Mass Effect’s original Normandy crew is reuniting. No, not in the upcoming fifth Mass Effect game (probably, hopefully), but in a new tabletop game that will set up to four players on a new mission during the events of Mass Effect 3.
Mass Effect the Board Game—Priority: Hagalaz will launch later this year and feature fan-favorite characters Liara, Tali, Wrex, and Garrus on the planet of Hagalaz. The planet was most prominently featured during the events of Mass Effect 2’s Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, but this time around, Commander Shepard’s team will be infiltrating a crashed research cruiser in order to gather intel for the galactic war taking place in Mass Effect 3. The full synopsis reads as follows:
On the remote world Hagalaz, a research cruiser from the terrorist organisation Cerberus has crashed directly in the path of a deadly storm. With little time before the storm hits, Shepard must lead their squad through the cruiser to uncover its sinister secrets and keep them out of the hands of the enemy. However, the ship holds more dangers than just its former crew. Deep within the shattered cruiser stir creatures and enemies far worse than the Cerberus forces that guard them.
Publisher Modiphius Entertainment describes Priority: Hagalaz as a “co-operative, story-driven” game that will implement some of Mass Effect’s design pillars. These include a branching narrative, squad loadout customization, and loyalty missions that will allow you to unlock new powers. The game will also come with 32mm miniatures of Liara, Tali, Wrex, Garrus, and both the male and female versions of Commander Shepard. While there’s no official release date yet, Priority: Hagalaz will launch sometime during 2024. In an interview with Wargamer, Modiphius founder Chris Birch stated that while the price hasn’t yet been set, it will cost “well under” $100. According to Birch, the team is prioritizing ease of use over something expensive and elaborate.
“The pitch was: let’s do a low maintenance, easy dungeon crawl, and pitch it at a lower price point so it’s not a $150 massive box of plastics,” Birch said.
As the world’s biggest Kaidan Alenko stan, I’m disappointed to see my space boyfriend isn’t on the roster. However, I recognize that including him and Normandy’s resident space racist Ashley Williams would break the lore because their lives are mutually exclusive, and only including one of them is guaranteed to send the fandom into a frenzy. So, I will sit down and play as Wrex or Tali instead.
It’s been seven years since we got a new Mass Effect video game, but the series has had a bit of a revival in the past three years after the launch of the Legendary Edition remasters in 2021. Since then, BioWare has been riding the merchandise train hard, including making body pillows of popular characters and selling framed photos that immortalize one of Mass Effect 3’s biggest flubs. These are the crumbs we feast upon until BioWare puts out the fifth game, which seems to be uniting the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies in some way.
