The Mezen is a river in the Arkhangelsk Oblast region of north of Russia, and this game by Nikita Sorokin celebrates the native art of the region that makes use of red clay and black soot. Mariya Stankevich's artwork depicts birds and various animals in an attractive two-tone imitation of the traditional art of the Russian village of Palaschelye. There's much to admire about the art and theme but, truth be told, this game from Arcane Wonders and Hobby World is really an abstract strategy game that could easily have substituted a completely unrelated theme.
Mezen is a pattern recognition game for 2-5 players, tho' there's also solo mode. Players all start off with a randomised grid of 25 white tiles arranged in a 5 x 5 grid. Each round, a card will be revealed showing what pattern or pairing of tiles will score in the current and next round; for example, orthogonally adjacent pairings of fox and fish tiles, or hedhehogs in corner squares and in the centre of the grid. Each turn, the active player names a creature type and all players remove any single grouping of tiles showing that creature; this might just be a single isolated tile or could be a large run of orthogonally adjacent tiles, and in any column from which tiles have been removed the remaining tiles slide down 'Candy Crush' style. Removed tiles are flipped to their reverse (black) side and players use these tiles to refill the space(s) at the top of their grid. Players then all score for the extent to which their new grid meets the scoring requirements for the current round.
There's more, however. Players all have a supply of 'amulet' tokens, These are worth a point each in end-game scoring but you can use them during the game to help manipulate your grid. You can pay an amulet to the active player to exempt you from their choice of creature tile(s) to be removed and let you name your own. You can also use an amulet to create a bridge between two groups of tiles; in effect creating adjacency. Likewise you can use an amulet to split a group so that not all of the tiles are removed. It's the amulet-driven manipulations that really elevate the game, giving players considerable control over which tiles they remove and how they affect their grid. Tho' you may need to pay for the privilege of exempting yourself from the active player's choice, the amulet mechanic reduces the prospect of 'take that' play (an active player deliberately selecting an animal tile primarily to screw with an opponent's grid), so this is a game where players can pretty much exclusively focus on their own grids and scoring without mithering overly about what other players are doing.
You're playing over 10 rounds, so there will be 10 different ways of scoring (plus some additional mid-game and end-game scoring), and because, right up to the penultimate round, you always know what specific pattern will be scoring next, it may sometimes be advantageous to all but ignore the current round and instead focus on setting yourself up for a high score on the next round. You even have the option of foregoing whatever score you might have in a round and taking instead two more amulet tokens, giving you more options in subsequent rounds or, if unused, being worth points. In any round where you're expecting to score no more than 2 points then it will always be better to take two amulet tokens in lieu of your score.
If you struggle with pattern recognition then Mezen isn't the game for you, but if you have an eye for patterns and the knock-on effect of sliding tiles down on a grid, then Mezen stands out as a best-in-class abstract strategy game. Players who suffer from AP (analysis paralysis) will slow things down, so you might want to impose a timer if you've one player who is dithering overly about their choices, but generally Mezen is a game that plays quickly. All players take their turns simultaneously, so a five-player game shouldn't really take any longer to play than a game with just two players. Most of the games played by members of the Board's Eye View team took around 30 minutes - spot on what it said on the box.