I absolutely love this expansion; let me say without question that even if you never get to experience playing the balance faction this is worth buying for the miniatures alone. They are extremely high quality minis with a lot of nice detail to them and genuinely increase our enjoyment and love for this game. I hope you'll forgive my paint job, this is only my top coats of paint to them to get their base colors so still lots of work to go, but even as an amateur painter I am loving the experience of bringing this fun characters to life for our games.Beyond the minis the expansion itself is also great it adds a third or sixth or anywhere between 2-6 players to the game. So here's the thing about Cerebria and you can see more information about the base in my review of it, the base game can play up to 4 players, this expansion allows you to play up to 6. What they do more easily though is take Cerebria from an amazing 2 player game to a completely balanced and deep back and forth game between 3 players. We love this game, it is one of our favorites so we have played it in many variations, 2 players with each of us controlling Bliss or Gloom, 4 players where we control 1 spirit each of Bliss or Gloom, 5 players having 2 teams of Bliss and Gloom players and one person controlling both Balance spirits, and lastly we have played 3 player games where each opponent is playing both spirits of Bliss, Gloom, and Balance. Of course there could still be one last variant which we have not done and that is 6 players with everyone playing 1 spirit each, also don't forget your solo possibilities or combinations with Ego.Hopefully I didn't lose you there, but if you already know Cerebria all of this will be knowledge you already have and love yourself about the game. What you want to know then is how it plays. For me it is my favorite side to play now, I look forward to when we have another fan of the game so we can do 3 player games. As Balance you'll have your own set of secret Aspiration cards that you'll play towards balancing the mindscape of Cerebria. You're looking to keep the forces of Bliss and Gloom in check and even with one another and thus providing harmonious balance to the overall game. Since you don't compete for the common Aspiration your secret card has 2 conditions, the first being similar to the others already in play but instead you seek to have Bliss and Gloom result in a tie. Your second condition is unique only to you and will involve having certain cards in play around the board or other game mechanics like fortresses, or essence on cards.Balance is certainly the hardest of the 3 forces to play and is best suggested for experienced players who really want to plan out and think through the choices the board and your opponents put out there. Sometimes it will be easy for you to balance the board as Bliss or Gloom might not realize the goal you're working towards. Having a third force in play creates this wonderful tug of war between everyone playing and makes this complex game even more challenging and rewarding as you play.My wife is a pretty experienced Bliss player at this point and enjoys the third force coming into play, even though it usually messes up her plans. We both agree it increases the difficulty level of the game but we both look forward to that challenge and this continues to be one of our all time favorite games. If you are even slightly considering the expansion I think you should absolutely purchase it, you already love the amazing world of Cerebria and this just adds so much more to it, and again the miniatures alone are so worth it. I hope more of you out there will read this and get this game and this expansion it is probably the most complex game we own, but all that does is make you love it more for how beautiful and truly epic it is when you play games of it.