Game Play Review - Pandemic Legacy: Season 0

Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 is a game published by Z-MAN Games. This is the third of three games realeased in the Legacy series. This game is a prequel, preceded by Season 1 and Season 2, that takes place in 1962. The premise of the game is for players to take on the role of CIA agents working together, using multiple aliases, to travel the world in an effort to prevent a horrible bioweapon from being created. Like the previous two versions of this series, Season 0 consists of 12 months or sessions. Each month is played one or two times depending upon player success. At the end of the 12 months, players are rated on their combined successes throughout the year.

This post is broken into the following 3 sections, feel free to jump directly to one:

1. General summary - consisting of information about overall enjoyment, theme, replayability, and upgrades
2. Complexity - consisting of information about the rulebook, setup, player turns, and overall learning curve
3. Player turns - consisting of game type, game flow, rule you are likely to miss, and favorite aspect

Number of players we had: 3
Our play time (not including setup): 2 hours 10 minutes

Overall enjoyment

Our group has enjoyed playing the different seasons of Pandemic Legacy, having played all three seasons in their released order. It is worth noting that any of the three can be played at any time, as none is dependent upon the other. In general, we enjoy legacy games because of the changes that are made to the game throughout the campaign. These can include modifying game boards, characters, rules and even hidden items that are introduced as the game is played.

One thing we really like about this game is that while there are some commonalities between it and the previous two seasons, there are several things unique about this season. Some of these items include a new story line, new actions, different character abilities, lots more storyline including debriefs for both successful and failed objectives, new information and cards at the beginning of each new month and more.

Another thing we really like about the games in this series is that new elements are consistently being added. This means players have time to learn the basic game play and rules and should be comfortable with them before additional rules and items are added. The result of this is the game is less intimidating to learn, players can start more quickly and add to the foundation over time, and lastly, players are less likely to grow bored with game play and mechanics.

Also, each of these games is played cooperatively which means each player's turn is interactive so it feels like you are playing all the time.

Each game has 1 - 3 objectives that change throughout the game. Some are harder than others to achieve, but either way you get more information about the story at the end of a game. I'll be honest, Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 is a game that can be really hard to "win". This is intentional based on the subject matter it was created upon and makes it all that much more realistic. This also makes it feel so much more rewarding when you do pull off a win! Players also get to choose how to spend points on upgrades at the end of each game, though the amount of points varies based on success.

Lastly, there is some unpredictability to this game. When escalation cards are drawn, the target city comes from the bottom of the deck which means players have no idea what city will be picked. Also, players are often trying to manage multiple spreading infections on their turn. It is common for them to only be able to protect one of several cities meaning they are forced to guess which city they think will be turned over at the end of their turn.  Sometimes you get lucky and plan correctly, other times your luck runs out! The game is packed full of strategy, but there is also a bit of unknown and luck as well.

If we had to pick something that frustrated us it would be how quickly the escalation cards come up. It never seems like there are enough player turns between these!

Theme

The theme of the game incorporates Allied, Neutral and Soviet cities, passports for player aliases, a game board, an operations deck, a debrief book, and two sets of city cards in a very strong and consistent design.

Players get communications from their management officer, are often required to fill out intelligence reports that trigger other events (be really careful choosing your answers here!), chase other operatives, build teams, and much more. There is an operational deck whose cards are kept hidden until they are called into play by actions or month of game play, all of which follow the theme and increase the level of suspense throughout the game.

Replayability

This game is played over 12 months. If players win during the first play in any month, they move on to the next month. If players failed at any objectives their first time playing in any month, they play that month again. No month is ever played less than one time or more than two times. At the end of each of the games in this series, once you finish the 12th month the game is no longer playable. Keep in mind, some legacy games are done once you finish the campaign, while others are still able to be played albeit in a slightly different manner.

Upgrades

There are no upgrades for this game as far as I know.

