The Descent into Xibalbá

The line between the world you know and the afterlife has faded. You have crossed the veil, but your soul has lost its way in the shadows of the underworld.

From the darkness rises an imposing presence: Mictecacíhuatl, the Lady of the Dead. Tonight, in her kingdom, nothing is granted without a test. Beside her lurks an elusive figure: the Xoloitzcuintle, the sacred dog who has taken human form tonight to judge your steps.

Tonight you are not a simple guest: you are a spirit trying to find its way home. For the doors of the world of the living to open again, you must prove that your essence still remembers what it means to be alive.

Immersed in darkness, you will rebuild by touch the ofrenda —the Day of the Dead altar offering— that connects you to life. Guided only by your hands and working with your table, you must assemble the offering that best pleases the gods, all while eating the dishes Mictecacíhuatl has left to enlighten you.

If your senses betray you and the offering does not satisfy the goddess, the doors will close and you will become an eternal guest at her banquet. Are you ready to cross the threshold?

The echo of an ancestral wail rises in the middle of an ordinary banquet. It is La Llorona —the Weeping Woman, Mexico's most famous ghost, who wanders the rivers crying for her children. An icy breath from the river has snuffed out every candle in the church. The darkness is absolute. Outside, the current carries a spirit that finds no rest; inside, the spirit has crossed the threshold.

In the gloom, a medium who knows that urban legends are real warnings tries to stop the creature from wreaking havoc. Meanwhile, a skeptical priest, clinging to reason, refuses to accept that his sanctuary has been desecrated. But the wailing demands an offering from the guests, and if its conditions are not met, no one may make it home.

Tonight, survival depends on your sense of taste. Your table will be served a series of deceptively sweet, comforting bites. But every round hides a trap: one of those bites holds the very essence of a tear.

If fate chooses you to receive this offering and you fail to recognize it, you will turn to stone. To face it, your mission is to swallow the tear and absorb La Llorona's agony without making a single sound or face. If your expression cracks, if instinct betrays you and you let out one moan, the spirit will know exactly where you are. The weeping will fall upon your table and the darkness will claim you forever. Do you have the physical and mental strength to swallow the pain before she finds you?

The capital of the Aztec empire is collapsing. Outside, the echoes of battle and the clash of steel ring through the flooded streets of Tenochtitlan: you are about to live through La Noche Triste, the “Night of Sorrows” of 1520.

In a secret hideout, two unlikely allies who have defied their own sides are waiting for you: a Mexica princess, bearer of the blood and secrets of her lineage, and a Spanish soldier who has deserted, trading his loyalty to the crown for the promise of survival. Together they have recovered the legendary treasure of Moctezuma. To smuggle it out under the eyes of their pursuers, they have hidden it in the most unlikely place: the banquet about to be served before you.

Tonight you stop being a spectator and become an accomplice in the heist that will rewrite history. Your mission is to taste each dish and discover how many pieces of the treasure it contains.

You must sharpen your senses and keep an exact count of the gold pieces your palate finds, without saying a word to your tablemates. A single miscalculation could expose the whole operation. Can you recover the treasure?