Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz Preview

ign.com:

Mass Effect is one of the most acclaimed and beloved video game franchises of all time, with global sales of over 20 million copies across the series. Now, fans of Commander Shepherd and the Normandy Crew have the chance to see their favorite characters sculpted on the tabletop, thanks to the upcoming Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz.

You might justifiably be concerned that this is a cheap cash-in, like many board game adaptations of video games, but the good news is that one of tabletop’s hottest designers, Eric Lang, creator of Blood Rage and XCOM: The Board Game, is attached to the project. The better news is that he’s a fan of the Mass Effect franchise himself. “I’ve been humbled by the game’s profound and groundbreaking influence on all video game design for over a decade,” he admits. “I wanted to do justice to this brand.”

However, the magic ingredient for the project was Eric’ trusted co-pilot, new designer Calvin Wong Tze Loon 黃子倫, whom Eric describes as a “superfan” of the sci-fi series. Calvin was understandably thrilled to have the opportunity. “When I got the invite to co-design and do narrative work, I screamed out loud,” he admits. “In some ways, I haven’t stopped screaming since!”

Priority: Hagalaz is set aboard the titular planet of Hagalaz, on which a rogue cruiser from the terrorist cell Cerberus has crashed. The game tells the story of Commander Shepherd and crew infiltrating the ship to discover its secrets in the hope of gaining an edge in the ongoing war effort against the terrifying Reapers. While the planet of Hagalaz was featured in both Mass Effect 2 and 3, it’s not central to the plot and seemed an odd choice to set the action of the board game.

Turns out this choice was Calvin’s. “It’s the Shadow Broker planet from Mass Effect 2, and a planetwide storm provided a very dramatic time limit with which we could pressure the players,” he explains. “From a personal perspective, I always liked filling in the corners of stories I