Society of Curiosities: Mysterious Map Heist

Step into the 1700s and search for a mysterious map on the first step of your epic treasure hunt. But can you crack the cipher, uncover the documents, and bid your way to success in time?

Rating: Fantastic
Completion Time: 36 Minutes
Date Played: 13th of June 2020
Party Size: 1

I present the Mysterious Map Heist from The Society of Curiosities! An hour long game from the makers of a fantastic subscription series that sets the prequel for the whole series. The best part? *at the time of playing, IT’S COMPLETELY FREE. You have literally no excuse not to check it out.

For a free game, it’s also fantastic. I almost regret doing this one as a solo game, it could just have easily worked in a small group or via Zoom with friends and family. In particular, Society of Curiosities has a special something when it comes to their web development. The Mysterious Map Heist will have you texting, googling, researching, even bidding in real time on rare artefacts. I just don’t know how they do it, but they’re second to none!

The plot has it that you, a society member, are given a very particular ‘mission’ to find and track down a rare treasure map. You’re in direct conversation with Pip, a fellow researcher of the society by text. Pip sends you documents, links, photographs in real time and by doing your own research on a fantastic host of ‘fake’ (I don’t say that lightly, they’re pretty real to me!) websites as you slowly track down the goodies.

In what I can only describe as one of the best ‘twists’ of a digital game I’ve seen on the market, you race to outbid a mysterious foe. No real spoilers, but as it’s the prequel to the treasure hunting series that follows, you bet I won that bid at the last second! So exciting.

In fact, to conclude this review … The only reason I’m putting it as a 4 stars and not the 5 stars is clearly deserves, is because I’m sure their subscription box “Madok’s Lost Treasure” is even better. I’m saving that 5 star rating for when I get my hands on a copy.

Until then, enjoy the Mysterious Map Heist, which can be played for free on the Society of Curiosities website.