We are obsessed

In Obsession you play as a respected family in Victorian-era England. After several lean decades things are taking a turn for the better, and it is now your job as head of the family to improve the estate and raise your reputation by hosting different prestigious activities and expanding your connections with influential people, all while managing your service staff efficiently.

After watching the Netflix series Bridgerton, we were really in the mood to play some Obsession. 😅 This is a euro game dripping with theme that really comes through, while also having interesting and fun gameplay mechanics.

During the game's turns you will be hosting activities. Each activity will need certain staff meeples to activate and will list what kind of guests you can invite. Guest cards might also need staff meeple to see to their needs. These activities and guests will give you money, reputation and new guest cards during the game.

Each turn you can also buy a new tile for your estate - these provide you new potential activities. Hosting an activity once will cause the tile to be flipped, usually earning your more points at the end of the game - this also encourages doing different activities every time. What kind of tiles you go for will be influenced by your objective cards, the shared milestone cards and the courtship themes each season.

There is an interesting resource-management element with your service staff. After using them they will be exhausted and you will need to wait until they are ready to be used again. You have to make smart plans who to invite and what event to host and think of future turns. 🤔

The game is not too difficult, but there are a lot of rules to keep in mind. Most of the things make sense with the theme, but can still be hard to remember. Also if you have promo cards and tiles you might need to look some things up as there are some one-off abilities. 🕵️‍♀️

To summarize Obsession is a splendid game. Quite splendid indeed. ☕️