I’ve been rummaging through old Marital Bliss game reviews over the last couple weeks, and I thought it would be fun to re-share them with a few of my thoughts about what it’s like on the receiving end, as a game creator.
This week’s review is from Bower’s Game Corner, in 2015.
The best thing about Bower (is that his real name?) is that he’s still out there making videos, and has evolved his channel to include avant-garde works of art, like hilarious dad-jokes during the birth of his children, and small-town Chinese buffet food reviews.
The fact that he has fewer than 10,000 subscribers is criminal, in my humble opinion, so go subscribe.
I like Bower’s review of Marital Bliss because it was the first time that I’ve ever felt the value and insights that can be garnered from a really good third-party review. In addition to an overall positive review, he provided some great critical insights around our strategy cards and the cooperative version that Nicole and I found helpful.
Around the 8:52 mark Bower describes his favorite part of Martial Bliss. It’s worth checking out, just click the link.
He discusses how during the game he ended up doing extra nice things for his spouse… to throw her off the trail… so she would lose. He really enjoyed that incongruity.
Being on the receiving end when someone discusses mechanics like this, I imagine it feels a bit like (or a lot like) when an art reviewer infers a meaning or purpose to a painting or something, regardless of whether or not that’s actually what the artist originally meant to convey.
The reality is, we never intentionally set out to achieve that dynamic. It wasn’t something that was planned. It just developed organically through iteration and play testing. I think it’s an important distinction to make in development. Sometimes the secret sauce just shows up as a result of other work…the trick is to recognize it when you see it.
Thanks for the review, Bower! I highly recommend checking out and subscribing to Bower’s Game Corner here.
If you’d like to help us tell others about Martial Bliss, and review the game on your blog or website, drop us an email on our contact us page, and we’d be happy to ship a review copy your way ASAP!
Or, if you already own the game and want an easier way to let others know what you think about it, please consider leaving us a review on Amazon here.
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