Review: Beyond the Sun

Introduction & Overview

The First Thermonuclear War was unkind to Earth. Over the last two centuries, civil unrest and climate change continued to devastate all regions of the world. Crop yields were plummeting, resources were depleting, and poverty and crime were rampant. Humanity was facing extinction. The solution seemed clear: leave Earth and find a new home among the stars. Faced with the prospect of annihilation, the remaining factions on Earth united. On New Year’s Eve 2240, the Scientific Exchange Treaty was signed at the former site of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The world’s resources were poured into space research, and all discoveries were shared on a global network. For the first time in history, humanity acted as one. In just six short years, engineers at the Nishida-Ostergaard Corporation, under the leadership of Dr. Edmund Saito, developed a technology that was shared with the rest of the world. Humanity had finally entered the space age. Shortly after this key discovery, other factions also researched primitive terraforming techniques, radiation-resistant crops, asteroid mining, and other essential components for human survival outside the solar system. Countless expeditions were launched toward exoplanets each month. Now that a solution has been found, the ambition for power and control stirs within each faction once again…

This is the premise of Beyond the Sun, a debut design by Dennis K. Chan. The game was published in 2020 by Rio Grande Games in an English edition. The illustrations are handled by Franz Vohwinkel (Puerto Rico, Targi, Tichu, 6 nimmt!).

It is not published in Spanish, so, as of the date of this review, you would need to get an import copy (the game is quite language-dependent). It accommodates 2 to 4 players with a recommended minimum age of 14 and an approximate duration of between 60 and 120 minutes. The retail price is €67. For this review, a copy of the English edition by Rio Grande Games was used.

Important: if you already know the game and/or are only interested in my opinion about it, you can go directly to the Opinion section. The Content and Mechanics sections are especially intended for those who do not know the game and prefer to get a general idea of how it works.

Go to Personal Opinion

Components

Inside a two-piece cardboard box (lid and bottom), measuring 35.6×20.3×6 cm (similar to Power Grid, though slightly deeper), we find the following components:

• Technology Board (cardboard)
• Exploration Board (cardboard)
• 96 Cards (56×87 mm):
  • 46 Technology Cards
  • 26 Event Cards
  • 24 System Cards
  • 10 Achievement Cards
• 4 Guild Tiles (cardboard)
• 2 Navigation Tiles (cardboard)
• 2 Technology Supply Strips (cardboard)
• 8 Faction Mats (cardboard)
• 60 Ore (plastic)
• 80 Resource Cubes (plastic)
• 96 Production Discs (24 in each color) (wood)
• 4 Action Pawns (1 in each color) (wood)
• 4 Reference Sheets (cardboard)
• Rulebook

How to Play

Beyond the Sun is a game whose primary mechanics are worker placement and the development of a tech tree. On each turn, the active player must choose an available action space and place their action pawn on it to trigger the corresponding effect. Following this, the player executes a production phase in which they can grow population, produce ore, or trade between them. The game features a tree of four technology disciplines branching across four levels. Level I is available from the start for players to research, whereas in the subsequent levels, players themselves will choose among the cards available in a display. Through these technologies, players will upgrade their faction mats by uncovering spaces on their production tracks and drawing down their population reserves, all with the goal of colonizing systems that require sending ships with sufficient military strength. In each game, common achievements are revealed that act as the game-end trigger once a certain number of player markers have been placed on them.

Key Concepts

Let us start with the core pillar of the game, the Technology Board. Its left side features action spaces representing the basic actions of the game: a main action area along with four spaces that are initially unavailable. To the right lies the hierarchical tech tree, structured into four interconnected levels. Each level of technology awards victory points at the end of the game.

Technology Cards are placed on these spaces. They belong to one or two disciplines (Economic, Military, Scientific, and Commercial), represented by colored arrows on the left strip. The center of the card displays its effects, which may be one-time (upon research) or action spaces (opening new action opportunities for players who research them). Meanwhile, the right edge displays one of the four disciplines, setting a prerequisite for researching a next-level technology that branches off it. When researching a technology, a player must have researched all prerequisite technologies connected from the previous level and choose one of the disciplines specified by those prerequisites.

Before technologies are researched, these spaces are covered by Event Cards. Whenever a player researches a new technology, they first read the event card occupying that space and resolve its effect. These effects are generally positive and can benefit either just the active player or all players.

