the T.I.M.E Stories game line, the hybrid boardgame/RPG/PC adventure made for tabletop gaming. The adventure can be played within 90 minutes by two to four players. The product contains 148 cards and an additional page about deciphering a code; the basic game is needed in order to play this scenario.
Spoiler warning: each scenario of T.I.M.E Stories, just like any RPG adventure, is very likely to be played once only to fruition, even though this will happen in more than one run. As much as I am not going to describe, let alone detail the scenario, parts of it might be revealed while discussing its strong and less strong points. This will not make the scenario unplayable, mind you, nor any less enjoyable. If you enjoy surprises however, you might want to stop reading now.
The strong points: Lumen Fidei has everything, as if it took the best practices from the previous adventures and repackaged them in a single box. It is massive and contained at the same time. The scenario is engaging, adding new mechanisms from the very beginning. It is not linear and imposes some tough choices. It has very hard puzzles, tough fighting and, in addition to its own resolution, significantly expands the overall T.I.M.E Stories arc. Let's take things however from the beginning.
With such a name ('The Light of Faith' in Latin), one should better be expecting a system for morality. The receptacles themselves have an orientation (Christian or impious), something that determines the group's faith degree. That has serious game implications later on, in addition to that however, players are rewarded for the consistency of their actions. Depending on whether you go for full out on piousness or heresy, the game grants bonuses. The least efficient course of action is to be undecided about it, being neither the one or the other. So, whatever you do, own it!
There are numerous locations to explore while on 15th century Spain, with meaningful interaction and hard choices. There is prevalence of religious fervor, high religious and political tensions, and the constant feeling that you have to choose sides. This toughness of deciding what to do stems forth from both the gamist perspective as well as the players' mores. The system is less forgiving than in previous scenarios. Breaking down the scenario in three different parts means that you cannot revisit a part you have already left. If you missed out on a crucial piece of information or a major item, tough luck. When it comes to exploring the full depth of the adventure, this is hardly helpful, on the other hand however, knowing that you can revisit everything can be a mood killer, as Expedition: Endurance has demonstrated. As usual, a more serious approach to the role-playing aspects behind the game engine will pay higher dividends.
The adventure works well independently. Admittedly however, those who have played the previous scenarios will be more entertained, thanks to the revelations, the Easter eggs and all the little details that point to both the previous adventures as well as the ones that follow. The promise that was given in Expedition: Endurance is kept. You do get to meet Abdul the mad Arab (winkwink). In fact, you get to do a lot more than that. I am not going any further however; that would be telling.
The game offers additional material in the form of QR codes. Not bad. There is an additional element to the game under the box's insert. Do not leave it behind or through it by accident. Keep on reading.
The choice of characters is good when it comes to their number (six). Four of them are men and two are women, while they are equally divided between Christian and impious. There is plenty of choice, no matter what you want to run.
The art is of a very high standard, and of a very different style to the rest of the scenarios, as usual. I like how each scenario strives to have its personal visual identity. This one gives the impression of using the collage technique, something that itself produces very strong 'old movie' kind of results. There are certain pieces which are spectacular and I am sure to use as visuals elsewhere, like Jean de Craon, one of the characters in the game.
The weak points: Many of the T.I.M.E Stories scenarios need clarifications and errata, or are rather hard to fathom when it comes to certain resolution processes. Here, however, the situation got out of hand. Certain circumstances might lead you to a loop at the most crucial point. It is very disappointing for me to write so, yet it is imperative to download the FAQ from Boardgamegeek. It might be unofficial, it has however the publisher's blessing. This material shouldn't have been needed.
The difficulty of the scenario is really amped up. I am not simply referring to the tests. The game's main puzzle is ludicrously hard, followed by a slightly easier one. Yet, to solve those one would need a loose piece of paper that is under the box's insert. If by any chance you moved the cards to the gaming locale outside of their box, you simply cannot finish the adventure. I do not know whose idea it was to put the box's insert above an actual element of the game, it is however a patently bad one. Just because T.I.M.E Stories is about puzzles doesn't mean that the game's materials shouldn't be immediately and instantly found and recognized as such.
The additional material that the QR codes in the game lead to is very welcome. On the other hand, and in contrast to other games which advertise their interactions with an app like Mansions of Madness (Second Edition), I would have enjoyed all the material, including the additional backstory, to be found in the game box. It is unlikely that an such inclusion would have altered the game's price.
This is one of the longer adventures of the set. That is a very good thing, until you realise that you need much more than that alleged ninety minutes that are printed on the box in order to solve it. I'd suggest you devote a full gaming session to it. The brutally hard puzzle will not solve itself that easily.
No need for me to repeat the issues of sleeving the 70 x 120 mm cards (a pain in the ass when it comes to finding the right sleeves). I wish the game had opted for 80 x 120 mm, a size that is both bigger (cooler aesthetics!) and easier to sleeve. Unfortunately, it's too late for that.
Conclusion: Lumen Fidei is a nice roundup of why T.I.M.E Stories has met with such success. It is a story with quite some twists and turns, morality-based choices, combat, and puzzles. The line's overall plot advances even further, this time by leaps and bounds. Good times, even if you are an infidel.
For more info on Lumen Fidei and T.I.M.E Stories overall, visit Space Cowboys at http://www.spacecowboys.fr or Asmodee at http://www.asmodee.us.
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