Dawne and I don’t generally go for “adult games”, but Bliss - The Game For Lovers stands out as an exception to this category of games. This computer game is simple in execution, yet profound in play. It consists of a Monopoly style board of 20 squares, ten of which are prefilled with properties such as Broadway, Lover’s Lane and Lucky Encounter. The remaining ten spaces are available for players to purchase and build upon, just like in Monopoly. The available build-able properties include a doctor’s office, a dance hall, a toy store, and more.

The game begins innocently enough, just requesting a little basic information from you. You tell the game what clothes you are wearing, and which toys that you want to use (including food). Next you choose which action pack modules you want to use. The basic game ships with two modules. One is a relationship building module based on the Staying Engaged Cards, and focuses on relationship building questions and activities. The other module is called Basic Actions, and as the name suggests, is more action oriented. The Basic Actions range from kissing and hugging, all the way up to sex play, including some penetration. Though the default game doesn’t have much in the way of flat out intercourse, we don’t consider this to be a huge liability, as by the time that we get to that stage, we aren’t terribly interested in clicking things on a computer screen anyway. Additional modules are available for separate purchase, should you find that you want a little more than the stock actions.

In the set up portion of Bliss, you also set your starting passion level. Levels start at Ice (1) and run up the scale to Nuclear (9), with each level becoming closer and more intimate. The lower levels concentrate on relationship building and talking, progressing in intimacy to introduce hand holding, hugging and kissing. Physical touching begins to heat up a bit around Warm (4), and gets progressively more erotic as you continue up the scale to Nuclear (9).

Much of the game is sexually geared, even at the lower levels, with questions such as “Tell your partner the most erotic place you would like to make love…”, but there is a healthy romance and relationship building component throughout. Different actions are assigned to one or more properties and passion levels, and are selected on a random basis once the appropriate property is landed on, while at the requisite passion level. This introduces a wonderful sense of adventure to your love play, preventing routine and boredom in the bedroom.

Playing Bliss

In play, you roll the virtual dice, and your marker moves the requisite number of squares to its new position on the board. Different options and instructions will show up in the right hand pane of the board, according to the specifics of the property, who owns it, who landed there, and the current passion level. When you land on a property owned by your partner, you are given two choices: “work” or “pay”. Choosing work will make you an employee of the property’s business, and you will have to perform some action for your partner. “Pay” makes you a customer, and the recipient of the service instead. This ability to choose between customer and employee really helps to prevent the game play from becoming unbalanced. If, for example, your partner is having a lucky streak and you are feeling left out, you can choose “pay”, and get some action of your own. Many actions are very much a cooperative effort, further ensuring fun and satisfaction for both partners.

The game AI keeps track of what clothing you are currently wearing, which toys (if any) that you have selected and your personal preferences, and tailors the game play to reflect these conditions. Many of the actions are also tailored to be gender specific, so you won’t be asked to touch a body part that your partner doesn’t have. Neither does the game ever require you to have a contortionist’s flexibility, or the stamina of an Olympic class marathon runner. This game was written by real people, for real people, not wannabe porn stars.

The Action Editor

Available separately, the Action Editor is, in our opinion, an absolute must have if you intend to play the game often (recommended). While the Basic Actions are diverse and varied enough that you can play the game repeatedly without losing any zing, the Action Editor is where the game really comes into its own. With it you can edit existing actions to suit your own love style, or create a completely custom action file that is uniquely tailored to you and your partner’s tastes.

Dawne and I are (at the time of this writing) slowly creating a Tantric Sex action file for our own use, and loving every minute of it. I say slowly because most nights that we work on the file, we generally only get 2 or 3 actions written before getting, uh, “distracted” by other things. Which also explains the “loving every minute of it” statement.

Conclusions

Overall Bliss is a well thought out and balanced game, created especially for loving couples. The inclusion of relationship building materials works to enhance the total game experience beyond the more tightly focused alternatives available, and serves to create a better overall experience for both partners. It sets a solid foundation of sex as an expression of love, rather than simple physical need.

The actions are well thought out, with enough variety to please just about anybody, as long as you aren’t into anything too kinky. The game uses music extensively throughout play, and works wonderfully to enhance that lovin’ mood. The music comes both in the form of background music, as well as specific tunes for certain actions and properties such as the dance hall and the cabaret.

The many strengths of the game notwithstanding, there are a couple of improvements that we would like to see in Bliss. The first is an expanded properties list, and the ability to make our own properties and settings. The other thing that we would like to see is a larger board, perhaps up to 40 squares total. The last thing on our list of improvements would be the graphics, bearing in mind that assuming your play session is going well, you won’t be spending that much time actually looking at the screen.

These minor improvements are just that, minor, and do not significantly affect game play to any great degree, mainly because of the well thought out and balanced game play. Bliss - The Game For Lovers has earned a permanent place on our hard drive, and in our bedroom.