I'm writing this review as a newbie DM. Before picking up this AP, I did about 3 one-off campaign sessions to just get my feet wet. Decided I finally want to do a longer term campaign with a group of friends and chose this as my first AP.
This was around the time when I had just finished Stranger Things so I definitely wanted to emit a creepy vibe to my players and let me just say this: this AP emits that vibe off so well. We had only finished the first part however it gave off a creepy atmosphere so well that my players want to see this campaign to its conclusion. My group is usually more accustomed to one-offs so that's saying something.
My players seem so engrossed in the story, actually caring about all these clues hidden in the asylum, and I could tell they are sufficiently creeped out. So creeped out that whenever the party opened a door and I described what they heard or saw beyond that door, they would immediately "NOPE" their way out of there.
In addition, the puzzles are challenging but never were they ever an impassable road block. My players, despite half the party being new players themselves, were rockstars. There was one particular puzzle that had them stumped for about a half hour but they were able to go through possible solutions one by one until they finally arrived at the right answer.
I've already read up to book 4 of the Strange Aeons campaign so I know what happens from here on forth but I am really looking forward to how my players handle book 2.
While preparing the DM work, I began to seriously question whether I wanted to be a DM after seeing how much time I spent just preparing. That questioning went away after our first session when I got to see the rewards of that preparation: my players' reactions.
So thanks Paizo for getting me hooked on DMing.
