With the rubric Liberty of thought we intend to share with you our opinion about many contents.
In this edition, we talk about the game Nova Lux which is currently with a campaign running on Kickstarter, founded in only fourteen hours.
We were directly contacted by the game publisher, Dragon Egg Games, who has given us access to a print and play version of the game to test.
Nova Lux
Official Image - Nova Lux
Game: Nova Lux
Designer: Max Robbins
Publisher: Dragon Egg Games
Players: 1-6
Time: 45-90 m
Language dependency: Yes
Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonegggames/nova-lux
Official page: https://www.dragonegggames.com/
The story behind the scenes
In a time where the universe is almost collapsed, with all the starts starting to become nothing more than cosmic dust, black holes and wormholes, we are aliens trying to be alive in the Planetary Arks of Salvation.
For doing that, we need to collect as many hydrogen as we can from the starts before they all collapse. It is all that we need to provide oxygen, water, life forms and artifacts that will help us on the existing chaos.
On the table
Talking about the components
In the print and play version for testing it were available all the pieces needed to try out the game as we see it in the Kickstarter campaign, already with the art as it shows and their high color contrast. Maybe not so ink-friendly for testing material but we think the excellent image quality was print ready for a final version of the components.
We had to use a pair of dice, some colored cubes and a couple of wooden components that we borrowed from other games and from our box of spare parts.
Player setup
Breaking the rules
Nova Lux can be played in solo mode or in a group from two to six players which will be playing until the first one is able to establish their own colony and then satisfying their personal faction cards requirements.
The rulebook that was given with the testing kit is short and concise and the only doubts remaining are related to some of the specific factions abilities and requirements. They were not all detailed in this testing rulebook but we believe they will be in the final version that will be produced.
During gameplay
General Review
In general, we can state that the game concept is simple and very straightforward. Being mainly based in a resource management and trading system it is a matter of time until someone have their own producing engine ready.
We like the theme and the way that each star can evolve during the gameplay, turning into a Neutron star, black hole, wormhole or just cosmic dust, but only after going from a Yellow star to a Red Giant star by harvesting their hydrogen - that is a more scarce resource that it may seem.
The initial card drafting for faction cards is also interesting, considering you have to try and balance your end game requirements. Some may take more time to achieve but you can combine them or achieve them without depending on the other players conditions. Others may be quicker but more dependent of the other players status of play, which you may not want.
Another thing we enjoyed was the fact that you can choose your own path when you meet another player in the same solar system. You can go by the easy way of trading some resources with them, or you can go all the way through attacking them to try and steal some resources. However, you are left with the luck of a dice roll that will sum up to your lowest resource count. If your opponent gets a higher sum, you are the one to be stolen for, opposing to what you were expecting.
If you like the thematic on Nova Lux go check their Kickstarter campaign, ending in less than two days. We will also keep our eyes open for more news regarding Impendium, a standalone game that takes place following the events of Nova Lux and being developed with an estimate date on 2021. In addition, both games are supposed to integrate with each other, being able to use the faction cards from Nova Lux in Impendium.