Board games usually involve some kind of conflict, be it players fighting for control of a map or working together to fight off some kind of monster. Fog of Love is no different; but the conflicts are much different than the ones you'd expect to find in other games. There are no zombies or world-ending plagues, there's only you and your partner trying to make it through life.
Fog of Love is a role playing tool as much as it is a game. Players craft identities through trait cards and are faced with situation after situation where playing into your character is a must. For example, how do you react when you see your partner receiving texts from a coworker after hours? Or if your partner whisks you away suddenly for a vacation overseas? Or if you discover your partner's past is filled with amateur porn shoots?
There are six personality traits on the board, and players put tokens on one side or the other based on the decisions made when playing the event cards. Just like any relationship, both players have their own goals, as well as shared goals with each other. Sticking to your own goals of having a certain number of tokens on one side of these six personality traits may mean making a poor overall decision for your relationship.
Each game is played with a basic relationship template, such as "high school sweethearts" or "Sunday morning date" where you play a couple on their first date. After navigating through each game, players must decide if the relationship will continue or not.
If this sounds kind of complicated, don't worry. Fog of Love comes packaged in a specific way to walk new players through their first game without even opening the rule book. The tutorial is really cool, and helps get the game going immediately, while slowly introducing all the mechanics you'll need when you need them. I'm not sure how they would be incorporated, but I'd really like to see more board games include a tutorial system like this one. Just make sure you don't shuffle any decks of cards before you start playing!
I also really enjoyed the super unique theme of Fog of Love. Games about war or farming or trains are everywhere, it's not so often you see a game about love and relationships. It's a theme that helps bring in new gamers who might be turned off from a super hardcore game like Twilight Imperium, but would be more receptive to a romantic comedy.
There's so much to love about Fog of Love it's tough to admit that it has some issues. If you aren't playing with a partner who is down to really role-play, the game can fall a little flat. You shouldn't be rushing through resolving each card, instead taking the time to make little scenarios for your characters to live in. That helps when it comes to ending each game.
Speaking of the ending, games seemed to end somewhat anticlimactically. At the end of the event card portion, you tally up where tokens have been placed to see if you completed your personal and relationship goals. Do you and your gaming partner stay in the relationship? Well, that's kind of up to you every time. There's these personal satisfaction meters players can fill up, but there are no hard rules about what to do. It makes sense to leave the relationship if the satisfaction meters are low, but they're ultimately your characters.
I'm really glad I had the opportunity to play through a few games of Fog of Love. It's such a unique and refreshing concept for a board game, and I hope to see more games take inspiration by looking elsewhere for crazy board game concepts. I also love the tutorial system, and would like to see other game makers think of how to implement a tutorial like this into their games. Will Fog of Love be a staple at board game nights in the future? Probably not, but it might be nice to bust it out every now and then to step into someone else's shoes and live the life of a romantic comedy star.
Fog of Love is available now, exclusively through Walmart.com.
So what do you think? Are you interested in trying out Fog of Love for yourself? What other board games have unique themes like Fog of Love? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
