My collection of board games is light on two-player games. I don’t mean games that allow just two players to play, I mean games built specifically for two players. Lately, I’ve been looking to change that, with special emphasis on games that look like I might be able to convince my fiance to play.
Fog of Love turned out to be exactly what I was looking for.
Fog of Love is a two-player, RPG card game in which each player assumes the role of a person in a romantic relationship. The base game comes with several different scenarios of varying difficulty and complexity. During these scenarios, the two players take turns playing scene cards from their hands and react to those scenes by making choices. Different choices have different outcomes, and sometimes the outcome depends on whether you both agree or disagree.
We played the tutorial scenario, which begins with a Sunday morning first date. All of the cards in the box come presorted so that this is the first scenario you play with helpful tutorial cards inserted into the decks so you can play without ever having read the rules.
A challenge with any RPG is that if the players aren’t invested in the roleplay the game can get a little awkward. The scenes are basically story prompts and the players are free to invent the specifics. Not everyone is comfortable with that, especially if they are new to board games, what’s so beautiful about the game’s design is that it actively helps you roleplay.
A player’s trait cards, destinies, and secrets are all hidden from the other player at the start. All of these cards work together to tell the player what kind of relationship the character wants and what is basically the character’s ideal personality. The choices players make can force them to exchange cards, reveal cards, change their satisfaction score, or their personality attributes.
The personality attributes and satisfaction scores are out in the open, providing a record of choices and allowing the two players to get to know each other’s characters naturally. Right off the bat, the game provides an easy and intuitive way to decide how your character would behave AND it provides a way for your character to change and for you to change how you play them. Your choices could have made you bitter and quick to anger, or more sensitive and caring.
What does all this add up to? An elegant roleplaying game for friends and couples. One where you can work together to become equal partners in a fictitious relationship or selfishly work to only make yourself happy.
I really can’t say enough about how elegant the design of this game is. There’s tons of room for complexity while at the same time it remains very accessible for newcomers to the hobby. If you’ve been thinking about this game or looking for something new to do on date night then just buy it. You’ll be glad you did.
