Apex Legends is a video game I’ve been vaguely aware of for some time. The game initially seemed to me to be another of these flash-in-the-pan type of shooters that seemed to appear and disappear a few years ago. Seemingly not, though! This one has stuck around. Here’s the current trailer for the video game:
In starting to write this post, I downloaded the game and gave it a spin. I actually really liked it. I like the team-based gameplay, the visual style, and the character design and voice acting. All in all, I just really enjoyed it and I’m intending to play some more.
Right, that was fun, but let’s get back on topic; the board game! Video game to board game adaptations have been happening a lot lately. Since many of these have been by Steamforged Games, there’s been a fair amount of shovelware, but there have been interesting ones, too. The Stardew Valley game seems interesting, if flawed, and I’ve heard good things about the Frostpunk adaptation. Rander handily, it’s the same folks who did Frostpunk, Glass Cannon Unplugged, who are doing this game. That bodes well.
let’s just start by saying that the Kickstarter campaign for this game is presented extremely well. One of my biggest complaints in some recent campaigns for what should be solid properties has just been a lackluster presentation of the game which failed to really portray the game positive way. One thing that’s worked well for others was bringing in external content creators to offer commentary and produce, frankly, better content than the producers could.
Here’s a nice example from this campaign, looking at the game as a concept:
And then we have a solid video showing a gameplay tutorial so that potential customers can really see how the game is supposed to work:
Finally, and this is a nice touch because it acknowledges that there are different aspects to this hobby, there’s even a painting tutorial video giving some suggestions on how to paint up your minis:
There are plenty more videos, including by some some pretty big-name creators, but these should give a good idea of the range of content that has been included. The sheer amount of people who have been hands-on with the game is very reassuring.
Okay, so the presentation is excellent. What about the game? Well, you can watch one of the videos about to get an idea of the rules, or the box contents. At first glance, I worried that this was going to be overproduced. Pointlessly overproduced games are a real turn-off for me. This is known. This game… is and isn’t. It skirts around it a little. The core box doesn’t have too many miniatures, but the included ones are pretty excellent.
There are tokens, some plastic bits and bobs, and some cardboard buildings. It’s all quite reasonable until you get to the stuff that goes with each character. Here’s an example:
Miniature, tokens, cards; fine. Okay. Great, even. Each character also comes with a Diorama-based card holder. This seems a bit excessive. In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t too bad though. And, I think they’re kind of covering their bases and making this a more attractive project to fans who are largely in it for the miniatures. If this is as far as the needless plastic goes, that’s actually pretty acceptable.
Some bloat does come when we move on to expansions. The all-in pledge includes a lot of them:
- Apex Legends: The Board Game
- Loba Expansion
- Full Team Expansion
- Squad I Expansion
- Squad II Expansion
- Supply Miniatures Expansion
- Playing Mat Expansion
- Card Sleeves Pack
- All unlocked stretch goals
There’s also a solo/cooperative expansion available. That’s what, 6/7 expansions, plus gubbins? It’s a lot. I suppose that part of the attraction of games like Apex Legends (the video game) is the cast of characters, so giving access to them via expansions will likely be popular. The Full Team expansion includes my own favourite character from my albeit-brief experience with the game this weekend:
I had a lot of fun with Lifeline. I like playing support characters, and the design also appeals to me. This sentiment, replicated across the various expansions by fans of different characters will be a strong pull to the larger pledges.
Pricewise, we’re working in Euros. The core game is €80, representing a €35 saving from the MSRP. As always, let’s reserve judgement on this until we get to postage and taxes. It also includes an extra character, Loba, and stretch goals. The next pledge level includes the Full team expansion, giving you another couple of characters. This ‘Full Team’ pledge is priced at €115, representing a saving of €50. According to my maths, this means that a 2 character pack with tokens and a scenario book will retail at €50. That feels a bit steep.
The ‘Gameplay All-in’ pledge level has all of those expansions I listed above, except for the solo/cooperative one. The price jumps at this point to €235, with a listed saving of €105 against the MSRP. Another €20 would also get you that solo/cooperative expansion.
In terms of timescale, we’re looking at an expected June 2024 delivery. A year is pretty typical for these campaigns, so that’s not so unusual. Shipping is expensive, but not ridiculously so, though it is specified as being an estimated cost that will be revisited nearer the time. Understandable, that. Here are the estimates:
To be fair, the shipping price gap between the core box and the all-in pledges is smaller than I’d have expected.
So… value? It’s tricky. I think this looks like a well-produced, fun, beautiful game. The components seem high quality and the miniatures are gorgeous. They’re also really good representations of Apex Legends’ fantastic character designs. The price is a steep, but if you’re buying into this, you’re likely already a fan who wants a complete set. You want to have all of your favourite characters with the intention of playing loads of cool matchups.
Is it for me? I don’t think so. Is it good? Yeah, I really think it is.
You can click here to visit the project page over at Kickstarter.
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