Should We Dial It Back On Legacy Games?
Terraforming Mars Legacy is confirmed to be in development. No surprise there. Legacy games are super popular. But why? And are we inundating the market?
Recently, on the Board Game Gumbo podcast, Stephen Buonocore, president of Stronghold Games, revealed that “Terraforming Mars Legacy is 100% being worked on”.
It was early last year that we discussed legacy games and how they were on the rise. Now that we’ve lived in the world of legacy games for a while, let’s take stock of how things are going.
What is a Legacy Game?
A legacy game is a game that is meant to be played like a story. Players will play the game over and over, with a narrative within the game that players will read and unfold as they play. Typically the core game play mechanics don’t change, but the instructional information of the game will tell the players how to alter the game, usually based on the results of the games they play or choices they make.
For example, if during a game of Pandemic Legacy, a city becomes too overwhelmed with plague, the city will be destroyed. From that point onward, any future games the players play will have that city still destroyed. This is the quintessential concept of a legacy game; what happens in one game affects future games.
Why Do People Like Legacy Games?
Legacy games feel more impactful. Your decision have weight. They matter. Especially because many legacy games are cooperative. So, your poor decision making could cost the team a whole lot for a long time. While this may sound stressful, that’s kind of the idea actually. Legacy games want to force you to feel that stress of decision making. With a single-play game, it’s easy to just make some decision because “why not?”. But with a legacy game, each decision will ripple through future games.
Legacy Games Are Overcrowding The Market
This is where opinion starts and facts end.
I’m on the fence. I do love legacy games. They are fun and engaging and bring out a whole new gameplay experience that really did not exist even just 5 years ago.
Well…mostly.
Since 2015 with the release of Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, gaming companies have been cranking these things out like hot cakes. It feels like every major board game is getting a legacy re-release. Pandemic, Werewolf, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Machi Koro, Clank!. There’s certainly nothing wrong with taking a beloved game and trying something new, but do we have to do it with every major game?
Counterpoint: Not really. Chill Out, Man.
Yeah, fair.
There’s only about 20 games on this list. Maybe the companies who are big enough from their hugely popular games are also the ones capable of doing a big ad push to get these games in your face more often. Seems reasonable.
What are your thoughts on the burgeoning legacy games market?
Good? Bad? Both? Neither?
