Memories of Another Life

Навичка

Innate.

XP: 5.

Нейтральний

Artist, Believer, Dreamer, Sorcerer deck only.

If this skill test is successful, you may remove Memories of Another Life from the game to search your collection for any non-permanent level 0 card (even if it does not meet your deckbuilding requirements). Play that card at no cost. At the end of the game, return that card to your collection.

Aleksander Karcz
The Drowned City Investigator Expansion #125.
Memories of Another Life

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)

  • Q: If I use Memories of Another Life to play a card that summons 1 or more bonded cards, can I summon those cards even though they were not set aside at the beginning of the game? A: Yes. Although bonded cards should normally be set aside when the game begins, you would set any corresponding bonded cards aside, out of play, when you play a card with Memories of Another Life. (Official FAQ v2.4, July 2025)

  • Memories of Another Life can only search the collection for a chosen card. It cannot search any in-play or out-of-play area involved in the current game, and it cannot create a new copy of a card that does not exist physically within your collection. Memories of Another Life cannot search for a copy of a customizable card the committing investigator has already upgraded, as such a card is no longer level 0 for that investigator. It can play a level 0 card that has been Chained via the List of Taboos. A card played by Memories of Another life can be placed in the victory display, or any other eligible out-of-play area, by an ability or game effect. (Official FAQ v2.5, February 2026)

Last updated

Reviews

Edit: Updating because of the "At no cost" ruling only removes resource costs. Some of the other cards are still good, but more situational.

This card is pretty insane, as you get to staple the effect of any level 0 asset or event to a successful skill test at no cost, along with an unexpected courage to help you with that test. As of printing, here's the valid users - Sefina Rousseau, Zoey Samaras, Father Mateo, Sister Mary, Luke Robinson, Lucius Galloway, Agnes Baker, Akachi Onyele, Marie Lambeau, Dexter Drake

Here's a list of some of the generically powerful things you can do with it, even without specific scenario/card combo interactions. This is just my list that I threw together, I'm sure there are other respectable cards and some that are particularly strong given specific scenarios/situations. To me the thing that makes this card sing is its sheer versatility - almost any of the below effects are very strong, and you get to choose the best one for any given situation.

Take an extra action every turn for the rest of the scenario: Leo De Luca

Discover 2 clues: Extensive Research

Deal 3 damage to each enemy (and investigator) at your location or a connecting location: Dynamite Blast

Evade all enemies at your location (including elites): Cunning Distraction

Move up to 3 times without engaging enemies: Scout Ahead

Gain 3 resources: Emergency Cache

Gain 5 resources for items only: Schoffner's Catalogue

Gain 5 resources for events only: Same Old Thing

Draw 3 cards if there's a clue at your location: Preposterous Sketches

Draw 2 cards (and discard 1 for each filled arcane slot: Eldritch Initiation

Search the top 6 cards of your (or an ally's) deck for a card and draw it: No Stone Unturned

Get a generically powerful yellow card: Dr. Milan Christopher

Get a generically powerful green card: Lucky Cigarette Case

Less good cards after the ruling:

Gain 8 Resources for investigators at your location: Bank Job (Hot Streak is 4xp and nets you 7 resources) [costs 1 additional action]

Draw 5 Cards for investigators at your location: Thorough Inquiry (All In is also 5xp, but Memories doesn't have the weakness clause) [costs 1 additional action]

Move, discover a clue, and activate an asset (can also be given to other investigators at your location): Task Force [Costs an additional action]

Automatically evade or deal 1 damage to all non-elite enemies at your location and connecting locations: Elaborate Distraction [Costs an additional action]

And some situationally useful ones:

Gain 3 slotless horror soak for your team: Something Worth Fighting For

Gain 3 slotless health soak for your team: True Grit

Gain 2 slotless health+sanity soak Resilience

Move and heal: Physical Fitness

Heal 3 from investigators and allies at your location: Infuse Life

Resign: "I'm outta here!"

