Pandemic Legacy Review
*** Reprint of a review on Board Game Geek - https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1760206/pandemic-legacy-season-1-detailed-review-no-spoile
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This review continues my series of detailed reviews that attempt to be part review, part resource for anyone not totally familiar with the game. For this reason I expect readers to skip to the sections that are of most interest.
If you liked the review please thumb the top of the article so others have a better chance of seeing it and I know you stopped by. Thanks for reading.
Summary
Game Type – Co-operative Legacy Game
Play Time: 50–70 minutes per session (roughly 14-18 sessions per campaign)
Number of Players: 1–4 (Best 2+)
Mechanics – Action Point System, Set Collection, Legacy Mechanisms
Difficulty – Moderate (Continual adaptation to new rules is required)
Components – Excellent
Release – 2015
Designers – Rob Daviau (Betrayal at House on the Hill, Axis & Allies: Pacific, various Heroscape designs, Mountains of Madness, Pandemic Legacy: Season 2, Risk 2210 A.D., Risk Legacy, Risk: Revised, SeaFall and Star Wars: Queen’s Gambit)
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Matt Leacock (Chariot Race, Forbidden Desert, Forbidden Island, All things Pandemic, Pandemic: The Cure, Pandemic Legacy: Season 2, Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age and Thunderbirds)
Overview and Theme
Hmm, so it comes to this. My first review of a Legacy Game. About time you say, well yes it probably is. But I couldn't review a game like this without having played through it in its entirety first. That takes time and so here we are.
For those new to Pandemic as a gaming franchise, the world is in peril. A series of contagions have broken out and they are threatening to send the world into a downward spiral. You are a member of a team sent in to treat the infected, manage threats to the globe and hopefully cure the 4 diseases that threaten the human race.
That's the theme and all that needs to be added to that is the fact that Pandemic is a co-operative design in which the players all work together to meet the objectives. You win or lose as a team. It's as simple as that.
For a more detailed review of how Pandemic plays please read this review -
So What is Legacy?
Legacy is a gaming format or style (so to speak) in which a game is designed to change over time, in very permanent ways. The decisions and outcomes of one game will have lasting impacts on future games and as such a strong narrative can be created over multiple plays. I should also add that the mystery and slow release of information is usually achieved via boxes and packets that have instructions as to when they should be unlocked. That is the case here but I suspect in the future this may be done via apps (story elements anyway) and the like (although there is something highly engaging about having something physical that you are not allowed to open...yet)! 
For the history buffs, Risk Legacy was the first game to do this and Rob Daviau (who created that game) teamed up with Matt Leacock (designer of Pandemic) to give us this creation.
For the record SeaFall followed (Pandemic Legacy) from Daviau, which represents the first legacy design not based on an existing franchise and later this year Stonemaier Games will offer up Charterstone, which is something of a worker placement legacy game, but its calling card is that it is completely re-settable to play again and again.
These are interesting times indeed.
So Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, is a game that uses the base mechanics of Pandemic, creates an ongoing story that will be revealed over multiple plays and requires the players to do their best to react and adapt to the changing game state as it unfolds.
The Purpose of this Review
This review will be quite different to my normal detailed reviews as I do not wish to include any spoilers. This means I won't look at any components not offered up outside the initial opening of the box and I won't discuss any story elements that would be spoilers. What I will do is look at the implications of the Legacy System and the gaming experience it delivers.
Ok put on those gloves over there, let me help you with that face mask and let's leave the safety of this Research Station and go into the field.
The Components
Everything you see here is only the components that can be found when the box is first opened (and even then I have omitted an image or two). Most of the following points serve to highlight new stuff that is found in the Legacy version of the game that is not present at all (or in this format) in the base game.
The Board - The board is a larger version of the one found in the basic version of Pandemic, but on the whole it uses the same graphics and general layout.
There are some extra editions too of importance such as a series of boxes in the top left, which are for Objectives and the Cure Boxes are much larger than normal in the bottom left corner. There is also a box entitled 'Panic Level', on the left side that lists four new icons and some rules associated with them.
One important change to the base game though is that the map itself and the connections between cities have been tweaked to some degree. Most obvious to me is that Santiago and Buenos Aires are now connected. In the base game Santiago is a dead end city and that can have implications for Outbreaks and viral spreads.
Image Courtesy of jnk604
Character Files - The Character Cards are also a bit different from the original game. Here they are presented as biographies or personality files. There is room for various additions to characters as the game unfolds.