To activate the various action spaces, each player has a hexagonal prism-shaped Action Pawn that they move between the available spaces. An action space can only be occupied by a single pawn, although some actions offer more than one space. On every turn, the active player is required to move their pawn to a different action space.

On the other side, we have the Exploration Board, which depicts Deep Space at its center connected by jump routes to several card spaces and permanent shipyard systems. These shipyard systems feature production icons (green food and orange ore).

System Cards are placed on these spaces, representing the various systems that players can visit, control, and colonize. These cards indicate a victory point value, a minimum military power required for colonization, a colonization effect, and optionally, entry or control bonuses. Additionally, systems also feature food and/or ore production spots.

Ore serves as the primary currency in the game, which players must gather in order to perform most actions on the board.

The other key resource management element is the Resource Cubes. These are six-sided dice showing a blank supply cube icon on one face (their base state), a person icon to represent population on another, and a spaceship icon with a combat value from 1 to 4 on the remaining four faces. Through various actions, players will convert these cubes from one state into another.

We also have Production Discs. These track each player’s growth in population growth capacity and ore production, as at the end of each turn the player selects what to produce (population or ore) based on their uncovered tracks. Discs are moved from faction mats to the automation track or to systems displaying the corresponding icons. A third group of discs is reserved for claiming achievements.

At the start of the game, four Achievement Cards are set up, presenting milestones players will race to complete as early as possible—some are limited to a certain number of players, while others award higher points the earlier they are claimed. Two common achievement cards are always present in every game, alongside two more chosen randomly from two small decks.

Finally, each player receives a Faction Mat that acts as their command center. It features die-cut slots to house resource cubes and production discs. Initially, cubes sit in columns aligned with the food production track; as food discs are cleared, columns of resource cubes are unlocked for population growth (allowing you to draft a cube from each uncovered column). Ore discs steadily boost ore output by summing the visible values printed beneath them. Across the top row runs the automation track, where players can place food and ore discs to both free up slots on their production tracks and score victory points. Furthermore, the faction mats are asymmetric, featuring unique special abilities and distinct component setups.

That is enough to get started.

Preparación de la Partida

1. Place the technology board in the center of the table.
2. Place the 4 guild tiles onto the guild action spaces.
   • In games with fewer than 4 players, place the corresponding navigation tile.
3. Separate the event cards by type (Level II and Level III). Find the two light-bordered cards in each deck. Shuffle the remaining cards of each deck and draw 4 at random. Shuffle the 6 cards of each level (the 4 drawn plus the 2 light-bordered cards) and place them randomly onto the Level II and Level III spaces on the technology board.
4. Separate the technology cards by level and shuffle each deck separately. Place the 4 Level I cards face up onto the Level I spaces on the technology board. Place the remaining decks to the side in a column.
5. Set up the two technology supply strips to form a grid (horizontal for disciplines, vertical for levels). For Level II technologies, reveal cards and place them in the first available slot that matches at least one of their two disciplines. Continue until there is a technology card filling the column for each discipline. If a drawn card matches disciplines that are already filled, place it on the bottom of the deck.
6. Place the two common achievement cards to the side of the table. Shuffle the two achievement decks (A and B) separately, draw one random achievement card from each deck, and place them beside the two common ones. Return the rest to the box.
7. Place the exploration board with the side matching the player count face up.
8. Locate the starting system cards from Deck A and place two of them (chosen at random) on the designated spaces. Return the other two to their deck. Shuffle the remaining system cards separated into Deck A and Deck B, leaving them face down nearby. Fill the empty system spaces on the exploration board by drawing from the appropriate deck.
9. Each player chooses a color and a faction (players decide whether to use basic or advanced factions) and receives: a faction mat, an action pawn, 8 food discs (placed on the food track), 8 ore discs (placed on the ore track), 8 achievement discs (set to the side), and 20 resource cubes (placing two as population in their supply, 1 as a Level 1 ship at Sol on the exploration board, and the rest as resources filling the columns of their faction mat).
   • In a 2-player game, the Disciples of the Cosmic Tabernacle faction cannot be chosen.
10. Form a general supply with the ore crystals.
11. Randomly select the starting player and give them the first player marker.
12. Based on turn order, the first and second players receive 1 ore each. The third and fourth players (if playing) receive 2 ore each.

We are ready to begin!

Game Flow

A game of Beyond the Sun is played over an indeterminate number of rounds. In each round, every player, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, takes a turn.

