You read that right! Modiphius are working on a Mass Effect board game that will allow Mass Effect fans to enjoy brand new content in tabletop form.
The recent Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s reveal trailer and gameplay trailer will no doubt have BioWare fans wondering when they are going to get a new from their other flagship series; Mass Effect. In 2020, we got a teaser trailer of a new Mass Effect title and subsequent cryptic teasers for fans to decipher. While 2021 did give us the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, a brilliant enhanced version of the original trilogy, we have yet to receive anything concrete about a new and original Mass Effect title.
That is why the news from Modiphius that they are developing a Mass Effect board game is so welcome. This game takes place during the events of Mass Effect 3 and allows players to take control of the iconic, Commander Shepherd as well as core squad mates; Liara, Garrus, Wrex and Tali.
The game’s subtitle is Priority: Haglaz, following the theme of Mass Effect 3‘s Priority missions where you visit various planets to attempt to turn the tide of war in your favor.
I caught up with the game’s designers; Eric M. Lang and Calvin Wong Tze Loon (黃子倫), and played a preview version of the game at the UK Games Expo to learn more.
Eric, one of the lead designers of Mass Effect: The Board Game, at the UK Games Expo.
Mass Effect The Board Game – Priority Haglaz is scheduled to be available for purchase for £40 from November this year.
Story – Does It Feel Like a Mass Effect Story?
As previously mentioned, this new board game is set during the events of Mass Effect 3. In this scenario, Shepherd and their squad are tasked with investigating a Cerberus ship that has crash landed on the planet, Haglaz, carrying some crucial data.
Whilst the settings and timeline would be familiar to Mass Effect fans, I asked whether this was a game that Mass Effect rookies could enjoy to. Eric had this to say:
Approachability is my highest value in game design, and it translates to licensed games as well. Mass Effect is a cultural phenomenon, but there are a lot of players who only played casually or barely at all, but are still compelled by the lore and the promise of fun. This game is for them too.
I asked Calvin why they had chosen this setting for the game.
Mass Effect 3 seemed like the best place to insert a ‘cut mission’ which is the pitch we put together for Bioware: What if you had a side mission that you cut from the video game, and this board game was that mission?
As to why Hagalaz: The planet-wide storm which players encounter in Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker gave us a natural ‘countdown’ – go in, do the mission, get out before you get destroyed. We also never see the surface of the planet despite it being a garden world, so I thought it would be interesting to go down there while retaining a popular location from the series instead of just making it another random planet.
Priority: Haglaz. Your mission; grab the data from the crashed Cerberus Ship whilst withstanding the planet’s intense storms!
Fans of Mass Effect will know that a huge appeal of the story is that your choices affect the story progression. At the UK Games Expo, I was reassured to see the game making great use of branching narratives. One of the game pieces was a board that let you choose mission pathways to pursue. This would allow you to prioritize different objectives and taking the story in different directions and towards different endings. There were even loyalty missions that you could do for each of your squad mates.
Here’s what Eric had to say on that topic:
Mass Effect has three words at its core: Your. Choices. Matter.
Which, for a storytelling game, is a lot more challenging than it appears. We want to tell a great story, but maximize player agency in how it unfolds.
The Gameplay – Does It Play Like a Mass Effect Game?
Having the branching narrative is already a big tick for me, but what about the way the game plays? Here’s how Calvin summarized the gameplay:
At the start of the project, Eric and I created several gameplay pillars that fit with the world of Mass Effect: It would be co-operative, we’d have Paragon and Renegade choices that mattered, characters would progress over time, and it would need not to break any canon.
How a Mission Plays
At the UK Games Expo, I got to get hands on with a mission where I was tasked with Cerberus gun emplacements. The squad and I faced off against numerous Cerberus units in turn based combat using hexagonal grids.
I played Shepherd whilst the other players played Liara, Wrex and Garrus. Between us we had a great array of abilities we could use just like the characters from the video games. We made use of Garrus’ long range attacks, Wrex’s close range battle rage and Liara’s biotic buffs to take the fight to Cerberus!
As Eric puts it:
Ideally one where they feel pulled in multiple different directions at the same time – Ohhh I wanna level up so bad I’m so close but the objective is right theeeeeeeere… Can we actually pull off the Paragon ending or do we have to abort and go for the pragmatic option? Oh god should I level up this skill so I can shoot better or this other skill to combo with Shepherd… aaagghhhh
When we reached the end of the mission we given a classic renegade or paragon choice. Do we use the explosives we’d collected to destroy the gun emplacements or hurl them at the Cerberus commander instead?
We went with the renegade option of taking out the commander. We thought we might be able to use the gun emplacements ourselves. And, maybe we just liked the catharsis of throwing explosives at the bad guy!
How a Campaign Plays
Sadly, we didn’t have time to continue the campaign beyond that one mission. However, we did talk about how things progress from mission to mission. All the characters can be levelled up, allowing players to choose their own character builds. Shepherd in particular can be played as any of the six classes from the game. Between character progression and branching narrative, the game features a lot of the dynamic tensions as the video games.
As Calvin puts it:
I wanted the board game to give players the frenetic angst of real time combat…but with time to think about their turns and wallow in the choices. In this sense, the board game hits you the same way psychologically, but is a new experience that you can enjoy alongside the video game. That, and we want the game to feel EPIC, even though you can finish an entire campaign in an evening.
Layout – Does It Look Like Mass Effect?
The artwork used in this game are spot on, showing that care has been taken with the Mass Effect look. This goes from the box art to the mission maps, to the miniature figurines on the characters involved.
Modiphius are working alongside BioWare to get that Mass Effect look and feel just right.
I particularly appreciated how the design of the character boards work well alongside the action economy. At the start of the squad’s turn, you roll specialized dice with the different faces dictating different actions you can do. When you take an action, you put the dice on the action slots on the character sheet. This makes it easy to keep track of character actions in each round. It also means you’re able to see your character’s loadout in a similar way as you would in the games.
If, like me, you’re keen to get hold of Mass Effect: The Board Game as soon as it comes out, make sure to head over to this sign up page on Modiphius’ website.
For more on the latest developments in the world of gaming, keep an eye out for future articles from KeenGamer!