Gain 3 supplies or ammo for assets you control: Cleaning Kit, or with soak if you have an ally slot: Venturer

Double the ammo or supplies on an asset you control: Contraband

Turn your events into skills(with updated ruling you still take the weakness): Crystallizer of Dreams

Grab a clue and find an enemy to kill: Kicking the Hornet's Nest

Discard a Terror treachery from an allied threat area (as long as you have at least 1 clue): Logical Reasoning

Grab any one of the masks: Cat, Fox, Mouse, Sparrow, Wolf

Trade resources, items and allies: Teamwork

Therebrae · 48
5 xp and success seems like a lot until you realize it replaces hundreds of cards. — MrGoldbee · 1601
It's the strongest toolbox card in the game. It has the ability to do any of the above things, and more. If you read the card as "If you succeed, gain 8 resources OR draw 5 cards OR heal 3 damage OR heal 3 horror OR ..." I think it's pretty obvious how powerful this effect is. 5xp is a lot, but I'm pretty sure it's justified here and may even warrant a taboo. — Therebrae · 48
Yes, that's great and all, but have you though about how it bogs the game down when you play it and have to think about the best card to pick? I personally don't want to go through that list each time I trigger it... — AlderSign · 478
@AlderSign True, I would just include three staples (such as Bank Job, Inquiry, Leo) and have them set aside like bonded cards. Honestly, I think a clean table-nerf is that you declare upon purchase which class you "have memories from" so your locked in to just one class of lvl 0 cards. Still strong card, but not functionally your entire collection strong. — McJames · 359
Cool, i now get to browse through my full collection in the middle of the game to pick the best card to play... Says no one ever. Wether you buy the card as Versatile on steroids or as a toolbox, you buy it with the card(s), it would bring in, in mind and have them ready in a sideboard. — Adny · 1
I would probably stick to the empiric hypothesis, if I don't have access to the seeker class. — Tharzax · 2
@Adny: I mean, yeah, that fixes the AP, but I disapprove of a card design that discourages you from using its full potential. — AlderSign · 478
@Tharzax: I wonder what happens if you pick a customizable card that does not meet your deckbuilding requirements and then play Refine. Would you even be allowed to? — AlderSign · 478
I have a fun question though, can Taboo player fetch Double or Nothing? — RichardPlunkett · 20
@ RichardPlunkett "Cards from the Forbidden list cannot be included in your deck". MoAL doesn't add a card to your deck, and the list doesn't remove the card from your collection, so in that sence I guess you could. However Double or nothing is a skill and MoAL can only play a card. So no you can't get it. — Rafael_Rupert · 1
Warning Shot without spending ammo? Weird. Bide Your Time is also a quite okay target I guess. — AlderSign · 478
But, there is "for any non-permanent". So why would you pull Leo, Grit or MIlan? — NathienSK · 1

Ruling from Alex Werner, FFG Game Rules Specialist via the official rules question form:

Question: Hello. I just succeeded a skill test in which I committed Memories of Another Life, which allows me to search my collection for a level zero card and play it "at no cost." Can I choose Thorough Inquiry and ignore both the resource cost in the upper left corner and also the "As an additional cost to play Thorough Inquiry, spend an action" cost listed in the first line of its text box? Thank you in advance.

Answer: No. If an ability allows you to play a card “at no cost,” you ignore just its resource cost, and must pay any additional costs.

(So Doubles are not eligible for Memories of Another Life— at least not if you don’t have an additional action to burn—and by extension, a Summoned Hound played via Motivational Speech (4) will still create an Unbound Beast, and Warning Shot will still burn an ammo, and Faustian Bargain will still put in curses. “At no cost” means the same thing as “ignoring all costs,” apparently, meaning it can still have costs.)

Holy Outlaw · 290
What weird wording. Just say "ignore its resource cost". — MrGoldbee · 1601
Thank you, that helps! But I agree, unnecessarly ambiguous... — AlderSign · 478
I would like to say this ruling annoys the hell out of me. — MegatonSamurai · 11
This isn't a ruling, it is an errata. If I play a card and in the process of playing that card I have to spend an action "as an additional cost," I didn't play the card "at no cost." There is no ambiguity in the wording. It seems reasonable that the intent was to just ignore the resource cost, but this need a proper errata or taboo. — Hirangren · 1
If I used Memories of Another Life, can I pick a card with "only in (investigator's name) deck"? — Wahmutuzzer · 1
No, because signature cards don't have levels and thus aren't a lvl0 card. — Slaaneshi · 1

The real question here is if Sled Dogs are viable if you have not 4 but 6! Not only does this combo increase the maximum potential of the good boys and girls, but also helps you find them earlier, as a quasi-tutor.

On that note, this card allows playing cards that you already have the maximum number of copies in your deck, because they are not added to it. Looking at Open Gate or Fortuitous Discovery, for example.

