Review for the scenario, not the reference card. Spoilers ahead. I need to do some more research to get real numbers to back up feelings (or refute them).

I'm pretty sure this scenario is up there for my least favorite in all of the games I've played (everything but TIC and some side-stories as of writing). Having just played through this with two other players again, here's my attempt at trying to find out why.

1) This scenario is too damn long! Looking at the numbers, we have 4 + 6 + 8 + 8 = 26 turns on the agenda deck (although this will probably be less considering doom on Nahab). This feels long to me, but I haven't taken the time to compare it to other agenda lengths. Edit: A quick scan up through TDE puts 26 on the high end, most being 16-20 turns. On the act side, we have 3 (Act 1) + 1 (To unlock Gilman's Room) + 5 (Act 2) + a minimum of 2 (Act 3) = A minimum of 11 clues to run through the act deck. Again, I haven't had time to compare to other scenarios offhand, but this seems big when also taking into account the movement needed to traverse the witch house and the extradimensional spaces. Usually by the time I advance to Act 2 I am just exhausted by this scenario and wish it would end there. My investigator is usually feeling the same with the accumulated damage/horror from the whole thing.

2) The encounter deck feels heavily weighted towards . I feel like the game taunts you with all of the hexes having the discard ability if there's an exhausted witch at the location because there's exactly 1 witch enemy, she doesn't show up until Agenda 3, and you'd much rather get her off the board than exhaust her (at least before Act 3) in order to keep doom in check. Each hex is a (3), which can be quite prohibitive for some investigators. Hope your has some buddies! The consequences of not getting rid of them range from fairly mild (like Wracked) to fairly debilitating (playing a or and drawing Bedeviled).

3) The enemies. We've got 3 rats and a Brown Jenkin to start, with Nahab to follow later. Everything is fine and dandy until the agenda starts ticking up and you suddenly have ROUS (Rodents of Unusual Size) with 2, 3, 4, and finally 5 health. The rats are tanky! To be fair, they hit for just 1 damage, but given the scenario length, it adds up. I'm not sure what to make of Brown Jenkin. Do you take the time to kill him? On the one hand, he doesn't actively do anything, just make you cycle through your deck faster and boost his friends with +2 fight. On the other, he'll make sure you draw your weaknesses pretty quickly, and he's worth clues and experience. That said, nothing feels worse than taking the 2-3 actions to engage and kill the familiar just to have him come right back with Meddlesome Familiar. Similarly, defeating Nahab and immediately drawing Ghostly Presence feels terrible. The duo also come back regardless when you advance the agenda and act decks. Maybe you're expected to consistently evade Nahab?

4) This scenario feels like it was designed for investigators to lose in act 3. If you don't have a consistent means of evading Nahab, you're stuck tanking damage while trying to kill her decently sized health pool. For each turn you leave her up, that's another 1 clues you need to grab (likely off the 4 shroud Site of the Sacrifice). All the time, Jenkin is making sure you draw your weaknesses. Oh, I hope you didn't draw Pulled by the Stars!

5) Special mentions.

Strange Geometry: For some investigators, e.g. your dedicated fighter, this often effectively reads "You cannot move this turn. Take 1 damage and 1 horror." Rough.

Ghostly Presence: I had a bit of a perfect storm hit here which I feel the need to share. Obviously, this isn't typical so take it with a grain of salt. We had all 3 investigators at the same extradimensional location. Our encounter deck was low (~4-5 cards) and we just advanced to Agenda 3. And so we get the following events:

• Agenda advances to 3, Nahab spawns in her room.
• Encounter draw 1: Ghostly presence. Nahab moves to the location with all investigators. Everyone takes 1 damage and 2 horror.
• Encounter draw 2: Ghostly presence. Everyone takes 1 damage and 2 horror.

• Survive solely due to Tetsuo, cry a little on the inside while the digs for answers.

  All this to say, I'm hoping for some serious revisions in the "Return To" version.

This is the least exciting investigator by far released for AH LCG.

The thematic encouragement to, yes, write your own story by removing one interesting part of the game is so disappointing that I cringe every time I remember that this card exists.

Don't get me wrong. I love this game so freaking much the hole inside of me fills up with little feathers of hope.

Dealing with monsters is an integral part of the puzzle. I don't want it simply removed. Just going around and investigating. I'd rather play a who-done-it game, that just mechanically simulate doing it. This is the case, where the power is so godlike, I have zero connection with the character. You are basically a god because you write the story.

When superman became too powerful the writers invented kryptonite.

Might as well make an investigator with 6-6-0-0. - or a dead one. Huge misfire. I will never play this gator. Ever. It's dead to me.

If the designers wanted to make a showpiece of a card, kudos to them.

This card is bonkers. I really wish there were more ways to enable this card other than just Olive McBride. Oh well, I guess maybe then it would simply become too strong. Still... I can't unsee the potential of this card in the hands of Jacqueline.

Thomas Dawson is really really strong. Like REALLY strong. So strong in fact, that he is able to go forward in time by 60 years and get his hands on a Glock 9mm. Isn't this supposed to be set in the 20's? How did nobody at FFG notice this?

I’ve only used it on Amanda on hard, but thus far its been absolutely busted. The way i see it this card has three fairly powerful modes for amanda:

Seal the 0s and fail 3 checks to draw 6 or maybe even 8 cards if you get a mythos phase test. In a skill heavy deck you desperately need draw, and this is twice as efficient as draw actions. It’s like a worse take heart, but I’d be happy to pay 1 xp for take heart on amanda. I rate this mode 8/10.

Seal the 0s and try to succeed on all 3 checks. (Do you get the cards during the commit step so you can commit the 2 you draw?). By committing 2 cards to go card even this suddenly this looks like a 4 pip card that gets you closer to your important assets without costing any actions. If you can beat most of the chaos bag then removing the 0s only marginally reduces your chance of success. This is the best mode 10/10.

Finally you can seal the 3 nastiest tokens in the bag. This mode is strictly for special tokens that kill you or for sealing away special tokens when you’re winning so hard you can afford a little decadence. If you just need to succeed draw 2 and commit both instead of using this mode. 4/10 this mode is very rarely worth while.

With the added benefit of flexibility it becomes absolutely nuts on Amanda. Amanda would be happy to pay 2 or maybe even 3 xp for this. Amanda exaggerates the power of this card, but its still quality deck thinning that helps you with a single test for only 1 xp on survivors. Definitely find room for it before the end of your campaign, but get your key synergy xp cards first (unless you are amanda or sylas).