The loch ness monster, Bigfoot, the yeti, and the chupacabra. All legendary beasts, all with unknown motives, and all with an aura of mystery around them. But the biggest beast, the most villainous creatures you will face: the other explorers looking for these cryptids. Because who cares if these creatures are proven to exist if you’re not the one to prove it! You’ve done your research to find intel on these creatures, and nobody else deserves to steal the credit from you!

Cryptid is a deduction game where each player has a secret clue which only they know. These clues and the map the game is played on are randomised at the beginning of the game. And using some wizardry and a lot of spare time each time the game is played, exactly one tile (out of about 50) is the one tile which all the players clues line up on. The clues can range from things saying what terrain the creature is in, if it’s near a certain type or colour of building, or if it’s near and animal hunting ground.

And having a range of different clue types is so important for Cryptid because it forces players to look at the game at many different angles. Giving the game a really satisfying “a-ha!” moment when you look at the game from the correct angle and figure out someones clue. And because when you question someone about a space they can only say whether the creature can be there or not according to their clue, it makes the information you’re getting simple to understand but hard to figure out.

The final wrinkle Cryptid offers you is the option to “search” a space. Normally on your turn you just choose another player to ask if the cryptid can be on a certain space. But searching requires you to place a yes token (which are just things you put on the board so that people remember what you said yes and no for) on a space you know the cryptid can be and then going in a circle players can either place a yes or no token depending on their clue. As soon as one player places a no token the search is over, but if everyone places a yes you win! So it’s a bit of a risk reward situation, because whenever you search you are giving valuable information. And the game forces you to place a no token on a space you know the cryptid can’t be if another player places a no token somewhere on your turn, so a failed search causes you to have to play a yes and no token!

I think cryptid does something that a lot of deduction games like clue, or guess who don’t. Which is letting the player make logical deductions, not just guessing based on whether you think your friends are lying or not. Making it less of a bluffing game and more of a game about deduction. In fact i wish there was just a tiny bit more bluffing, even though that’s not the focus of the game. I have pretty much explained all the rules in this review, so you can see the game is pretty simple to learn. And this game gets one of those ever so desirable “easy to learn hard to master” award from me. It even has a built in hint system if you get stuck. The game is very quick and fun for all skill levels. because it’s so quick and fun, it’s really a game you want to play a couple rounds of in a row. Overall I think cryptid has a fun art style, a unique theme (even though the game ends up being a bit abstract), and some of the best deduction i’ve done in a game for a while. The only draw back is if you don’t like deduction games, this game won’t change you’re mind. But if you enjoy, or think you will enjoy deduction games, then this is a great game to play and get people into deduction games!