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If you’ve been getting hit by bizarre ads about Merge Mansion, you’re not the only one. Viral ad campaigns are key to the popularity of the mobile game; however, they say little about the actual mechanics.
The first ad that caught my attention featured an elderly woman getting arrested by the police for an unknown reason as her granddaughter watched helplessly from outside. And as the cop car drove away from a dilapidated mansion, Grandma Ursula pressed her palm against the window to reveal the message, ‘He is alive.’
Who is the ‘he’ in the story? Why is Grandma Ursula acting so cryptically, and what did she do to get arrested? And what the hell is Merge Mansion, the mobile game that got celebrities like Kathy Bates or Pedro Pascal from The Last of Us to endorse it?
I had so many questions that could only be answered by actually playing the game. Here’s what I learned so far.
What Is Merge Mansion About?
Merge Mansion is a single-player merge puzzle game from the Finnish company Metacore. It was released in 2020 as the video game developer’s first (and so far only) mobile game.
Similar to other match and merge games, the mechanics of Merge Mansion are simple: merge two similar items to get an upgraded item. For example, if you merge two seeds, you get a seedling. Merge two seedlings, and you spawn a more mature plant. You need these items to complete tasks that are important to progressing in the game, as well as unlocking the secrets of Merge Mansion.
But before you can start playing the merge puzzles, the mobile game starts with a brief introduction to the characters. You play as Maddie, a young woman and granddaughter of Grandma Ursula. In the version of Merge Mansion I played, Maddie finds out about the dilapidated property because of letters from the IRS. Grandma Ursula hasn’t paid the property taxes on the mansion and is in danger of losing it. Maddie Boulton, who was unaware that such a property existed, makes it her mission to revive her family’s mansion. And Grandma Ursula, who is being secretive about the whole thing, reluctantly hands over the keys to the gate to avoid going to prison.
And so the goal to prevent the Boulton mansion from getting condemned begins. Before you can actually enter, you first need to complete tasks like clearing the driveway. At the start of Merge Mansion, you only get a few items that you can merge until you can create pruning shears to get rid of all the overgrown plants.
The more you play the game, the more elaborate the tasks become, that also require more advanced items. You progressively unlock various areas of the mansion that reveal secrets that Grandma Ursula is hiding.
‘He is alive’: Merge Mansion’s Cryptic Ads Made it Go Viral
Merge Mansion is a casual mobile game that doesn’t require a lot of brain cells to play. What made it intriguing in the first place, aside from the fact that they released the game during the worst of the pandemic, is the creative advertising campaign. The ads were a mix of drama, mystery, and dark comedy. They even featured different versions of the first Merge Mansion ad that went viral. Instead of ‘He is alive,’ other people got ads wherein Grandma warned, ‘You’re next’ and ‘I planned this.’
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And once those ads lost their steam, Merge Mansion started releasing live-action shorts that featured major celebrities. Kathy Bates played Grandma Ursula in earlier shorts, but a more recent campaign stars Pedro Pascal as a detective who wants to get to the bottom of the mystery in Merge Mansion. Other celebrities like Ashley Benson and Jesse Williams also appeared in their latest short film wherein they tried to find secret rooms inside the mansion.
According to the creators, the ad campaigns are meant to convey the plot-driven nature of Merge Mansion. Though it is an addicting merge puzzle at its core, the mysteries of the Boulton family are really what makes the mobile game so intriguing. “The whole story is centered around family drama and mystery, which are both broadly relatable topics that are loved by many and thus translate perfectly into a creative campaign such as this one,” says Metacore’s VP of brand marketing Sandra Fenyo.
And since I rarely pay attention to ads for mobile games, let alone download a game because of it, I can say with some certainty that the campaigns were effective. The ‘He is alive’ ads got Twitter talking about it, but it was really Pedro Pascal’s endorsement that reeled me in. If he can have fun playing a character that isn’t even Merge Mansion’s canon, why can’t I?
How to Play Merge Mansion
Merge Mansion is available for both Android and iOS users. The game itself is free to download and play, but users can opt to purchase items that might help them progress faster in the game. These include energy refills, speeding up item unlocks, and coins to buy other items. It’s definitely a decent game to check out if you’re looking for something more casual and relaxing.
Though I’m really curious to find out what secrets Grandma Ursula has in the hidden rooms of her basement, I also really enjoy the rudimentary mechanics of merge puzzle games. Metacore really found a way to create a storyline for a basic puzzle game, and that’s really what sets it apart from others. The graphics are also better than average, the glitches are nonexistent on my end, and the developers are continuing to expand the storyline to keep us hooked. But if you just want to focus on the basics and ignore the plot-driven narrative, Merge Mansion can actually be a relaxing game that isn’t too time-consuming.