On the back is room to record the dates that sessions are played, who played a character and the outcome of each session.
In relation to abilities, the characters that match up with the base game have much the same powers, however they may be worded slightly differently or have a small variation to better fit the Legacy format.
These are quite well done.
Image Courtesy of jnk604
Doculopes + Sticker Sheets - To keep things secret and hidden the game uses a sealed set of documents that contain a large batch of perforated pouches. As the game unfolds and the players discover certain things or perform in certain ways, they will be directed to open these pouches, which are numbered or contain a letter.
There is also a large sticker sheet that contains all manner of stickers to apply to cards or the board. I haven't included an image of these to avoid spoiling anything.
Image Courtesy of jnk604
Boxes of Mystery - The next Legacy aspect that adds to the mystery and unlocks are a set of 8 Black Boxes. Again the players are instructed as to when these should be opened.
They are big, black and there are 8 of them and they call out to you and will mock you in your sleep. Open me they will be whispering...but you should not! 
Image Courtesy of jnk604
Legacy Deck - This is the final element that makes the Legacy system work and acts to reveal hidden 'things'. In fact the Legacy Deck is what gives the instructions as to which pockets to reveal from the Doculopes or which boxes to open. This deck is a series of cards (quite thick in reality) and they remain in one of the tray locations as the game is played. Much like the image below, they will feature a Stop Sign and instructions for when the top card should be drawn and read. The players continue to do this when instructed until they see the next Stop Sign Card and won't reveal it until the instructions on that card are triggered.
It works really well.
Image Courtesy of jnk604
The Other Bits - For the sake of completing this section off in its entirety, the game does of course come with the regular pieces that are needed to make Pandemic actually work.
Image Courtesy of sjonnie
Box Editions - Such was the fanfare that Z-Man wanted to create with the release of Legacy, they created a blue and a red box edition. The two editions are exactly the same inside but the artwork creates a panorama when joined together, using the concept of racing against the clock. 
Perhaps they were also hoping that some gamers would buy both editions as well. Really? Man, who has time and money for that...actually I bought a second copy recently. 
Image Courtesy of hunk
Rules - The rulebook is laid out in much the same way as the one for vanilla Pandemic. The difference here is that the rulebook is much thicker. This is largely due to the fact that the rulebook has many empty boxes which will be filled by new rules and considerations that the players will discover over the course of the campaign.
The back of the rulebook is set out as a calendar. Here the players can record some basic notes on what happened in each session and when it is all done, the calendar is a brief summary of the journey that the player(s) experienced. This is a nice touch.
Image Courtesy of jnk604
Set-Up
The set-up for each session of Pandemic Legacy is really much the same as that of the original game. Infection cards (9 of them) still need to be drawn to create the initial threats, Characters need to be chosen and the Player Deck needs to be created. Each player/character still receives 2 cards to begin proceedings and a total of 5 Epidemic Cards are added to the Player Deck.
However the very nature of Legacy as a game format is that things may have happened on the journey that modify the set-up of the game in some way. In most cases this is in relation to Objectives.
Of course with the ability for the characters to evolve over time, Pandemic Legacy creates much more discussion than its predecessor as to which character mix should be selected for each mission. This is quite a bit of fun actually and sometimes it can be more difficult to know who to leave out than to actually leave in.
The final point worth mentioning here is that the players have access to a certain Funding Level, which is represented by the inclusion of Special Event Cards. When starting out, this is set to 4 (so 4 cards can be selected by the players). But this level can increase or decrease based on your team's level of success. This is a nice twist on the play of the vanilla version of the game.
Understanding the Playing Experience
As I stated a little earlier, Pandemic Legacy starts out in much the same way as a classic game of Pandemic. The players choose characters, which have their own unique abilities that allow them to manipulate the rules in some way (treat disease cubes more efficiently, move in different ways, research faster etc) and the team of players work together to find 4 cures before they lose the game in one of several ways (Outbreaks, Disease dominance, time etc).
So What Makes the Legacy Experience Different?
Rather than focus on the basic play of Pandemic (which I covered in my review of the base game - a link can be found at the top or tail of this review)), this section will focus on new aspects brought into this, the Legacy edition, or the ways in which it has altered basic Pandemic concepts.
From this point forward I will be using the acronym PL for Pandemic Legacy to speed things up a little.
