So, first of all: I look for games I can play a long time. I don't generally do "short term" games. This is mostly due to personal preference, but it is important to note that's what I'm looking for.

Mothership's mechanics are an excellent example of winning every battle but losing the war. The minute to minute gameplay is great, awesome even. The mechanics snowball really nicely, reacting to the narration at the table.

The real and ultimate question, however, is "Why did this series of awful things happen?" This is a legit question. Games can't provide answers, but they can guide to making an answer, and in the case of horror, WHY really is important.

The more uncomfortable a game, the more I think it should justify its existence, mechanically. I don't think that's actually an impossible goal, nevermind an impossible one. To be fair, I don't think ANY horror game has tried to do this.

But, unlike a lot of other horror RPGs, Mothership is actually very tightly designed, so the lack jumps out at me really loudly. It COULD have done what so few games have actually accomplished... and honestly it disappointed me that it didn't.

Now, someone is gonna go "That's not a fair thing to say." Tough shit. Part of what makes horror so compelling is the WHY. Even if the answer is an intentional blank, that's a choice.

The thing is that what I'm saying isn't simply my preference, it was observed at the table. We all had fun, but at the end of the day the general mood of the room was "What was the point?" The curated actions had to have a point, right? Right?

The thing was that Mothership just didn't hold us. As well as it played, something was missing in the end. You can only keep spiraling down to nothing without a resolution so many times before someone has to say why that's helpful.

It's funny, isn't it? Success doesn't need its own justification, but failure does. That's a bitch, ain't it? End.

Due to threats of fines from the library, I turn aside from Disquiet Gods briefly.