Base price: $15.
2 players.
Play time: 1 – 2 hours.
BGG Link
Buy exclusively at Walmart, I guess?
Logged plays: 2
Full disclosure: A review copy of Fog of Love: It Will Never Last was provided by Hush Hush Projects.
Alright, one more expansion, and this one’s a doozie. We’ve already disappointed your parents, tested the very limits of love, and now we’re just going to, well, have a really embarrassing time. Keep reading for more!
In Fog of Love: It Will Never Last, you’ve unfortunately decided to let your friend set you up on a date, something they never offer to do. Upon getting to the date, you realize why; it’s a prank and they set you up with someone who’s completely incompatible with you. That’s rough (and kind of cruel, honestly; get a new friend), but you’re here now and you need to make the best of it. That said, things are going to get complicated, quickly, but you suspected that as soon as you opened Fog of Love. Will you be able to make this blighted relationship work?
Contents
Setup
Setup is identical to the base game of Fog of Love, almost entirely. You have new Chapters:
You’ve also got new Destinies! I’ll let you read them for yourself, and maybe talk a bit more about them later. You’ll also use some of the old Destiny cards; check the Synopsis. Note that you put all your Destinies in your personal discard. Unlike other modes, when you meet you have no destiny whatsoever. That’s … concerning. There are also a few new scenes: they all have a 1 in the corner, so make sure they’re shuffled in. You can use them outside of this expansion, but you need them for this expansion. On the plus side, you get some fun new Features!
Beyond that you’ll set up as normal, just with a new Love Story. Knock yourself out:
Gameplay
This plays entirely the same as the base game of Fog of Love; you just are playing through a different Love Story that’s a bit more complicated. I’ll advise a bit more on the strategy side.
Generally, though, this expansion is hard. It’s not a meet-cute or a romance that’s already blossomed; you’re basically planting in a desert. It’s a cruel cosmic joke, and the game will treat it as such. This is a difficult expansion because the game doesn’t offer you much, unlike Trouble with the In-Laws, which is difficult because it’s just more complicated.
Good luck!
Player Count Differences
Still two-player only.
Strategy
- I’d avoid shared Trait Goals, this game. You’re not going to have much luck with those, generally speaking, and it’s easier to recover from catastrophe (unless your co-player is really in sync with you or they have the same shared trait goals, both of which are unlikely). This is a bit of a hard line to take, so, also, your mileage may vary with this suggestion.
- You need to focus on satisfaction. You’re not really going to get much of it over the course of the game unless you’re trying to get it, and you’re gonna need at least 20 for basically any Destiny that isn’t Heartbreaker (and in this house we don’t break hearts). Try to avoid missing the Chapter-level Satisfaction bonuses; you’ll be hurting if you do. It may also be worth trying to hoard Sweet Events when you can or trying to play them to boost satisfaction, since the Drama Events are not always useful in that regard (and Serious Events can go either way, but that also makes it hard to rely on them for anything).
- Remember that you can occasionally force yourself or your partner to change traits. Weirdly enough, there are certain Destiny cards that value this journey of self-discovery. This might mean that to help your partner you’re going to need to change yourself (just like the plot of Grease!) or you’re going to have to encourage them to change. I mean, while some relationships help you grow into a different person, this is kind of aggressive. Note that you may also want to not do this if you think your partner has their Trait Goals complete and doesn’t want to have to change them suddenly. Try to read the room; this game is much more of an art than a science.
- Sometimes you just gotta go for broke. I mean, Self-Realization basically requires you to aggressively ignore your partner on basically every card play that would allow you to gain traits, which is unfortunate. It means you’ll likely miss your trait goals (unless you can get lucky). This is why you need to also focus on gaining satisfaction; your disparate trait and Destiny goals might force you to not sync up on various cards, which will drive your Satisfaction even further down. Just don’t play Heartbreaker. Hell, I think one of the Destiny cards requires you to fulfill your partner’s Trait Goals as though they were your own, so, uh, good luck with that one, friend.
Pros, Mehs, and Cons
Pros
- Refreshingly difficult without introducing new mechanics. I think Trouble with the In-Laws is hard (if not harder), but there’s a bit of overhead where you also have to deal with, like, people having to learn the balance of the parents’ Trait Goals and their influence. This is pure Fog of Love at its finest (and frankly, its most challenging); it’s perfect for fans of the base game who don’t want to learn something new but want a new challenge.
- The new Features are fun. Homemade Clothes and Regional Dialect are always fun things to throw towards your co-player in your first game. Just shuffle them into the deck and leave them there for your subsequent games; all the new Features are good and I’m looking forward to what they come up with in future expansions for the game.
- The new Events are also very fun. It’s nice to introduce more ways to change Traits (or even Features), as it adds a new level of flexibility to the game, especially if you’re going after specific goals. I think it’s a marked improvement to the base game, which is nice.
- I mean, the only thing left are the new Destiny Cards, and those are also a lot of fun. They challenge you to approach the game (and your relationship) very differently, and they’re interesting to try and use in other games (and Custom Love Stories if you end up making any) to see how they affect your play style. By the way, if you have made any Custom Love Stories, lemme know; always looking for more Good Content.
Mehs
- It makes me sad that you’re not supposed to introduce your character or tell what you noticed about them until later in Chapter 1. It makes assigning Features mostly silent, which is kind of a bummer. Plus you don’t get that initial interaction beyond telling each other why you think you’re incompatible, which can be a challenge for players.
Cons
- If you’re expecting new mechanics or much beyond new cards in this expansion, this is not the one for that. Check out Paranormal Romance for a lot of new mechanics or Trouble with the In-Laws, instead. This is purely a like, fifth base game scenario that’s much more challenging. This may be frustrating for some, but, I don’t know, I think it’s a lot of fun? Definitely not the one I’d teach to a first-time player, though.
Overall: 8 / 10
Overall, It Will Never Last is a solid addition to the Fog of Love canon! I’ve had a lot of fun with it and I’m looking forward to digging into it a bit more (and seeing if I can actually fulfill my destiny in that game; I’ve been having some rough luck). Out of the expansions, it’s kind of ironic that I reviewed it last, since it’s really the one that adds the least complications to the Fog of Love gameplay system — it really is just an additional Love Story that happens to have a longer, more arduous trek toward a successful relationship. That journey, though fraught with peril, is pretty satisfying, though — even though we didn’t fulfill our destinies in my previous game, we came very close to it (I was off by 4 satisfaction), and that was a lot of fun. I have a good friend who says that the best way to see if you like a game is to lose it and see if you had fun losing, and I certainly did, in this case. Obviously, I’d recommend all the Fog of Love expansions, but if you’re looking for a good first one to get fans of the game or if you want to get an expansion that’s not going to complicate the system too much while you’re still learning, Fog of Love: It Will Never Last is a very solid option!
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