Image Courtesy of henk.rolleman
The Campaign Structure - PL is designed to take place over the space of 12 months. Each month the team will have a chance to tackle the current situation in what is termed 'Early [insert the month of the year here]'. If the team succeeds, things will happen and the team proceed to the next month. If they fail however to complete the required number of objectives, then they get to try again in what is termed 'Late [you know the drill]'.
Regardless of the outcome of this second attempt in a given month, the game will move on to the next month. In this way the game offers up an experience of somewhere between 12-24 gaming sessions, usually falling in the 14-18 range for most groups I suspect (I have no statistically valid data to back this up).
Regardless of the result of each session, the players always get access to 2 end of scenario 'Upgrades', which came in a variety of forms and decisions have to be made as a group in relation to which ones will be of most use. To avoid spoilers I won't go into them in any more detail but the selection of these is an engaging process.
The team also gets access to Funding, which represents how many of the Special Event Cards they can select for the next mission. A success will see a team's funding level drop by 2 and a failed mission will see Funding increased by 2 for the next mission (the game starts out with a Funding Level of 4). In essence this is something of a catch-up/handicap mechanism.
Now the combination of Upgrades and Funding may give the impression that things will get easier for the players. Of course this is not the case because the game will be throwing added challenges and hoops to jump through so it all balances out pretty nicely. The structure overall is a nice step-up from the basic form of the game.
Objectives - Each play of PL will require the completion of a number of objectives, with the base game's need to find the cures being one of these. This gives the players more things to focus on when compared to the vanilla Pandemic experience and that is interesting.
What makes it really fun is if you have more objectives on offer than you need to complete (you are usually expected to complete 2-3 objectives with each mission). This means that your team may have to choose your game plan and sacrifice one objective in order to complete another. Sometimes you may even have a Plan A and realise by the early to mid-game that you need to shoot for Plan B. This occurs in Pandemic because you just don't know how those Player Cards are going to come out and be at your disposal (for flights, cures etc).
Objectives mix up the action when comparing PL to the original game. It's also fair to say that the inclusion of varied Objectives also allows the Legacy experience to still be highly engaging for veteran players of the original.
Expect More - Naturally you would imagine that the Legacy experience is going to try and be something different to the vanilla experience and really it should be aiming to be better to some degree. One way a Legacy game can aim to do this is to offer more. PL does this in every way:- more story, more content, more things that happen, more things to do and more components...I'm trying to be generic here. Just expect a lot more than what you get in a vanilla box of Pandemic.
Now that opens up a valid query. Does more necessarily mean better? Sometimes less is more. This may fall to your personal preference to some degree but all I can share is that the 'more in this case' does translate to a deeper, more engaging experience when compared to a once off vanilla game of Pandemic. That is the case for me anyway and I guess a lot of people agree based on the rating of this game (more on that later).
The Narrative - This is really the crux of what makes PL special for me. I love the fact that there is this story unfolding with each and every play. It really enhances the experience, makes it more engaging. In many ways I liken it to games that allow for ongoing seasons or campaigns. Take Descent 1st Edition, or Formula De or Blood Bowl. You may not have played these games but I can tell you that as one off experiences they are good games. The mechanisms are interesting and the play can be fun if they are your cup of tea. But they pale in comparison to the Descent Road to Legend Campaign or playing a Formula De season or a Blood Bowl Championship over many rounds. These games shine in those formats. Gloomhaven is of course the latest beast to do this and takes it to quite the extreme with the largest story arc seen in the hobby to date (not counting RPGs).
To me this is one of the best ways to describe how Legacy enhances the vanilla Pandemic experience (minus expansions of course).
The Shared Experience -
Image Courtesy of ThatFedoraGuy
But this is really where my fond memories of playing this game reside, because PL allowed me to play with my partner and the joy we shared in those high and low moments were really great. Annie loves games but she will rarely play the same game many times in a row, preferring to mix our sessions up. Watching her get so engrossed in this game with me and playing some 15-17 times in only 3 months is something I will long remember. Sure that is a very personal thing to me and may not resonate with every group that plays the game. But I suspect I am certainly not alone in enjoying this point.
The Tension - And so combining points 4 and 5 above I get to PL's ability to create a tension and deeper connection with the game, than is possible with the original. This is because decisions and outcomes, successes and failures really matter now (beyond the end of the session). As characters become more fleshed out some will become favourites, but their skill-set may not be conducive to the next mission.
I have certainly enjoyed tense games of base game Pandemic. But the longer story arc and the potential gains and fallout derived from succeeding or failing elevate the tension in the Legacy format of the game. This is great and when that is shared with your partner (life or gaming) it makes for a great shared experience, which I alluded to above.
