It has been almost 17 years since Mass effect first hit stores and is still one of the most popular sci-fi franchises in gaming. But with Mass Effect: Andromeda Fans leave the series with a bitter aftertaste and can hardly wait for another installment to come out to save the franchise. Mass Effect 4 was officially announced back in December 2020 and since then practically nothing has been revealed about the game.
Although it was only announced two years later, Dragon Age: The Veilguard beats Mass Effect 4 to the point, and it falls in just a few weeks. This probably means that Mass Effect 4 is still a little way off. But there is another kind of Mass effect There is a game in sight that could fill this gap and appeal to fans of the series as well as tabletop role-playing games.
Mass Effect and board game fans should keep an eye on Mass Effect – Priority: Hagalaz
Mass Effect – Priority: Hagalaz explained
Designed by Eric M. Lang and Calvin Wong Tze Loon and produced by Modiphius, Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz is a cooperative, story-based tabletop game for 1-4 players. This tabletop game tries to adapt the action RPG formula of the Mass effect Trilogy in which players once again take on the role of Commander Shepard, this time exploring a crashed Cerberus ship on the stormy planet Hagalaz.
As Shepard, players can recruit a squad of legendary heroes such as Garrus, Wrex, Liara, and Tali, each of whom has their own miniature figures in the game's core set. Defeating enemies and completing objectives rewards the player and their teammates with new abilities, allowing players to gradually create the Shepard build they want that fits series archetypes such as Sentinel, Soldier, Vanguard, and Adept. Players can even complete optional loyalty missions for their companions.
Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz also contains a branching narrative that attempts to Mass effect The trilogy's choice-based story. Players can make certain decisions that impact the story both immediately and later, including Paragon and Renegade decisions that affect a game statistic called “War Readiness.”
Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz is currently scheduled to be released in October. The game's core set includes several rule and story books, a campaign map board, six miniatures, plenty of dice and tokens, and some enemy tokens. This core set should retail for $50, and those who fancy it can pick up a number of additional miniatures that represent the board game's enemies.
Mass Effect – Priority: Hagalaz looks like a dense tabletop game
While the concept behind Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz is great, the game itself looks like it could be a bit complex, especially for those new to story-driven, cooperative tabletop RPGs. In addition to the thick rulebook, Priority: Hagalaz also comes with a thick narrative textbook and a separate mission book. All this is accompanied by some very detailed and dense character sheets for the squadmates. That being said, early reviews for Mass Effect – Priority: Hagalaz were quite positive overall, with many outlets citing the game's replay value and shorter campaign length as major advantages in the tabletop scene.
