Brilliant

Sol: Last Days of a Star is a rather ingenious resource management game set in outer space. Players take control of a fleet of ships attempting to siphon off enough energy from a dying sun to allow their colony ship to escape a doomed solar system.

The game has some really interesting mechanics involving movement, positioning, and generating and spending resources. Your main ship is moving slowly around the outer edge of the board. You have to launch smaller ships and position them in particular ways in order to build the other structures that you will need to generate energy, which then allows you to build more of those smaller ships, and also accumulate momentum, the points that will determine the game's winner.

All the while, the game is counting down by way of a deck of cards that are drawn. What you build and where you build it determines how many cards you draw at the end of your turn, so each player's actions will make the game end come faster or more slowly. Additionally, cards drawn can give you different powers and abilities to use.

It's a simple, elegant game with a lot of significant decisions to make, and very little random chance. The countdown mechanic creates some tension and urgency, while also making sure the game doesn't take too long to play and providing lot of variation between games thanks to the different special abilities the cards give you. It is a terrific game.

But that's not why I bought it.

I bought this game because it is absolutely gorgeous to look at. The graphic design isn't just top-notch, it is stunning, and incredibly well balanced. The design accommodates the game play perfectly, and at no point does it look like one had to compromise for the other. Everything about the look of this game is exceptional. Seriously, graphic design students should study it as a piece of exceptional design.

Imagine my relief when it turned out to be an excellent game too.

Rating: 5 (out of 5) An incredible game design, both visually and mechanically.

• Sol: Last Days of a Star official website
• Sol: Last Days of a Star on BoardGameGeek