On their turn, the active player performs the following steps:

1. Move Action Pawn: The player must place their pawn on an unoccupied action space available to them (either from the basic action spaces or on technologies they have researched).
2. Execute Action: The actions available across the board include:
   • Research Technology: The player must assign a population cube to place on the newly researched technology (in addition to paying the cost indicated on the action space). Additionally, the new technology must be accessible, meaning the player has researched all preceding prerequisite technologies connected to it. If it is an undiscovered technology space, the player chooses one discipline among the prerequisites (if multiple exist) and either selects an available card from the supply display or reveals cards from the corresponding deck until one matches that discipline. Place the card on the space, reveal the underlying event card, and resolve its effect. If the new technology has an immediate effect, resolve it now.
   • Build Ships: The player places resource cubes as ships at Sol or at a controlled shipyard system.
   • Upgrade Ships: The player increases the military power of one or more of their ships, as indicated by the action.
   • Jump Ships: With each jump, the player moves a ship across connected routes. If entering a system where they now hold strictly greater military strength than any other player, they place a food or ore production disc on the newly controlled system (matching the icon shown). If the system was previously controlled by an opponent, that opponent takes their disc back. If a player leaves a system and another player becomes the sole leader in military strength, control passes to that player accordingly. If the system has an outpost bonus, it triggers when placing the disc.
   • Grow Population: The player takes resource cubes from their supply columns and converts them into population cubes in their personal reserve.
   • Automate: The player takes the leftmost food or ore disc from their faction mat and places it on the next available space of their automation track (from left to right).
   • Colonize a System: The player can permanently colonize a system they currently control, provided their deployed ships there meet or exceed the required military power. The player returns ships matching the required value back to their faction mat (converting them back to resource cubes in empty slots from right to left, bottom to top; they may return excess power if desired). All other remaining ships (their own and opponents’) are moved to Deep Space. The player claims the system card and places a new food or ore disc onto it (covering the existing spot or the alternate icon if available). From then on, the player enjoys the system’s permanent ability. Finally, a new system card is drawn from the corresponding deck and placed on the empty exploration board space.
3. Production: The player chooses one of the following options:
   • Grow Population: The player takes one resource cube from each column corresponding to a food space that has been uncovered and places it into their population supply. If a column has no cubes left, no cube is gained from that column.
   • Produce Ore: The player takes ore from the supply equal to the sum of the visible values uncovered on their ore production track.
   • Trade: The player may perform the following exchanges any number of times:
     • Pay 3 ore to convert their leftmost resource cube into a population cube.
     • Scrap a ship (located in any system) and pay 1 ore to convert it into a population cube.
     • Return a population cube from their supply to the rightmost available space on their faction mat to gain 1 ore from the supply.
4. Claim Achievements: The player checks whether they have met the requirements for any available achievements and places an achievement disc on the leftmost open spot of the corresponding card. Only one achievement may be claimed per turn (even if a player fulfills multiple achievements in a single turn, they must wait for subsequent turns to claim the rest).

Each faction possesses unique abilities that trigger under specific conditions when certain requirements are fulfilled.

After this, the turn passes to the player on the left.

Game End

The end of the game is triggered when the fourth total achievement disc (three in 2/3-player games), across all players, is placed on the achievement cards. The current round is finished, followed by one final complete round, after which end-game scoring takes place. Each player scores:

• 1/2/3 Points for each researched Level 1/2/3 technology.
• The victory points from researched Level 4 technologies.
• 2/3 Points for each researched Level 2/3 event technology.
• Victory points from occupied spaces on their automation track.
• Victory points from colonized systems.
• 1 Point for each disc on the exploration board.
• 1 Point for controlling Sol.
• 1 Point for controlling Deep Space.
• Victory points from event cards.
• Victory points from claimed achievements.

The player with the most victory points is the winner. In case of a tie, the following tiebreakers are applied in order:

• Highest combined food and ore production levels.
• Most available population cubes.
• Most ore crystals in supply.

If the tie persists, players share the victory.

Variants

Random Technologies: The technology supply strips are not used (return them to the box). Instead, whenever a player researches a new technology, they choose a valid discipline and reveal cards from the matching level deck until 2 eligible cards appear. They choose one to place and return the other to the bottom of the deck.

Personal Opinion

You know that gut feeling you get about a game from the very first moment you look at the box cover and read its title? That is precisely what happened to me with the title we are reviewing today. Beyond the Sun, true to its name, goes beyond. Let us see how.

