EGO (Extraterrestrial Greeting Organization) is a game from publisher Bitewing Games that remakes the older Reiner Knizia design Beowulf. EGO adjusts the setting drastically as players shift from a comrade to a mighty hero to playing as planetary ambassadors visiting alien civilizations. The shift is also made apparent with new artwork and illustration from Marie Bergeron, which modernizes the remake significantly.
Are the fresh setting and vibrant colors enough to bring this design out of the pagan mead halls of yore? And will players have enough presence to impress the alien emissaries rather than anger their sensibilities? Let’s hop in our solitary ship and push our luck together.
Gameplay Overview:
EGO features both push-your-luck and auction-style gameplay. It is card-driven and finds players on a predetermined path in a single ship together as they complete major and minor events across the galaxies. Setup requires five civilization boards to be arranged in the center of the table, the first being a Solar System board and the final being the Arrival board. The three in between these are chosen at random from four available options and placed between the other two.
Players begin with a hand of five cards and a random alliance token from a draw bag. These tokens feature coins or points that can be used for exchanges throughout the game. Cards come in four different suits, with a fifth suit being a wild icon. Cards are the currency that makes it possible to impress the civilizations you visit along the way. They are used in major negotiation events, minor risk events, and several other exchanges. Each card features one or two icons of the matching suit.
The path of the ship that represents all players’ travels from column to column on each board, from top to bottom in the case of multiple rows, as it navigates from our solar system to the final arrival board. Each stop features an event that all players participate in, with the mission leader (first player) typically being the first to engage. The mission leader may change when major events occur.
Minor events come in a variety of flavors. Players may draft new cards, resupply cards or tokens, or even take a risk for more cards. Minor risks find players drawing from the central deck of cards, hoping to match suit to specific icons. Players gain the cards that match, but if some of the cards do not match, this can offend the locals and come with a penalty.
Some penalties require players to get rid of a token they’ve gained. But the major penalty is always the Offense Tokens. These tokens begin to accumulate in player inventory and affect end-game scoring. A player with zero at the endgame receives twenty points, whereas a player with eleven or more loses forty points. Being mindful of offense is important for players wanting to remain competitive, and there is a helpful player aid that allows you to keep track of your current penalty points.
There are two types of major events during play. Each civ board features only one of these. Either players take on a negotiation event that requires them to play cards with icons that match the event, or they take on a one-time auction by showing cards with the correct icons at the same time. During negotiation, players take turns playing up to the current max icon amount on the table or passing. Players who pass first receive the worst rewards, whereas those who play more cards can come away with great resources.
Upon reaching the final board, there is one final major event where players can complete with any card suit. Then there is a final opportunity to swap icons and tokens for points before moving to the final reckoning related to offense tokens. The player with the most points after the reckoning wins the game.
Game Experience:
A game of EGO takes about an hour and can play from two to five players. It’s best at four players, though five can be fun as well with everyone invested (to keep it from overstaying its welcome). Play is an on-rails movement experience with players making decisions to participate in minor events and building their card supply for major events. Cards are the necessary resource and can be boosted further by gaining tokens along the way.
Each of the civilization boards has a bit of uniqueness, with the Sinister System being the most punishing and the Treasure System being the most rewarding. I prefer to always use the Sinister System as it makes the full route more interesting. The other civ boards don’t do much to provide unique stops along the way, and the game could use more variety in this regard.
EGO does come with extension boards that provide more events to partake in. It also has an expansion, cheekily named ID, that also provides additional stopping points between the mainstay civilization boards. These do offer new events and potential penalties, but they only extend the game and do little to provide further offerings for the base experience (which is best in my opinion).
My favorite of the minor events is the risk event, if only due to the unpredictable nature of how many cards you gain. But it is also one of the events that derails the game with its wild swings. A player who is lucky during risks can run away with the win. And that’s an important aspect of this game to know going in. Risks can also be taken during major events, and they feel more attached to this area.
Luck mitigation is present, but doesn’t do enough to make EGO anything but a too-long filler experience. Each location visited is an exercise of going around the table, checking in on whether players want to participate (when optional) or taking turns playing out cards. Even in larger player counts, there’s not enough weight to make major events feel major. It feels like the game is missing an arc to give it something to hold onto.
I do like the decision to keep information visible. Players can see which icons they need for upcoming events. They can see how many times they can potentially remove offense. They know how many cards each player has in hand. But outside of alliance tokens that remain face down and hidden, it is easy to see where you stand in relation to your competition. And falling behind feels bad here.
There are other aspects of the system that I feel could’ve used more attention. The alliance tokens only provide coin or points. These could’ve been expanded to either lean into the risk/reward or provide further mitigation. The choice of adding coin icons to some cards is great, so that they can be utilized as a different resource. Could other icons be added to cards to give them multiple uses?
Final Thoughts:
Bitewing Games has included information in the rulebook about how they’ve updated the design for a modern audience. I feel that they’ve provided a nice modern refresh, but have stayed too close to the original design (even while improving upon it). EGO is begging to be both a simple auction game as well as a thematic space exploration with resource exchange and epic risks. It didn’t quite find its identity during my plays, and I cannot determine if there’s a place for it in my collection. But I do give Bitewing credit for attempting to bring an older design out of the ashes and into the cosmos. The refresh is commendable. Upon arrival, though, the gameplay didn’t quite live up to Marie Bergeron’s bold ark style.
Final Score: 2.5 stars – EGO looks great but lacks the gravity to keep me from floating on.
Hits:
• Vibrant art style
• Risk events
• Open board information
Misses:
• Very luck driven
• Major events feel minor
• Runaway leader
Source: Board Game Quest
