Risk Shadow Forces is the spiritual successor to the first legacy game.

In 2011 Risk legacy changed board games forever. The brilliant adaptation of the classic strategy title created a new genre, the inherited genre, seemingly overnight. Now, a decade after its launch, Hasbro publisher is developing Shadow forces of risk, a spiritual successor created with the help of acclaimed designer Craig Van Ness. Polygon has the first details on what fans should expect when the finished game launches in the fall of 2022.

Risk legacy was created and designed by Rob Daviau, who asked a simple question: Why do board games throw away what happened the previous time you played, only to start over from the beginning as Groundhog Day? Therefore, Risk legacy it was the first board game with a memory of sorts, an experience that evolved over time by adding additional game mechanics in response to game events. The players were asked to write on the board; apply stickers to change cards, characters and locations on the map; and destroy game elements completely.

The end result was an action packed campaign in a box and the reinvention of a classic first published in 1957. It would continue to inspire games like Gloomhaven, Pandemic legacy, and even Oath: Chronicles of the Empire and Exile.

Building a legacy

But the story of the original Risk legacy? Well … it was a bit out there. AvatarStyle robots went head-to-head with barbarian berserkers, while futuristic armored soldiers lined up to take down mutants and alien invaders. At the end of 14 linked games, the world that the players had created together was unique, but also largely unintelligible.

Chris Nadeau, Senior Director and Product Development Lead on Hasbro’s Avalon Hill team, tells Polygon that his goal this time around was to keep what worked from the original. Risk legacyand then lean toward a more coherent narrative.

“One of those key goals of Shadow Forces“Said Nadeau,” it was to make sure the players not only had the technical game, the emotional connection to the game itself, but also felt like they are telling their own story as they go along. “

“Risk it’s an interesting game in the sense that it never really had a story, “Nadeau continued. “The original game is essentially this kind of Napoleonic oil painting That belongs to your great-uncle’s den. […] We could put an IP in Risk in a way we’ve never done before, or we could make it up. It can be new, original and different. “

Nadeau’s team took the second option, forgoing Hasbro’s many existing universes in favor of something new.

“We needed a sufficient timeline to develop essentially all of our real-world fears at this point,” Nadeau said. “Climate change. The kind of slow decline of society and government. These private companies and the super-rich do things like fly in space. What if we just keep that pace and acceleration for the next 29 years?”

The world map

Shadow forces of risk takes place in the year 2050. Humanity has come together to exploit a new source of clean energy in order to colonize Mars. But, before the expedition can begin in earnest, tragedy strikes. Military and corporations around the world are targeting each other. With traditional superpowers sidelined, powerful warlords take advantage and rush to fill the void.

Players will start Shadow forces of risk choosing one of those warlords and then continue playing the same warlord in 15 connected games. Each warlord will have their own backstory, which will help define their unique set of evolving and thematic powers. They may be very maneuverable, moving armies easily and quickly across the map. Or maybe they are very defensive, with bonuses for holding territory and fighting off aggressors. Those abilities will be represented by a small pile of cards, which can be used on a player’s turn to impact the outcome of a given battle on the world map.

Then come the factions, which, unlike a traditional game of Risk, each will have their own abilities. Before each game, players will draft a faction, not unlike a card drafting game. Magic: The Gathering, so that when entering each game they never know what combination they will get. That synergy between a given player’s chosen warlord and his semi-randomly assigned faction will require the development of new strategies on the fly.

The skirmish game

Nadeau and his team didn’t stop there. Shadow forces of risk includes the traditional game of global domination and also a secondary game. To make the action even more personal, between battles on the world map, individual warlords will take up arms and fight in tactical skirmishes. Shadow forces of risk It will come with two double-sided battle boards where players will play those shootouts, and that’s where Craig Van Ness comes in.

Van Ness is an industry veteran with decades of experience. His biggest claim to fame is as a co-designer of Heroscape, a luxurious skirmish game first released in 2004. In it, players take on the role of characters from multiple disparate timelines facing unique powers atop modular terrain. He also co-designed Star Wars: Epic Duels. That’s the title that inspired the hit board game. Peerless, a collaboration between Mondo and Restoration Games that also uses skirmish mechanics. Suffice it to say, when it comes to small-unit board game combat, Van Ness has the experience to make that style of play sing.

“You sit there with this open notebook and you not only write down the flaws of the things you want to see, but you write down the possible solutions at the same time,” Nadeau said. “He is playing the meta in his head from the moment he is introduced to the mechanic. In a way, it makes Craig push his process beyond alpha testing. That exploratory discovery moment is over and you’re debugging when you start playing. “

But Heroscape it’s not Van Ness’s only claim to fame. He is also known as the co-designer, alongside Daviau and the late Alan Roach, of Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit. It is a dark and exhausted board game based on the climactic final battle of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The Queen’s Gambit It is not a single game, but three connected games taking place at the same time. In it, players fight in the space battle on the surface of Naboo, and also in the assault on the queen’s throne room, with a Padme Amidala decoy. At the same time, they fight as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn against Darth Maul. The result is an incredibly tense interconnected game of strategy, the likes of which has never been attempted before or since.

It’s the kind of experience that will be required to accomplish something like Shadow forces of riskand Van Ness is very excited about his prospects.

“You go off this kind of global world map, and then you go right into this skirmish game,” Van Ness told Polygon. “Each skirmish game has a different objective. Play differently. Also, global games are played differently. There are some real twists and turns that come out of that. Either the setup is different or the goals are different, or we introduce new things you didn’t anticipate or new ways to play. “

Due to the secrecy surrounding legacy games, neither Van Ness nor Nadeau can say for sure what will be inside the box when it finally ships next fall. They can say that in addition to 5 unique warlords and more than 200 additional miniatures, there will also be four sealed envelopes and one sealed container. What’s inside those sealed packages is anyone’s guess. The final product will have a suggested retail price of $ 68.99. Pre-orders will begin soon, and those who put money in for a copy will be included in the ongoing design process, in the same vein as a modern crowdfunding board game.

For more information on Shadow forces of risk, go to Hasbro Pulse community website.