In Beyond the Sun, we find a worker placement core mechanic, although in this particular case we only have a single pawn. This immediately rings a bell and brings to mind that masterpiece called Le Havre (here is its tocho-review) by our beloved Uwe Rosenberg—a game with which, in terms of feel, it shares far more common ground than one might initially suspect.

Using these actions, players develop technologies to enhance their capacity to grow population, produce ore, build and deploy spaceships, and control planetary systems.

Technologies are the linchpin of everything. On the one hand, they unlock advancements in population and ore, represented by two tracks from which we must pull discs to ramp up our engine—reminiscent of Terra Mystica (here is its tocho-review) or Clans of Caledonia (here is its tocho-review), where higher production is tied to “deploying” structures onto the board.

These technologies are structured in a four-tier tech tree, featuring four technologies at Level I, six at Levels II and III, and four at Level IV. There are four technology disciplines covering the foundational aspects of a civilization: Science, Economy, Commercial, and Military. Each technology belongs to one or two of these disciplines and sets a discipline prerequisite for any downstream technologies branching from it.

Thus, when a player researches a new technology, in addition to having researched all prerequisite technologies connected to that space from the left, they must select a discipline matching one of those prerequisites. And this, my friends, is where the magic happens.

At first glance, one might assume that with so few distinct resources (population, ore, technologies, and planets), the gameplay might feel thin. However, the initial arrangement of the starting technologies alone significantly reshapes the flow of each game, as the main board features a fixed branching structure that is not symmetrical. For instance, the Level I technologies placed in the first and second slots are closely intertwined going into Level II, whereas the third and fourth slots enjoy greater independence (the third slot even connects directly to a Level III technology path, provided an appropriate tech allows such leaps).

Add to this a generous deck of technologies at every level, and you get games that feel distinctly unique, where evaluating the optimal path is far from trivial. Ultimately, we are engaged in a race to accumulate the most victory points before the end-game is triggered—a timing controlled by the players through achieving milestones established at setup, which heavily influences decision-making.

There are always two fixed achievements in every game: reaching a Level IV technology and colonizing a fourth planet. These can be scored by all players, though speed is rewarded with higher points. On top of these, two additional achievements are added: one can only be claimed by a single player, while the other can be claimed by up to two players in a four-player game (otherwise, it remains exclusive to one). These two achievements serve, in a way, as the main competitive drivers of the match, creating a point swing that opponents must scramble to offset through alternative paths—and options are limited.

We thus find ourselves caught in a brisk race to research technologies as efficiently as possible to claim these goals. Fortunately, the game is not about researching technologies purely for the sake of researching them—a common trap in tech-tree designs, which often suffer from scripted paths that hurt replayability. Here, you must determine the optimal sequence to sustain a production tempo that continually supplies population on one hand, while maintaining enough ore output to fund high-level technologies (which demand population and escalating costs) and assert a presence in space on the other.

The exploration board is where direct player interaction occurs and where military power comes into play through maneuvering fleets across systems. The goal is to establish outposts to boost production capacity (both population and ore) and eventually colonize them, which doubles their output, awards end-game points, and, most importantly, grants exclusive access to a special ability. In other words, systems provide pathways for specialization that, combined with your technologies, enable potent combos to outpace your rivals.

Events introduce another layer of variability. To encourage players to research technologies (beyond simply upgrading faction engines), the player who establishes a new node in the tree triggers an event that is usually advantageous to them (though often benefiting opponents as well). These events inject a welcome dash of unpredictability, occasionally shifting a player’s strategy thanks to an unexpected bonus.

To top off the design, and echoing Terra Mystica and Clans of Caledonia once more, we have four distinct factions featuring both basic and advanced setups, unique production track layouts (in scoring and capacity), and faction abilities triggered under specific conditions.

And there you have it—all the key ingredients of Beyond the Sun. As I mentioned earlier, the main reference that comes to mind when discussing Beyond the Sun is Le Havre. Both designs operate in a similar vein, utilizing cards that unlock action spaces granting increasingly potent actions. Through these effects, you are essentially building momentum to push further and find the most efficient scoring engine, exactly as you do here.

The key difference is that while Le Havre features a more rigid progression in its buildings (aside from special buildings, they remain constant, with only their arrival order varying), Beyond the Sun boasts 46 distinct technology cards, of which only 20 appear in any single game, with only 4 being shared across every session. Even with fewer cards, the way they link together changes from game to game (unless the initial four setup identically and players make the exact same branch choices).

