by Doctor Phil
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Here are my thoughts about this game after some plays on BGA and in person. I won't go into the rules overview, so I hope you are familiar with the rules of this game.
Thematically this is a fun game and is in my experience inclusive to many people who don’t play a lot of board games. But mechanically, I really like what is going on here.
First, the tableau building. I think it’s really neat that you are incentivized to use all of the tiles at least once during the game, so you can flip them over for better actions and more victory points. Then the decisions start to get tight as you build out your tiles, and have so many good options to take, while trying to balance the sometimes negative points on the tiles you haven’t used.
Second, the cardplay. Although the cards don’t have as much diversity in what they can do compared to other card-based games, I like the deck-building aspect of this game. As you go, you play cards to your discard pile, and maybe once or twice a game you pick up your discard pile to use those cards again. I like the restraints that you have on which cards to play when you take your actions with the tiles in your tableau, and your dwindling hand as you push your deck further and further. In addition, I like the ability to draw new cards as you go along, not only to push that passing phase further, but it’s fun to see who you drew and to hopefully draw into something that is beneficial.
Third, the race for the many objectives of this game. There are many objectives that tug you in every direction. You race to have the most tiles of a certain color for the ability to draw a Fairchild. You are trying to buy tiles before others to fulfill your personal objectives (which also has a fun mechanism of discarding objectives as the game goes by, adding to the tension of which ones you can successfully fulfill at the end of the game). These multiple objectives provided good options either way and forces you to make tight decisions each turn.
Fourth, the servants. I like the added complexity of having enough servants to successfully take tile actions and play cards from your hand, which the powerful ones often require servants to play. It makes the game feel different every time, knowing which cards and tiles you’re going after, pushing you to acquire a different set of servants every game.
Finally, I like the flexibility of the free actions you can take. You can decrease your reputation to refill the market, add 100 pounds to your bank, or to refresh your servants. There were times when I was just short of completing an awesome turn, and having these actions handy were well worth the decrease in reputation.
Game comparisons
For game comparisons, this was tough. This game, when meshing theme and mechanisms, felt very unique. However, The first one that comes to mind, from the Uwe Rosenberg family of games, is At the Gates of Loyang. There’s a similar vibe of drawing cards that hopefully fit in your strategy, and using helpers to interact with your tableau and others’ to get what you need. I found that the interaction in Obsession was mostly neutral, where you would take cards and tiles from others before they had a chance to, with very little negative interaction with some of the cards’ effects. It felt the same in Loyang. And once again, there seemed to be a freedom and flexibility of actions to take in both games, where you could puzzle out how to maximize your turn to its fullest.
Mechanically, I found similarities to La Granja, with the back-pocket type of free special actions you could take to make your actions possible. Games that utilize a formula of playing cards from your hand and drawing them back up during a whole turn, like Concordia, also made a small comparison to Obsession. There was a similar feel to even Ark Nova, in the sense that you have an economy based in money, and you had turns that seemed preparatory to big actions later on, like in AN when you save up your money, build out those enclosures, and then take a 5 point animal action, placing two big animals into your zoo. In addition, you are managing the randomness of the cards and tiles you get, just like in AN, and there’s an element to skill in both games, I believe, that those who have played this game many times may have an advantage with new players.
Peer Review:
Some of the praises for this game include some of the things I’ve mentioned before. The ability to create awesome combo-laden turns feels fun. The thematic flavor of the game is somewhat unique in the Euro game world and it draws many different people to the game. Component-wise, this game looks and feels very authentic to the period it is trying to depict, and so not many complaints there.
Some of the criticisms include that this game feels too random at times, with the card draw and the market of tiles to buy from. This game also is prone to long turns, as you puzzle out which actions to take and what to target with your money. There is little to no player interaction, other than what I have mentioned before.
Conclusion:
When I first played this game, I admit that I wasn’t drawn to the theme and the mechanisms. I stumbled through my first couple of games on board game arena, and at the time it didn’t feel like there was anything special to this game, particularly with how the mechanics played. But when I played this game in person, forced to understand my actions each round and to internalize the rules quickly, I found the depth of gameplay and the potential to plan and execute big turns. Despite the randomness of this game, I felt like I was having a good time seeing what was coming next in the market or from the draw pile. I felt I had enough tools to mitigate my turns to accomplish what I wanted to get. I think this is mechanically a sound game, and there is a surprising amount of strategic depth to it. I often praise games that take a few times playing it to come to a better understanding of how good the game is, and I think Obsession is one of those games. I highly recommend it, and may even recommend trying this game in real time on BGA or in person, to really understand what is going on in this game. I do agree that a lower player count will be easier to manage, though, 2-3 players at most. But I really do enjoy this game now; I may not be obsessed with Obsession, but I look forward to playing it more.