Beyond the Horizon takes the best parts of it’s older brother board game Beyond the Sun, and adds a more open, thoughtful way to explore and build. It’s a rich and generous civilisation game that rewards patience, even if the look and fiddly bits don’t quite match the fun you’ll have playing it.
Written by Chad Wilkinson
Beyond the Sun was a hit back in 2020, and so the prospect of a pseudo-sequel utilising its much loved fusion of worker-placement and tech-tree mechanics has been hotly anticipated. Consequently, given these gameplay similarities, this review adopts more of a comparison format where appropriate. I guess how helpful this is remains to be seen.
Beyond the Horizon is a mid-to-heavy-weight civilisation game built around a tried and tested tech-tree mechanic. Aside from thematically spanning across and branching through four eras of mankind’s historical technological progress on Earth rather than space (with celebrity appearances from Attila the Hun, Descartes, Einstein, and the refrigerator), Beyond the Horizon’s tech-tree is identical to its predecessor: Players will be taking actions to install ‘population’ markers on technology cards – starting from the left and branching out to the right – in accordance with certain prerequisites and their own strategies. Each technology grants an immediate bonus, victory points, and creates a new worker-placement spot for the players who have researched it. The winner will ultimately be the player who best utilises this expanding roster of actions to better their economy, build constructions, explore, and meet the requirements of goal cards.
So, we’ve established that the core idea between the two games is similar. Where the notable differences begin to appear is in the game’s ‘map area’. Here, Beyond the Horizon opts for dynamic hex-tile exploration over a static and more conflict-based area-control board. Presence on the map is now a gentler affair; being the first to gain the benefits when discovering a new area doesn’t lock anyone else out of reaping the rewards for establishing a village there. Even the logical next step – upgrading that area with a city – could be undertaken by anybody with the soldiers to do so. These are open borders and the game is much richer, more generous, and more strategically diverse for being so.
Admittedly, the combination of exploring, settling, and building upon the map, alongside strategic tech-tree decisions and the management of three development tracks results in a weighty experience but, with a touch of familiarity, it’s not unwieldy. Government cards, unique to each player, provide strong direction with their four tiers of special abilities, and the manner in which the tech-tree evolves also provides some subtle guidance. Cranio Creations are smart for referencing the success of Beyond the Sun and building upon its complexity in a way that manages to still feel sleek and streamlined – it just takes a little bit of patience to get there. Once it clicks, each game offers so much. Gameplay is moreish and generous, strategically satisfying, and packed with variability. With that said, I’m sure I can squeeze in a couple of faults.
In contrast to the bold, Spartan aesthetic of Beyond the Sun, the sequel brings things more down to Earth – which, in this case, means a splash of colour that still somehow manages to look beige and clinical. Admittedly, it probably looks exactly how those familiar with civilisation games would expect, but there’s little excitement when conforming to expectations. Also, in my opinion, Beyond the Sun’s clever use of dice is more intuitive than handling tiny cubes and wooden goblet shapes with tokens balanced on top. It’s far too fiddly and precarious for a game requiring so much table space that leaning over it is unavoidable.
Anyway, this subjective nitpicking feels almost insignificant in comparison to the overall experience the game offers. And so, like myself, I hope people can cast their eyes beyond the horizon, past the fiddliness and understandable yet tired conventional aesthetic, and truly experience this game. For euro fans and civ-building aficionados, this is an absolute must.
We consider it a Must-Play game.
Even its generic looks don’t stop this from being one of the best civilisation games out there. It’s an impressive refinement to an already refined game.
Designer: Dennis K. Chan, Adam Hill, Ben Pinchback, Matt Riddle
Publisher: Cranio Creations
Players: 2-4
Time: 20-45 minutes
Age: 8+
Price: £45