Rule book

The rule book is very well organized and easy to follow. As the months go on there are more and more rules added to the rule book and game board. Sometimes you will need to reference these to remind yourself of all the things you can do on your turn and the consequences of certain actions.

Luckily, most of the rules have a symbol next to them related to their context which often matches a symbol on the player board or cards. There is also a nice 2-page spread discussing and showing how to set up each game.

Most importantly, there are player aide cards for each player. As new rules are added to the game, these rules are also added as stickers to the player aides. This makes it really easy for players to refresh their mind of the actions they can take without slowing the game down. The player aides are a really useful tool, especially once the number of rules starts to expand.

Setup

Setting up a game takes 25 - 35 minutes. The actual setup takes around 15 - 20 minutes, then players need to choose the aliases they want to use and share the skills their characters have so everyone can help make the best use of each player's turn in an effort to win. The set up process is not difficult, it is simply a series of steps that takes a little time to go through.

Below is a picture of the game board mid-game but with some areas blurred because our board has been modified during play and I don't want to spoil any of the surprises.

Turns

One of the greatest aspects about player turns in this game is that since it is a cooperative game, regardless of whose turn it is, everyone is providing input. Threats on the player board grow and spread quickly, so each player is often planning out their turn and sharing ideas about how they can best utilize their turn based on their unique abilities. This allows all players to help decide who should be doing what based on which player has the most efficient abilities as well as resources to accomplish other important tasks.

Overall learning curve

The overall learning curve of Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 is moderate. While the rules are not overly complex, there are a decent amount of them and they grow over time. However, since every player has the same actions with only a few unique abilities, the rules are easy to follow. Additionally, with cooperative play, players are often reminding each other of the different things they could be doing on their turn to make the best of each action. This means even if you forget something, someone else will likely remind you. After all, you are in it together!

Play type

Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 is a cooperative legacy game with elements of hand management and set collection. While the game is symmetrical, players' agents have variable powers that develop throughout the campaign using game-end upgrades. Lastly, there is an element of story-telling as the game begins with a strong setup for the game. Each new month brings more information, objectives and behind the scenes information. Additionally, as you fail or succeed to meet objectives, you learn a little more about your goals from your CIA contact manager and where to go from there.

Game flow

The game flow is very fluid without delays between player turns. As mentioned above, since each character has different specializations and abilities, and this is a cooperative game where everyone wins or loses together, there is no lag between turns. Most player turns consist of a small conversation about which threats on the board are most likely to cause an incident, what that player's character can do and what the next player(s) can accomplish on their turn(s).

The only thing that slows game play is when the threats on the board start to overwhelm players (which inevitably will happen) and players are forced to prioritize their actions. Should you remove threats before they spread? Meet an objective so you can get a little more information? Build a safehouse? There are so many choices!

Rule you are likely to forget/miss

The one rule you are likely to miss is that if an incident occurs in the city you are in, your current alias loses one cover. This can have catastrophic results, including burning that alias, and is completely unpredictable. If an alias is burned, you must use a different alias which will have completely different skills! There are additional ways to lose cover, but this is the one we found ourselves forgetting.

Favorite aspect

Our favorite aspect of Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 is how the game is constantly changing in complexity the longer you play it. Additionally, each game in the series has some familiar elements, as well as lots of things that are different. For example, one season begins with only a few land masses and as the game progresses, other areas are uncovered. Season 0 allows players to create several aliases that can be used at different times. Some seasons require players to remove cubes while others require players to add them. In essence, many of the actions players can take are similar, but the specifics differ enough that each game is interesting and unique in its own way.

All in all we have enjoyed playing the Pandemic Legacy series, including Season 0. My personal favorite was Season 2 because I loved developing the map over time, but all of them have been fun to play. The one thing that is important to remember is that this game is not meant to be easy to win or to be able to stay on top of all the threats. This means sometimes you will be successful, and other times you will fail. Either way this game is very engaging for all players, is fun, and develops a theme that really carries throughout the game.