Fog of Love - Shut Up & Sit Down Review

Matt what do you say we start this one off with a bang crazy this is a family show not not only is font of love a relationship simulator and perhaps the most unique board game we've ever reviewed it's a tour de force so much of the thrill of games is their capacity to surprise us and from the moment you open this box fog of love is entirely unexpected what is it isn't it one of those dreadful sexy couples games no the cover says it's a romantic comedy as a board game but as you're fine that's not quite right either and you can see that it's a two-player game but is it head-to-head or cooperative well like all romantic relationships it's a bit of both and while it's not our place to tell you how to live your lives it plays well with - but it might be best with three but we're getting ahead of ourselves immersion or surprise when we opened up this box we thought might just be terrible and found that it has the best tutorial in any board game we've ever seen it has cards that you as you play will teach you the game page at a time nestled within the deck of cards you draw which means you genuinely just start playing without anyone looking at a manual and we didn't need to check the manual at all yeah which is crazy then imagine our surprise when this game wasn't just good it was great it was so clever and so funny that it actually pulled us out of a micro funk where we were like his board give me that good and foggy blob said yes board gaming is incredible which was a surprise I was surprised a game with fog of love begins with each player creating a character a person they're gonna be for the next couple of hours and this includes your job I'm an internet celebrity but also I have a dark in our world because each player is dealt five secret traits and has to pick three of them I'm an internet celebrity who's jealous insecure and disorganized imagine that world this might be a good time mention though that you should ignore the heteronormative colouring of font of love yes it uses pink and blue but each character can pick a silhouette that they prefer and also the game never assumes gender at any point next comes a bit that's really fun you choose traits physical traits but not for your character or the other character you've got strange makeup and you've got a squeaky voice and it's always framed as being the first thing that you noticed about them I just let's just squeaky voice I thought it's really nice it's actually immediately endearing heartwarming and puts you into a space where you feel like you're collaborating on the whole experience which is lovely format I first noticed your strong arms and your nerdy glasses your bedroom eye and bedroom eyes oh is it getting hot in here is it just me but the core of who you are remains completely hidden and it might not be nice as you make decisions throughout the game you're going to put markers on how you live your life for example I was disciplined there or I was insincere or I was sensitive and then when the game ends you're going to be made much happier if you fulfilled who you are I was ambitious and yes I lived my life in an ambitious way but these last few years haven't been that intense and so my character is made sadder and of course because this set up is pretty random you have no idea when the game begins if your characters are a great match or if they clash horribly and that's part of the game and to succeed in your trait goal you have to have it mostly swinging in the direction that you want but it's okay if it's not a hundred percent they're like yeah of course it's important to me that we go wild but I understand that from time to time you might want to be a bit more traditional and gosh this is reason number one why this game is quite special it's impossible to talk about how it plays and what it's like without sounding like you're actually just talking about real relationships and it's because this is a beautiful machine that simulates what relationships are like when you play you're just constantly bombarded with universal truths about relationships and life but you know it's not true there's both warm and cold like walk through the tundra of humanity and you share stories and it sparks conversations or sometimes it just sparks grins and grimaces retrospectively looking back on old relationships old mistakes and then the game begins and you're off on a voyage of love with all the potential for laughter and joy but maybe you'll just feel sick and want to go home at the start of your relationship players draw scenes from the sweet deck and over the course of the game you'll start drawing from serious and finally drama and so the game encourages you to hug the curves of a traditional narrative with first act exposition the rising action of the second act and the tension the breaking tension of the third how do you both respond to the baby hello your turn could not be simpler every player always has a hand of five possible scenes you can optionally start your turn by discarding a scene that doesn't make sense and then playing another so the start of the relationship that could be as sweet as it Oh a triple rainbow you'll never believe it honey we want a trip to Italy but eventually as you progress through the chapters of your last story you will descend into the poison quagmire of our long-term relationships as you have the worlds of dumbest