Obsession Second Opinion

"We are not amused...?"

The sign of a great game is that it can be enjoyed by anybody despite its theme, and a board game about families in Victorian high society certainly raised a few eyebrows as it was set up on the table. This is not a theme that would usually appeal to my particular gaming group however, the mechanics of Obsession are so solid, it didn't seem to matter at all.

The families in question are all a bit down on their luck in the social circles of Derbyshire society, and attempting to raise your standing above your peers is the aim of the game. The 'hidden victory' mechanic works brilliantly well here as many things all contribute towards your final score and so you never know who's winning until you tally it up. How well you have rebuilt your estate (by buying building improvements), the quality of your "guests" (cards used to represent gentry that you socialise with), your family's current reputation and hidden objective cards all combine at the end of the game to decide which family has achieved it's goals of a potential marriage into the "fairchild" family, the pinnacle of Victorian gentry.

"You don't choose your family.."

The 4 families available to select are very well balanced with each receiving a slight boon at the start of the game whether that is an extra servant or a slight financial advantage, no-one seemed over or under powered. Players then start using the rooms of their estate and utilising their servants to organise social events and by inviting guests, in order to gradually improve their family's fortunes.

The round tracker is wonderfully varied and throws up a lot of strategic decisions on your journey. Do you contribute to the regular village fair and sacrifice some victory points but guarantee your family a reputation increase and financial reward? Or do you use your turn to acquire a more affluent guest and buy up a decent room that has just become available on the market that might help your family more later in the game? Most of the time these choices were not obvious and led to some serious deliberating, on the correct strategic choice.

"I want to live the Victorian life, surrounded by exquisite clutter.."

The components to Obsession are gorgeous, each family's components are organised into their own small box which looks like an expensive box of chocolates! The cards representing your guests have a lovely flavour to them with an "old timey" portrait of a Lord or Lady, an Earl or a Marquess and a very short backstory to explain why the guest is improving your reputation or costing you money if you invite them to your events.

The guest cards come in two tiers: "casual guests" and "prestige guests" and generally work

the same, except the costs to play them increase along with the rewards for doing so. There is a large variety of guests available to draw and guests can be dismissed in a couple of ways (usually by getting the family's mother to do the dirty work for you!) if you feel like your family's reputation is more important than the money an "American heiress" will bring you.

The rest of the components are made of thick, quality card and the art work and designs do a great job of creating the impression of luxury you might expect of an upper class Victorian family. The tiles used to represent the rooms of your estate are all colour coded, easy to understand and look great towards the end of the game as your estate is almost built back up to the level your family expects.

The final components are colour coded meeples to represent your family's servants which makes them easy to pick out and understand at a glance.