New Risk Legacy Game Announced

Hasbro has announced a new Risk Legacy game, which will come out next year. Last week, Hasbro announced Risk Shadow Forces, a new legacy-style board game set in a near future where the world is threatened by intense climate change and diseases. Players will take control of a faction as they battle for control of a new energy source. Each faction has its own abilities and specialities, with the yellow faction using modern technology like drone strikes and the white faction using toxic attacks to hit foes with random critical damage. Players will be able to switch factions throughout the game, as they control a single warlord with the ability to take command of whatever faction they feel will be best suited for specific skirmishes. The game will be published by Avalon Hill, a specialty board game studio owned by Hasbro that also publishes the original Risk board game as well as Betrayal Legacy. 

Individual battles will play out over two battlefields, with players sending armies out on a global level as well as participating in covert skirmish battles. Each warlord’s individual abilities will come into play during the covert missions, and the result of the covert missions will spill into the global map.

As with other legacy-style games, Risk Shadow Forces will have an overarching storyline that plays out in between sessions. Players will add new rules to the game, place permanent stickers on the board, and rip up components and cards as the storyline progresses. They’ll also be able to change their starting deck to make better use of their abilities or prepare for different scenarios.

The original Risk Legacy game was designed by Rob Daviau and Chris Dupuis, and introduced the legacy-style format to tabletop games. This style of game encourages players to make permanent changes to the game, which sets up more nuanced gameplay in future sittings. In the case of Risk Legacy, players end up with a unique map with customized routes, certain areas of the map permanently inaccessible or with additional risk. Notably, Daviau stated on Twitter that he is not involved with the making of Risk Shadow Forces. 

Risk Shadow Forces will be released in Fall of 2022 with a retail price of $81.