Ghosts, Glamour, and Gumption: Welcome to Tanto Cuore: Memento Mori

By Emma Recher, May 16th 2025

Congratulations, estate inheritor! The dusty deed is in your hands, the ivy-covered gates of Twilight Manor creak open, and your freshly pressed cravat is only slightly haunted. Yes, the manor is full of ghosts. Yes, half the wallpaper peels itself off. But you? You’re ready. With charm, strategy, and a deck full of overly qualified maids, you’re here to whip this place into shape—and maybe win a séance or two while you’re at it.

Welcome to Tanto Cuore: Memento Mori—a gothic twist on the beloved deck-building game where maid recruitment meets mild haunting and full-blown interior design challenges.

Deck-Building with a Dash of the Supernatural

You’ll start with a basic deck and build it up by hiring an eclectic staff of maids and butlers, each bringing their own flair and utility. But don’t get too comfortable—this isn’t your grandmother’s tea party. Oh no. This is a manor crawling with ghosts, and they don’t take kindly to your new décor plans.

Your goal? Restore haunted rooms, exorcise meddlesome spirits, and charm your way to victory—one séance at a time.

Strategy, Séances, and Supernatural Shenanigans

But turning Twilight Manor from “creepy fixer-upper” to “haunted heritage gem” isn’t just about good intentions and lace-trimmed uniforms. You’ll need to build your dream team of maids and butlers, each one more mysteriously overqualified than the last. Some specialize in restoring the manor’s many... quirky rooms, while others are disturbingly adept at dealing with the ghost in the library who keeps rearranging the furniture.

As designer Ross Allison puts it, "Tanto used to feel like solitaire with friends, but with Memento Mori, we wanted players to mess with each other a bit more."

Memento Mori introduces new interactive mechanics that bring players into the same spectral space. Hire workers. Host a séance. Dump a ghost in your rival's garden and watch the chaos unfold. You’ll find yourself partaking in graveyard antics and calling on Madame Damnable’s tarot deck to alter your fate—or someone else’s.

"I love the idea of a group of friends coming together to laugh and sometimes try to kill each other," Ross says. "Who needs enemies when your friends will happily sacrifice you to win the game?"

A Veteran Ghost Hunter Walks into a Game Studio...

Ross Allison isn’t your average designer. He’s a veteran ghost hunter, author, and television personality turned game designer. After demoing Tanto Cuore and seeing its strong female fan base, he pitched the idea of adding butlers—"hot guys for the ladies and queer fans"—and hasn't looked back since.

This is Ross’s second collaboration on the Tanto Cuore series, and his fingerprints are all over Memento Mori’s supernatural sass and player-driven mischief. The new mechanics reflect his love for games that feel alive: unpredictable, interactive, and full of "why did I think that was a good idea?" moments.

How to Play?

It’s still a deck-builder at heart, but with layered strategy. You’ll juggle resources, claim rooms for victory points, keep an eye on the graveyard, and decide whether to risk that one last séance. As Ross explains, "A good idea may look great on paper, but it’s not until you fiddle with the mechanism that you really begin to understand game design."

Gothic Chic with a Hint of Sass

Everything in Memento Mori oozes personality. The art? Drop-dead gorgeous. The maids? Highly competent and weirdly okay with ghost infestations. The mood? Imagine a Victorian tea party got photobombed by a paranormal investigator.

Whether you're a longtime fan or just here for the deck-building drama and ghostly charm, Memento Mori adds fresh spice to the Tanto formula. You’re not just collecting points—you’re crafting your own chaotic legacy, one haunted hallway at a time.

Twilight Manor won’t fix itself—and neither will your reputation.

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