fight or good a visit from your aunt once one of the players has played a card you will then both look at the options for your decision and choose one of these beautiful weighted chips you'll put them secretly on board here's where the game kind of comes in do you want to try and make a choice which will affect the specs that you want in order to make your character happy or do you want to try and second-guess the other person and maybe do something you think it's gonna be good for them or do you want to try and match so that when you flip over your choices often if you match it means you're gonna both become happier and happiness is an important part of relationships and simply by playing the game your characters automatically start to take shape you're both in the middle of nowhere it's nice out here should you have sex outdoors oh is that ridiculous is it getting hot in here or is it just me but very quickly these decisions you're making can become as heavy as the chips yourselves what do you do when your partner doesn't support you in front of your parents are you gonna play the silent treatment card and just say nothing for days it's what they deserve frankly how is your marriage going Quinn's sorry for good love is an incredibly grown-up game in a way that game is just on and that's not because it's got adult themes it's because how much you're gonna get out of this game depends on how much to life you've got and you about what are the cards is a trip to Ikea in which you and your new partner go to Ikea for the first time and either that means something to you or it doesn't but if it does you just sit there nodding and grinning at each other sharing these moments yeah life is messy relationships are hard and in a way that games um fog of love is just so bloody human you know it's not totally unlike shut up and sit down favourite galaxy trucker where buy so much of the thrill is watching other people's ships crumble like the sweetest of desserts I am so much fun and for the BLA watching these pretend people struggle for meaning and stability although there are some cards that are just so mean that you can't play them just because you wince at the thought of even characters you don't like having to go through those things I slept with your best friend I've got a kid well kids well I think I think they're mine have you ever thought about selling your guitar selling my guitar well yeah because see this relationship is over oh listen you don't understand you just really burned that guitar now I know what you're thinking I'm the best romantic relationships I'm gonna kick their ass how do I win well this is where all of love gets really chilly and really cool people are there maybe rolling their eyes at two milquetoast Englishmen saying this game made them feel things but this destiny mechanic is inarguably innovative and completely awesome so both players have a hand of destiny cars ways that you could be happy for example if you've achieved unconditional love or if you are equal partners or maybe you just it's self realization you just become the person you always wanted to be however you don't know which of these cards your opponent is holding because when the game begins and as it continues you have to discard possible destinies things you think are never gonna happen but you do this in secret you have no idea what your opponent is working towards so they could be holding onto unconditional love pinning all their hopes for the future on you like a sticky rosette whereas you you think this relationship is doomed and you're working towards an honorable exit but to do this to break up with them the relationship has to not be working so you might start playing scenes and making choices to force the relationship to not work and this can get really real really quickly listen I've been thinking and I need you to convert to my religion and it's a deal-breaker so if you're not well do it yeah I'll do it really yeah sure I'd love religions there's something else I'm a Jedi and I would never expect you to make out yes I mean people ridicule us and they'd ridicule you so really you it's a love the some of those films some of them are all of beer Jedi is fine I'm keeping us together great the destiny cards you hold secretly show your outlook for the whole relationship and so occasionally you'll have events that will say hey you matched you both had a really romantic moment it was real now both of you if you have it get rid of the heartbreak the destiny card from your hand cuz that's not gonna happen now and one of you go yeah okay I'll get rid of that and you're like brilliant we're really in love now but why did you have that hi brick where do you have that card in your hand because like you were thinking about breaking up with me that was something you were considering you do that to me I mean Damon you do that to Damon the thing about this game that is key is cooperation it's a cooperative game most cooperative games are not cooperative they're coercive you have to work together it's only true cooperation if you have an option and here you make the commitment to work together and that means something and the key thing here is the fact that you have that distance if one player is really trying to cooperate and the other person is just working for themselves and the end of the game you're not annoyed with them it's just that just a bit disappointed