Here Comes The Sun With Solenia

August 21, 2018 by cassn

Several millennia ago, the tiny planet Solenia lost its day-and-night cycle: Its northern hemisphere is forever plunged into darkness, and its southern hemisphere is eternally bathed in sunlight. Your mission is to carry on your ancestors' honorable task of traveling the world to deliver essential goods to the inhabitants of both hemispheres. While the Day people want you to deliver the rarest gems and stones, the Night people sorely need wood and wheat to survive. Be efficient and outpace your opponents to collect the most gold stars by the end of the game!

Solenia is a resource gathering game with a difference. Over 16 rounds, players must collect resources from floating islands and deliver them to the waiting cities bathed in daylight/twilight in exchange for victory points.

Each player has 16 cards, with one card being played on each turn. Cards are played on top of resources to determine the amount a player collects, however some cards have a zero value.

These cards are not used to collect resources, but rather move the airship in the sky forward, thereby moving the game board further into darkness or daylight.

Indeed, the board is perhaps the most interesting part of Solenia. Each time the airship moves, the back tiles of the board are disconnected and brought forward. This means that, sometimes, the board will be mostly daylight or darkness, and players need to adjust their quest for resources accordingly.

Solenia will be previewing at Essen later this year, and Sébastien Dujardin of Pearl Games is promising a Solenia booth with six tables.

It's good to see a company with such faith in a new release and I, for one, believe that with a concept and artwork like this, that faith is well-founded.

If I have one criticism, it is mere pedantry; this is not how the astrophysics of sunlight works. However, if I'm ever so lucky as to interview the man behind the design, I'll make sure to bring it up!

Regardless of my nit-picking, I can see this game being a huge success when it is released. It's certainly one I can't wait to play.

What is the most beautiful game you've ever played?