The Mystery and the Tease - This is then the icing on the cake. As people, we are excited and made curious by things we cannot see, fathom or know. PL creates that sense of mystery and sparks our sense of curiosity by having these 8 Black Boxes and many hidden pouches that can only be opened when certain conditions are triggered or when certain events take place. As a game player, PL drives you forward to play again, to discover what will happen next (much like a good book). It's compelling and something that isn't possible with most traditional game designs in which all of the moving parts are laid out before you.
These elements are given something of a controlled release by the inclusion of the Legacy Deck. This deck in and of itself, serves as a mystery, something to be discovered and it drives the narrative elements of the game forward.
These aspects of the game make you want to play 'just one more' to see what happens and gets revealed next.
As creatures we just hate not-knowing and are excited by the 'reveal'. Pandemic Legacy does this expertly. As I write this I am making connections between PL as an experience and deciding to watch/play one more episode/mission of [Insert your favourite TV show/video game here].
It is very much the same experience and reminds me that games are very much a form of entertainment in today's world.
Moving the Goalposts - Despite all of the above, PL still relies very much on the core nature of Pandemic...the fact that it is a puzzle to be solved with each play. Objectives are spelled out, barriers are put in your way, you are given the tools (skills and actions) to try and overcome them and there is that splash of randomness in the form of what Player Cards are drawn at given times and which Infection Cards are drawn and how they create new headaches to address.
This is compelling in its own right and speaks to the success of Pandemic as a franchise. But PL then goes one step further, because through those unlocks, upgrades, new objectives and new [oh you will find out], the game effectively alters the rule-set that is in play from the first mission. The players have to adapt with each new play and as such PL offers more than a static game in a box, it provides an evolving game in every way.
This is a major plus of the Legacy concept. It is true that traditional game models can still provide great variability and an engaging time but more often than not the players are having to react to their opponent's as much (if not more so) than the game system itself and what it provides you with. Traditional games provide a set of goal posts and the parameters for playing are clearly defined.
PL doesn't just include goalposts...it moves them and you have to adapt to their new position. That is genuinely exciting as a new experience.
Are There Any Negatives to Pandemic Legacy?
As much as I have enjoyed the experience there are several criticisms or at least considerations one must make before playing Legacy.
The Nature of the Beast - Pandemic Legacy still relies heavily on Pandemic's core game play and as such a person who dislikes Pandemic or co-op designs in general should not waste their time here. Sure the shared experience, mystery and ongoing narrative will make for a more fun time, but the core of the game is still Pandemic...with extra bells and whistles along the way.
There is no getting away from this fact. An early Epidemic or an unlucky string of Infection Draws can see the game get away from you very quickly and to some degree no amount of good play can stop a defeat at times. If this annoys you in a game, then PL is not for you.
Pick Your Playing Group Carefully - This harks to the nature of co-ops and the risk of playing with an alpha-gamer that needs to control the group in relation to decision making. Of course in a Legacy game this is amplified many times over because you are going to be together over 14-17 odd plays. So make sure you know who you are gaming with and that it will be a fun and enjoyable experience from start to finish.
Revise the Rules Regularly -
Image Courtesy of Hobold
This is by far my biggest tip to playing PL and one that I (and no doubt many others) have fallen foul of. Because the game is regularly giving you additional rules stickers (via those unlocks) to stick into the rulebook, the game's rules and mechanisms are constantly changing over the course of the campaign.
This makes it very easy to forget a key new ruling or requirement when something happens in the game. Why I hear you ask?
In part it is a real trap due to familiarity. Most gamers that come to PL will probably have a pretty decent knowledge of Pandemic. Heck I did and I wasn't even that big a fan of the vanilla game. When you are familiar with something there is a propensity to overlook obvious things, to not feel like you need to revisit the rulebook.
The other pitfall of (in this case) PL is that you are really excited about playing again. It may be that you decide to play at silly hours, when you are really too tired to play again but you just have to see what happens next! Perhaps you revealed a new rule at the end of a late session and don't get to play again for 2 weeks. This makes it so easy to forget a new rule or two that were added in the last session.
I have learned my lesson. I forgot about a rule addition somewhere around May and it had a pretty severe knock on effect that we battled against from that point on to overcome. From now on I will take a cursory look over every page of a Legacy Game's rule book before the next set-up to make sure that I am aware of every new addition. The consequences of not doing so is to miss something important which may have a flow on effect to the rest of the campaign...and well...that kind of sucks! 