Enjoy and go crazy ;)

EDIT: Having a third copy of Ritual Candles almost makes curses into blessings.

AlderSign · 478
You can play more than 3 "Open Gates", because the card says "Group limit 3 in play". I guess, for Sled Dogs and Fortuitous Discovery, you should be fine. As long, as you borrow the copies in your deck from a friend. The ones you fetch in game must come from your collection. Otherwise the search would fail. — Susumu · 393
*can't play more than 3 "Open Gates"... — Susumu · 393
Of course, if you have a promo set from Arkham Nights 2022, you should have a fith copy of Sled Dogs in your collection. :) — Susumu · 393
i have a feeling there was a ruling, that your collection only counts one copy of each product, so no game — Adny · 1
Ad Open Gate: True, but more is still more; I rarely saw all 3 ever in play. Sometimes you commit one, sometimes it gets discarded, sometimes it's at the bottom of your deck. And year, other possibilities feel strong (there are more cards like this). — AlderSign · 478
@Adny: I'd like the source for that please :) It makes a too big difference to just speculate about. And apart from that you can always proxy, so no real need to "borrow from a friend". — AlderSign · 478
I think, Adny mixed it up with the collection of basic weaknesses. For them it was clarified, that you should not take cards from multiple copies of the same product. (Most likely duplicates from two old core sets.) My comment of "search your collection" was more tongue in cheek, but if you take it really serious, RAW you should not take proxies or borrowed copies on the "search". — Susumu · 393
Mhm, I am still wondering if there is an official ruling on the question about the collection. But maybe you mean that if I buy the expansion the card if from I can search that card 10 times and that's different from proxying then I understand you. — AlderSign · 478
it had to do with bonded cards and hallowed mirror not being able to bring in more than what was in one product i think. — Adny · 1
"Hallowed Mirror" is a bad example, because it says to search for only 3 copies, so you wouldn't get 6, ieven if you have them. But I think, you are right. "Dream Diary" is an example, where it was clarified that, even if you have two copies in your hand slots, you don't get two copies of "Essence of the Dream". But that is a special rule for bonded cards, not your collection in general: "The number of copies of each different bonded card that are set aside in this way is equal to the number of copies of that were included in the product in which that bonded card was introduced. The number of cards in your deck that summon the bonded card in question does not factor into this limit." There is only one Essence in the product it came in, so you can't "bond" more. — Susumu · 393
This is stupid, because it means if I buy another copy of the same product and take my second Dream Diary from there it would suddenly be legal?. — AlderSign · 478
Sled dogs were already viable, and 6 dogs is only slightly better than 4. Drowned City has plenty of other dog support, though. Marion Tavares is a fantastic dog wrangler, and I'd bet George Barnaby does well with them too. — OrionAnderson · 157
Regarding the collection issue: I found the FAQ of https://arkhamdb.com/card/04106 helpful. — AlderSign · 478

This card is unreal in a Lucius deck with Ancestral Knowledge. If you keep your skill card count down to exactly 10, you will end up drawing at least one of them over 3/4 of the time, and you will draw both of them nearly 1/4 of the time!

DashRendar · 2
Причём тут Люциус? Любой искатель с доступом 0-5 может так сделать — Rentgen · 1

This card feels too good to be played.

A thought that itches my mind is the following: can it search for investigator exclusive cards? After all, it specifically says: even if it does not meet your deckbuilding requirements.

SirDalen · 2
No, it allows you to search for a level 0 card and investigator exclusive cards have no level. — Gsayer · 1
@Gsayer Yeah forgot about that. Bummer. Would have been so much fun. — SirDalen · 2
Also there is a strict rule that you can't play other investigator's signature cards. — vidinufi · 70
@Gsayer Actually signature cards do have a level and are level 0, and can therefore be found with scrounge for supplies. That being said, as vidinufi pointed out, you cannot play other gator's signature cards for any reason. — ridivey · 1

The "at no cost" bit makes me wonder how this (and adaptable) treat level-0 cards with xp costs. I would assume grabbing a Drawing Thin or other taboo card has at least been suggested with adaptable, but this one has a wording that suggests it would ignore the xp cost. Especially at 5 xp itself.

Iduno · 22
I mean, you don't permanently add it to your deck, so of course it would ignore exp costs much like you don't pay 1 exp to "add" a level 0 card. — Spamamdorf · 5
Level 0 cards are level 0 cards, no matter what their XP cost might be. — kingofyates · 26