A breakup is always an intense and emotional experience. Alas, few TTRPG games mechanically explore this massive well of emotion, leaving any relationship stuff (be they couplings or breakups) to the players at the table. Thankfully, Breakup Over Chocolate! Bucks this trend, allowing players to explore the final moments of a relationship.
Breakup Over Chocolate is a two-player TTRPG that is available in both English and Italian. The game casts the players as two people whose relationship is on the verge of ending, leading them to sit down for one final desperate heart-to-heart that will either fix the relationship or end it for good.
The Final Words Before A Breakup
The game has a simple but evocative structure. When the game starts, the players sit down facing one another and place a chocolate in the middle of the table.
The game is then broken into turns. On their turn, the player rolls two six-sided dice and consults the prompt table. This prompt will tell the player what they need to do during their turn. Most of these prompts will alter one of two values, both of which are shared between the players. The first value is Broken Hearts, which represents the emotional wounds that are causing the relationship to collapse. The other stat, Mended Hearts, is the opposite: tracking the couple as they heal the divisions that are pushing them apart.
These stats influence how the game ends. If the players ever acquire six Broken Hearts, the relationship breakdown becomes unfixable, leading to the characters breaking up. Inversely, if the players gather six Mended Hearts, the characters have a revelation and can salvage their relationship and attempt to repair it.
However, there is another way the game can end. Some of the prompts will tell the player to eat the Chocolate sitting in the center of the table. If this happens and the players have more Broken Hearts than Mended Hearts, the relationship ends. If the players have more Mended Hearts than Broken Hearts, the relationship continues. However, in both cases, the player who eats the Chocolate decides the exact nature of what happens.
Breakup Over Chocolate does a fantastic job of capturing the chaotic nature of a breakup and turning it into an easy-to-follow, but emotionally resonant TTRPG.
Naturally, the best thing about Breakup Over Chocolate is its prompts. They’re all beautifully written, giving players enough guidance to keep the game moving without ever railroading them towards specific answers. This is especially important for a TTRPG about a breakup, as separations are always deeply personal and can be triggered by any number of factors, from massive events to the slow build-up of a hundred tiny things.
This is further enhanced by the Broken Hearts and Mended Hearts mechanic. Having two separate values that rise and fall independently of each other beautifully captures the inherently chaotic nature of human relationships, making it clear that relationships are not binary and that even the best relationships have their issues and sore spots that need to be actively worked on if the relationship is to continue into the future.
Plus, it adds fantastic tension to the game, as players are always acutely aware of how close they are to both the good and bad endings, and the fact that it would only take a few specific rolls to totally flip the relationship’s direction.
Props Make The Emotion Impossible To Miss
Breakup Over Chocolate is dramatically elevated by its props and theming. When playing this game, it may be tempting to skip the bit that tells you to sit face-to-face and place an edible chocolate in the center of the table. However, I implore you to follow these rules to the letter, as they dramatically improve the experience.
Having to gaze into someone else’s eyes as you expose hard truths about your character’s relationships helps your TTRPG session channel the feeling of a real breakup conversation, making the experience feel truly gutwrenching. I also adore the symbolism of the Chocolate on the table. Its presence acts as a constant reminder of how fragile the relationship is and how quickly the whole thing can come tumbling down, adding a genuine sense of peril as you make your way through the prompts (or a massive sense of relief when it is finally eaten if your characters have a bad relationship).
In fact, based on my play sessions, if you want to Breakup Over Chocolate, I would suggest finding two types of thematic tokens for the Broken Hearts and Mended Hearts to further build on this immersion (we used colored heart-shaped candies for ours).
Breakup Over Chocolate is a fantastic, emotional game that perfectly captures the whirlwind of emotions that often surrounds the end of a relationship. While the game may seem simple on the surface, it is perfectly tuned to immerse players in the feelings and sensations the developer intends them to experience, meaning that Breakup Over Chocolate will stick with you long after you finish playing. To the point, it may even give you some insights into your own approaches to relationships.