As a result, I have seen people state that PL or Legacy games in general just aren't for them. They don't want to work that hard to remember new rules all the time and be constantly re-learning a game as it changes. I can see their point totally but for me the effort is worth the reward.
When you think about it that is probably what separates us as gamers from the non-gaming public. The fact that we are prepared to learn rule-sets, engage in solving puzzles or using mechanisms to drive a game forward and have fun. For the bulk of the population a movie is an easier way to enjoy a fun experience and reading rulebooks simply feels like work. Each to their own eh? I think the issue here in part is the fact that Pandemic is one of those titles that has hit more mainstream sections of the populace given its availability in department stores in the US for example. If Pandemic players who are not invested in the hobby to a larger degree pick up Legacy, well they could be forgiven for being overwhelmed.
The Commitment - This is rather obvious but perhaps not always considered. The reality is that playing through PL is actually a real commitment. It is going to take 12-17/18 sessions to play through and this could take months or up to a year depending on who is playing and how often your group can get together.
For some people I can see this being a turn-off rather than a turn-on. Playing through this baby will see other games left sitting on the shelf, neglected and sobbing into their box lids. My experience is that I only managed to get to 9 other games in Feb and March because I prioritised PL and played 7 games of it in the same time.
Of course the counter-argument is that the game offers pretty good value for money if you know for a fact that you will be getting a likely 14-18 plays out of it (how many other games in your collection get those numbers outside of your personal favourites)?
The Once Off Play Dilemma - Many people have and will continue to voice their concern about the fact that a Legacy game (or at least this one) requires its players to sticker the board, tear up cards and generally modify the game in some permanent way, which really makes playing the game again from the beginning an impossibility.
This is all true of PL and I respect people's viewpoint on the subject. If you don't like the thought of this then I would steer clear.
For me though this was not a problem at all as the experience is well worth that sacrifice. The game can be played as Pandemic at the end of the game's ongoing narrative, but I don't think I would play it that way, I would be retiring it and pulling it out years later to recount the memories.
The Final Word
For me Pandemic Legacy was simply a great time, shared with my partner (in both gaming and life) and we loved every minute of it. The challenge, the ongoing narrative and the surprises along the way made it a compelling and enjoyable experience, even in those moments where we got screwed (as Pandemic can do from time to time). Some comments from other gamers suggest that the story was relatively predictable and the mid-campaign drags on a bit long but we didn't find these things to be the case for us. It provided tension, moments of surprise and genuine enjoyment beyond what we get from most games or the vanilla version of the game. If I had to be critical, the ending was a little anti-climactic to some degree, but the journey was worth the end destination.
I wasn't a big fan of Pandemic before trying Legacy (in fact I had to play vanilla a few times to remind myself of the core mechanics) but having played through PL I have come to appreciate and enjoy the puzzle aspect of the game more. As such Annie and I are going to revisit the original and its expansions to continue exploring the system. That will tide us over nicely until Season 2 is released and we will see if they can create something new and fresh or if it feels a little regurgitated.
I do think this is just the tip of the iceberg for Legacy concepts and designs and that they will be expanded upon and evolve in the years to come. I for one look forward to what may lie ahead.
As for best player count, I can't really say. We played with 2 characters each and we found that easily doable without adding any real length to sessions, which averaged 50-65 minutes. I think a Pandemic Pro could play all 4 characters themselves and not have a problem but that would have been too much for me I think. But to put it into perspective, I don't have the greatest of solo gaming chops and a fair portion of my enjoyment here was in playing it with Annie and sharing the experience together.
Do you have to play with the full 4 count? Not at all as the game scales generally pretty well but I think it is just the done thing for most people.
If you haven't played a Legacy game yet or have considered PL but not dived in, I highly recommend you give the experience a shot. You just may love what you find.
But for all that I have covered, does the game deserve to be #1 on the BGG rankings? That is a heated discussion and brings in a number of factors such as how the BGG ranking system is worded and should a game that can only be played through once ever be considered for such a lofty position?
My view is that ratings and rankings are subjective at the best of times. But I like the notion that a game should be judged on the experience that it provides. For me the experience was most excellent and the current #1 ranking (as of April 2017) appears to suggest that this is the case for many gamers. What happens when Season #2 is released is anyone's guess and will no doubt open another can of worms in relation to the rankings. 
Till' next we meet. May your viruses stay docile and your latex protect you well!