Naturally, another significant difference is that Beyond the Sun lacks the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head that is the feeding phase at the end of each round—an element that makes Rosenberg’s port city classic a tense squeeze, especially at four or five players (something I personally love, though I understand not everyone enjoys that pressure). Here, that pressure is replaced by competition on the exploration board, where players constantly vie for position and step on each other’s toes.

Sometimes opponents beat you to colonizing a system you had your eye on; other times they push back your engine by seizing control of a system where you had an outpost, forcing your disc back onto your faction mat, covering an unlocked slot, and potentially reducing your production. This highlights another clever mechanism: the automation track, representing industrial infrastructure on your home world that secures permanent production increases independent of space exploration (while yielding valuable victory points that can decide the game).

I also appreciate how flexible the game is regarding strategic pathways. Technologies and colonized systems open up specialized routes that let you lean into one area to support another. For instance, automating several food discs frees you from relying on space outposts for population growth, allowing you to focus your fleet on ore-rich systems. Conversely, if you push one track heavily and end up with an excess of population or ore, you can use trade actions to rebalance your economy.

As you can tell, I hold Beyond the Sun in very high regard. It faced the difficult challenge of living up to sky-high expectations, being my most anticipated release from the 2020 digital Essen Spiel. I am pleased to say it exceeded them. It is an elegant, approachable game with a crystal-clear premise—smooth, fast-paced, and intensely competitive, the kind where you are constantly planning your next turn (unless a rival snatches your action spot, earning some good-natured grumbling).

If there is one minor gripe, it concerns scaling. Given the race dynamic and positional friction on the exploration board, Beyond the Sun shines brightest at four players, provided downtime is kept in check (which should only be an issue with extreme analysis paralysis, as the game’s brisk flow is comparable to Concordia—clean, intuitive, and devoid of convoluted rules). At two players, military control carries heavier weight, and allowing an opponent unchecked dominance in space is dangerous, whereas at four players, the organic balance of power means keeping a massive fleet at all times is less mandatory.

Still, that is a minor quibble for a game that performs so brilliantly on the table. Another fitting comparison in the 4X realm is Clash of Cultures (here is its tocho-review), where the tech tree plays a crucial role. However, while in civilizational designs it acts as a guiding framework, in Beyond the Sun it represents nearly 70% of the gameplay, giving it a distinctive mechanical flavor. It is worth emphasizing this distinction so players do not come in expecting an action-heavy space opera. Beyond the Sun is a Eurogame through and through, with focused, calculated interaction that shapes the match without devolving into chaotic conflict.

I suspect that as international editions roll out, an expansion will follow to introduce new concepts and expand the technology card pool for even greater variety. While synergies differ each game, the underlying card effects can feel somewhat familiar across plays, given that the core levers remain consistent (production, fleet building, colonization, and researching tech).

Turning to component quality, the production adheres to traditional Rio Grande Games standards, resulting in a mixed bag. On the positive side, the resource cubes—the same dice seen in Roll for the Galaxy (though not rolled here)—and the translucent black ore gems work well. The cards sit in average territory, featuring standard thickness, smooth finish, and moderate snap (sleeving is optional since cards are only shuffled during setup and not held in hand, though always good for protection). The technology and exploration boards have decent thickness and density, but the faction mats feel thin; despite being dual-layered to hold pieces in place, they feel somewhat flimsy. It is fairly common to find them slightly warped due to the adhesive and thin cardboard layers. The rulebook is well-structured, with plenty of examples addressing edge cases clearly.

The graphic design is perhaps the other weak spot. The box cover is striking and effectively sets the theme. The cards, however, lean into a very spartan, utilitarian aesthetic aimed at clarity, making the table presence look more like a flowchart than a board game. While that visual clarity is welcome during play (save for subtle icons like researching previously discovered techs), it does not have high table appeal at a glance. Personally, I will take clean functionality over visual clutter any day.

And let’s wrap this up. Beyond the Sun blends single-pawn worker placement across an evolving tech tree with tight area control on a shared exploration board. Engine building through population and ore management meshes seamlessly with a constant race for milestones and sharp spatial competition where every contested outpost matters. Turns are swift, elegant, and tense, keeping players fully engaged throughout. While the thematic breadth of the technology cards is somewhat narrow, the rich strategic flexibility, sharp interaction, and sheer satisfaction of charting new paths make the game deeply rewarding and replayable. For all these reasons, I give it a…