Lux Aeterna Review
Image: Surprise Stare Games
INTRODUCTION
When I was but a wee lad, growing up I thoroughly enjoyed the art of drawing. Coming home from school I would make myself a cup of cocoa and then sketch for hours on end, often drawing inspiration from the iconic works of Masamune Shirow and Katsuhiro Otomo. And even though I am not much of an artist these days, illustrations as a medium of telling stories has always been dear to my heart. This is true for board games as well, as evident by the fact that the first thing that piques my interest about a game is the artwork. Such is the case with Lux Aeterna, a solitaire card game designed by Tony Boydell and published by Surprised Stare Games which features a rather striking art direction. The question though is whether or not there is any actual substance to be had behind the awfully pretty façade.
Full disclosure: a review copy of Lux Aeterna was kindly provided by publisher Surprised Stare Games Ltd.
COMPONENTS
There is no question that Lux Aeterna is an absolutely stunning game from an aesthetic point-of-view. I am confident saying that the illustrations by Alex Lee ranks amongst some of the finest I have ever seen, to a certain degree bearing a resemblance of the iconic work by the late artist Jean Giraud. On more than one occasion I found myself losing the game on account of the timer running out simply because I was too absorbed by the artwork, it really is captivating. The rest of the components are of standard quality, I do agree with Tom Vasel’s assessment that the included dice are a bit too small and therefore difficult to handle in the heat of the moment but otherwise this is a solid little production from publisher Surprised Stare Games.
The artwork by Alex Lee is beyond anything I have ever seen. Photo: Fredrik Schulz
OVERVIEW
“Mayday! Mayday! Can anyone hear me?! If you can hear me, please respond to this communication! This is the captain of the Lux Aeterna.”
In the farthest corner of space, the hulking interstellar vessel known as Lux Aeterna drifts helplessly through the void; its wings clipped by the onslaught of a meteor storm. Caught in the pull of a nearby black hole, the ship is at risk of being engulfed by the gravitational singularity from which not even light itself can escape. The artificial cries of the onboard warning systems echo trough the hallways as you frantically try to repair the ship before time runs out.
Lux Aeterna is a solitaire card game where you take on the role of the ship’s captain trying to keep the interstellar vessel out of harm’s way, whilst simultaneously repairing the systems needed to regain control and escape impending doom. In order to succeed you will need to restore enough systems to operational status, alternatively steer the Lux Aeterna away from the gravitational pull of the black hole long enough for a rescue party to arrive. Each of the onboard systems is represented by a colour-coded card and a matching six-sided die, the latter is used to keep track of damage and repair over the course of the game. During set-up one of each of the six systems are drawn at random, allowing for a great degree of variation from game to game. Another aspect of the design that I really enjoy is how the game scales in terms of difficulty by increasing and decreasing the starting position on the black hole proximity track. Beginning the game closer to the singularity increases the difficulty considerably but also earns you a greater amount of points at the end of the game should you survive the ordeal. It is a simple yet effective way of tailoring Lux Aeterna to your personal taste, giving the game more longevity.
The Black Hole Proximity Track monitors the distance between Lux Aeterna and the singularity. Photo: Fredrik Schulz
At its core, Lux Aeterna is structured around the implementation of multi-use cards and the effect they apply to either the integrity of the ship or the distance to the black hole. In addition, each card also provides some form of special effect that impacts certain aspects of the game, allowing you to manipulate the system dice or granting you the opportunity to move further away from the singularity. At the start of each turn you will draw four or more cards from the main deck, from this selection you then have to decide which card to allocate to each of the four slots on the Console which functions as an action selection module. Each slot utilises one particular aspect of the chosen card, for example the Event causes the matching system to sustain a certain amount of damage resulting in the die value ticking down. Should the integrity of the system in question ever reach zero then it is considered collapsed, resulting in a negative effect coming into play either as a one-shot affair or a persistent ongoing degradation to the ship. The opposite also holds true, where repairing a system beyond a die value of six results in the structure becoming operational which is one of the prerequisites for winning the game.
If the Event is the cause of the degradation of the ship’s systems, then the Action slot acts as the counterpart allowing you to manipulate the value of the dice in order to avoid a collapse. Cards assigned to the Speed portion of the console dictate the number of steps the ship token advances towards the ominous black hole, initially it may seem like an added step or two will not make that big of a difference but neglect it and suddenly the Lux Aeterna is one square away from total annihilation. The final decision is to assign one card to the Cache slot, allowing you to carry over one card into the following turn of the game. This may seem like the least exciting part of the game but actually I found that the Cache can prove to be an instrument of vital importance for surviving, seeing how it sometimes can be in your favour to hold on to a card that may not provide any situational benefits but at the same time not running the risk of triggering a costly move action or causing damage to a system that is in a critical state.
Assigning cards to each of the four slots on the Console allows you to perform the main actions of the game. Photo: Fredrik Schulz
The thing that elevates Lux Aeterna from being a rather pedestrian affair of card optimization and hand management is the fact that the game is played in real-time. Once the first card is drawn from the top of the deck you only have 15 minutes to either repair enough systems to get the interstellar vessel operational, alternatively cycling through the entire deck of cards before the time runs out symbolising you holding on long enough for rescue to arrive. The implementation of a real-time element results in a game that is surprisingly thematic and one that I was not expecting when sitting down to play Lux Aeterna for the first time. Much like our protagonist the pressure of repairing the ship before the singularity engulfs it is tangible from the very first card-draw down to the last second of the countdown. Further adding to this tension is the fact that you have to make split-second decisions regarding which of the ship’s systems to prioritise. Repairing all of the onboard systems is not a win condition onto itself, meaning that it can sometimes be in your best interest to simply focus on a smaller subset rather than spreading yourself too thin. One thing though that you cannot afford to neglect is the Glitch cards and the havoc they wreak on the systems of the ship. Four of these cards are chosen at random and shuffled into the main deck as part of setup, each inflicting some form of serious negative effect. One card might cause you to move the Lux Aeterna a certain number of spaces towards the black hole, another one will result in damage inflicted on certain systems. In order to counteract these glitches, as an action certain cards will allow you to search through the deck and remove the first glitch card you encounter essentially buying you more time before the next calamity occurs.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Once again, the idiom “good things come in small packages” holds true as Lux Aeterna definitely is a game that manages to provide a rich, engaging thematic experience using nothing more than a deck of cards and a handful of dice. I love when a board game manages to subvert my preconceived notions, especially when the game in questions combines interesting mechanisms with beautiful artwork both of which Lux Aeterna has in spades.