you believed that the relationship could work and they just didn't and maybe they were right as reviewers we cannot overstate how important it is having this space between cooperation and conflict that makes fog of love not just more romantic but truly more exciting than any co-op game we've ever played whereby you know yes Sharon things have been all for since we have that terrible weekend at your mother's and then I asked if you wanted to watch an erotic movie but do you remember our first date and how how we felt for each other you know what Sharon move in with me and then you both blindly put those chips down and you both do it you both take the punch you both move in together and yes you might be making a terrible mistake but there's no denying that that moment has true magic finding a middle ground is hard you've got to put yourself first sometimes and look after your needs but you've also got to try and anticipate and work towards the needs of someone else and it's impossible to talk about this game without sounding like you're actually talking about a relationship this might be the Holy Grail in terms of matching mechanics to theme and because of that it's a game that is not just for two players it's a game that works wonderfully with spectators people who just sit on the sidelines join in with the story and a key one because this is the crucial thing here we've been sitting here waxing lyrical about love and relationships and feeling things but though let us mislead you this is not a toothless fuzzy friendly game it's a cardboard machine that invents fictional people for you to meanly gossip about it's like those real friends you've got you've got that friend and you say that friend hooked up with that person again again really and you kind of would never say it's none but you're like that's never gonna work they're never gonna work or maybe it will work maybe they're gonna get together what are they doing they should break up except none of you were invested and you can say what you like because these people don't exist but there's that wonderful moment sometimes where you have someone watching and they go this is ridiculous and both of you are like no it's not it's not ridiculous we're gonna make it work are you probably not or you have friends literally saying to your face in front of you saying you should really break up with them like you should just end this and you're like excuse me I'm right it really is so much like real relationships when you put yourself out there and hope that they will too it's messy as well yes he like real relationships stupid like real relishes funny sexy like not sexy again hot I'm here absolutely categorically not you sure no it's not it's not getting hot in here at all it's not getting hot it's wonderful we categorically recommend this game we had a ton of fun playing it we got out again and again and it's good the only thing is we haven't even a time to talk about all the wonderful ideas from designer Jacob just got like secrets Oh as you talk though under the balls are the boards and there's things that you can do to reveal see and what's that secret your partner's got maybe it's a good thing maybe is that bad they definitely about this game categorically obviously definitely gets the shot up is it down recommend this a badge yes superb we're also very happy with how how it's priced you know the the components and the art are obviously absolutely gorgeous to get the tutorial price isn't that high the one thing we will say is that it does have a shelf life you get for love stories in the box to do this beautiful booster packs that you rip open and you cast the game it's all very exciting but after those four love stories it's been motioning returns because you will have seen all the cards once you've seen all the cards yeah but it's a lovely thing to just get out and show people I it's perfect because watching it's so much fun you go I hate you too you're gonna have a relationship now and they'll be like okay and you'll watch it it'll be wonderful I cannot think of many games I want to get out and just watch people play exactly also they're doing expansion packs this year several expansion packs if you keep it they're gonna love paranormal love is one and another is all to do with in-laws gonna be disastrous I feel real but finally there are rules in the box for resetting the game with all the tutorial cards in it so if you want to sell it on it you definitely can they say that true love is like finding a ballroom in your house well I don't know about that but fog of love is certainly like finding a ballroom in a box yeah what happens in ballrooms awkward silences kissing someone throws a chair at someone's head cuddling behind the curtains that sounds fine I guess yeah we don't have curtains in my house so me and my wife we cuddle behind the blinds yes that's real noisy sounds weird [Music] if you've enjoyed this review guess what we've got loads of room to shut up and sit down is on a mission to provide the best reviews off the best board games there's some videos right there you click a button you can subscribe which really helps us out we're trying to hit 100,000 subscribers Matt are you alone back there no I'm romantically cuddling with my wife right that's two are never gonna work oh you're so beautiful I love it when we cuddle I'm just gonna go home yeah you have really nice eyes tonight

