No Time to Relax is a new party board game that is all about the stress and decisions in the game of life. Will I have the reflexes to make my way through it? Find out in my No Time to Relax Switch review.

To note, a review code was supplied by the game’s developers

You play as one of six avatars and with the goal to earn, achieve and live your best life against bots or real friends online. There isn’t a story here and this isn’t your typical board game either. Once you begin, you’ll have set a amount of time, usually a number of weeks, to earn as much money and happiness as possible. To do this you can do a variety of different activities such as enrol at university to earn a better qualification and get a better job. This will allow you to earn more cash to buy nicer things for your flat, eat well and dress to impress, which will hopefully hit one of your four meters shown around your avatar. These are: happiness, education, cash and health.

However, there’s no time to relax (get it?) as your rent needs paying, your pet needs feeding and at end of each week, you are given a bunch of comical playing cards, which can make or break you. These cards will ensure some laughter with whoever you play with and could end some friendships as you battle to be the happiest, wealthiest and healthiest by the end of the week.

In the City

The city is your main playground. There is a total of twelve locations to visit on the board. Each of which has a number of different options available once you’ve entered them. For example, the Market allows you buy food however, if you don’t own a fridge your food will immediately go bad. This is where planning ahead becomes key in the game. Just like life, you need to earn enough money to survive everyday, but plan ahead to make the rest of your week more manageable.

Tips

Being good at the game comes down to skill. Time-management and quick decision making will make you a formidable opponent to deal with. So if you’re good at these skills you’ll have the upper hand against your friends. Hesitate however, and you will lose opportunities and face unforeseen consequences at end of the week.

The Job Centre has eight different tabs with a total of 44 jobs to try your hand at, but some jobs require a certain type of education. Therefore, the best course of action, in my opinion, is to start your university diploma at beginning of the game. This will allow you to graduate and be able to do better jobs, earn more money and therefore buy better stuff.

Work, Rest, Play

Money isn’t the only thing you need to worry about. Your well-being is equally as important. To look after yourself you can take time out from the hustle and bustle by par-taking in a little bit of culture or taking time to relax. If you need to blow some steam you can even go and work out at the gym. Doing all this will make you happier and more content.

The Cards

After each week your dealt a hand of cards which have both negative and positive result. These cards can throw a spanner into the works that can hinder your character or help them win the game.

Each card has some hilarious movie references hidden in them, which did make me smile. These cards are randomly drawn after each week and can help you by winning the lottery or screw you, like the time my kitchen became possessed by Viggo the Carpathian from Ghostbusters!

Online and Local Multiplayer

The game supports local and online play, each of which is equally fun. However, I cant stress enough that local play is where it’s at! My friends and I played a couple of rounds and had a bloody good laugh with it. Nevertheless, having online functionality supported is always a nice addition plus, you can play solo with bots so there’s something for everyone.

Not for Kids

The cartoony presentation and board game mechanics makes this game look like it is for kids. That’s why I tried playing it with my younger cousins but they weren’t’ into it. I’d definitely say this is something for maturer gamers because the game is about living life as an adult and possibly explains why my cousins weren’t that into the game.

Too Hard?

The only issue I had with the game is that there’s only one board to play on. It would have been nice to have a different city or location to choose from to change up games. Mechanically, I found selecting locations in the game tricky, often overshooting my mark. Normally this would be fine but when you’re playing an intense game against friends, loosing a couple of seconds like this can be annoying! Finally, I found I always got my butt kicked by the AI! It’s too damn good. It might be a problem for people who are playing the game a lot as it quickly gets frustrating.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics look really bright and colourful on the board and each location has its own little animation when entering different venues, which gives the game a unique personality. It makes for a unique board game with all of its varied locations and actions that you can par-take in. Music took a back seat for me though, as we were chatting, laughing and shouting when playing. Even so, I think this is a sign we were loving the game!

No Time to Relax Switch Review

No Time to Relax is a stressful, laugh-out-loud party board game enjoyed best with friends on the sofa. You need good time-management skills and it will make you realise that maybe you’re not as organised or level-headed as you thought you were. The game can be difficult playing alone but comes into its own in local multiplayer and online.

Therefore, I give No Time to Relax by Porcelain Fortress my rating of

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