Review
Sanctuary
Sanctuary distils the Ark Nova flavour into a much more approachable tile-drafting game without making the decisions trivial. It is a very pleasant design; I would still usually choose its larger sibling.
- Published
- 2025
- Designer
- Mathias Wigge
- Publisher
- Feuerland Spiele, Capstone Games, Cranio Creations
- Players
- 1–5
- Playing time
- 100 min
Ark Nova split my group: lots of moving parts, a fair amount of luck, and the lofty ambition of becoming a Terraforming Mars killer. Sanctuary performs the familiar light-version manoeuvre. It tastes of Ark Nova and smells of Ark Nova, but the machinery has been trimmed back. There is a little of the lighter Cascadia in its silhouette as well.
At its centre is straightforward tile drafting. You take tiles, build your possibilities around them, and try not to leave the exact useful piece for someone else. Ark Nova's weight is absent, but not the need to think; the clean surface still asks for proper choices.
Sanctuary performs the familiar light-version manoeuvre.
TheTrainSpotter
Push-your-luck supplies the tension, while strategy comes from judging when to press and when a safe pick is sufficient. Interaction is the quiet, pointed kind: watch the shared draft, work out what the others need, then decide whether denying it is worth your own detour. The interesting decision is that balance.
We liked it a great deal, and it plays with notable ease. Even so, on any given Sunday I would choose the larger Ark Nova: Sanctuary is an elegant distillation, not a replacement.
Even so, on any given Sunday I would choose the larger Ark Nova: Sanctuary is an elegant distillation, not a replacement.
TheTrainSpotter
Source: BoardGameGeek
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