Channel: Shut Up & Sit Down

Views: 272,817

Rating: 4.9432702 out of 5

Keywords: Shut Up and Sit Down, SUSD, SU&SD, Shut Up Show, Board Game Review, Review, Shut Up, Sit Down, Board Games, Board Gaming, Family Games, Boardgame, Board Game, Gaming, Tabletop, Fun Games, Quintin Smith, Paul Dean, Matt Lees, Fog of Love

Id: 8a9oNOjI8V4

Length: 17min 11sec (1031 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 16 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/jpnovello]

I first heard about Fog of Love on one of SUSD's podcasts, and instantly knew it was for me. The hard part was getting people to play it.

So far, I've managed to do it twice, and had a great time in both of them, albeit having very different games: once with my brother, in which the relationship crashed and burned when both of us went for the "Dominating" destiny; and once with a friend of mine, in which we were so in sync we actually managed to pull of the winning condition for the "Equal Partners" destiny on the very last turn, in a scene that had both of us picking the perfect choice combination.

I absolutely love it, but it's not a game you can push on people. Both people have to really get into it so it work as it should, but when that happens, it's one of the best board game experiences they'll ever have.

[u/friendshabitsfamily]

This is exactly the type of game SUSD fall in love with — one that depends heavily on the personalities and interactions of the people you’re playing with.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. They’ve addressed this in their podcast before, something along the lines of: “people say we value ‘having fun with our friends’ too much in our reviews. Isn’t that the whole point of board gaming?” And I generally agree with that sentiment.

But their enthusiasm for games like this may lead folks who don’t actually have an appropriate partner/playgroup to purchase a game they’ll never be able to get to table. It’s almost an aspirational purchase — you’ll clutch the game to your chest and whisper, “someday I’ll have the perfect person/group to play this game with.”

It happened to me with Captain Sonar — I watched the review, saw a good deal and jumped on it — despite the fact I haven’t played with a familiar group of more than 6-7 people in...years, maybe? It was a dumb buy, and it was my fault, and it’s sat on my shelf for the past year.

My main playtime comes with my spouse, or a regular meetup at my FLGS. I like everyone I play with in that latter group, but I wouldn’t be comfortable cracking open a game like Captain Sonar or Fog of Love, because those games require a degree of familiarity and getting outside one’s comfort zone — and I’m probably among the more outgoing people who attend the meetup.

I’ve also come to the realization in recent months that I actually prefer games that play a little more solo anyway.

All this being said, I love SUSD, and the perspective they bring. I’ve just had to teach myself to slow my roll when it comes to certain games they review. Their enthusiasm can be especially infectious.

[u/EccentricOwl]

Great video from the SU&SD guys. Loved this!

[u/ZeeKrinkle]

Shut Up and Sit down have really liked this game from the first time they played it and that doesn’t seem to have changed.

Personally, I want to buy this game but there are a few things holding me back. I’m not sure how it would go over with two people in actual relationships; would there be some bleed over one way or another ? This just seems to fall right into Shut Up and Sit Downs sweet spot for boardgames and reviews that are a little less excited, like “No pun included” , temper my expectations and make me think that it may not be for me. Also being a Walmart exclusive is a small but non-trivial reason why I haven’t bought this: there just aren’t any nearby.

[u/emerald_bat]

I would be interested to know what they consider "winning." My friend and I weren't sure if one player accomplished their destiny meant they won, or you both had to. Obviously, some people might not care, but there is enough of a game to it that it's an issue.

[u/j3ddy_l33]

Am I wrong, I thought they already reviewed Fog of Love?

[u/LinFTW]

This video was stressing me out with how small the table was and how close to the edge their coffee/tea was.

[u/Bobb_o]

I just think of how sad I felt reading the story of the creation of the game

[u/Kemuel]

"It's a cardboard machine that invents fictional people for you to meanly gossip about."

That might be a sale.