Sanctuary

Given the success of Mathias Wigge's Ark Nova (Feuerland Spiele/Capstone), it was no surprise that the same designer's new game Sanctuary was one of the most sought-after titles at Spiel Essen 2025. It's sub-titled as an Ark Nova game and it has obvious similarities with its predecessor but Sanctuary isn't a standalone sequel and it certainly isn't the 'reimplementation' suggested by its listing on BoardGameGeek. Rather, Sanctuary is a tile-drafting, engine-building game where players are creating their own individual tableaus where the tiles establish points-scoring synergies.

There's a solitaire option but the competitive game takes 2-5 players. Each has their own board that can accommodate up to 23 large hexagonal tiles and, on your turn, you'll be drafting a tile from the market display of six tiles. These variously show animals, experts and buildings, and their icons indicate animal types, habitats and continents - any of which might be relevant for scoring, mostly for tile adjacency. You won't usually be able to take just any tile of your choosing from the display: tiles are stacked 1-6 and you can generally only take a tile at the level that corresponds to the position indicated by the pointer on your action card. Likewise, you can only place the tile of an animal or expert if the corresponding action tile is at or above the number indicated on the tile. Using a card moves it to the left of the other cards and will usually then move the other titles to the right, increasing the numbers.

You can claim set collection bonus points for having two, three, four or five of whatever icons are indicated in the random set up, and you can upgrade your action cards but that's pretty much the entirety of the rules, making Sanctuary a game that's quick and easy to learn. It's a challenge tho' to work out where best to place the tiles you draft so that you are maximising their scoring potential. There are extra points for having adjacent mating pairs but as your board fills you may not have the luxury of leaving space for a mate. It's satisfying when you create high-scoring synergies but it's undeniably frustrating too to have potentially high-scoring tiles in your 'hand' (or rather on one of the nifty tile racks that come with the game) and find you cannot place them because they incorporate very specific placement requirements.

The tile selection and placement in Sanctuary then becomes a puzzle optimisation exercise. This is a game with no 'take that' interactions: you may find yourself in competition with other players for a specific tile in the market display but, other than that, Sanctuary is multiplayer solitaire. There isn't even competition for the set collection bonuses: if you claim the bonus for having four Africa icons on your board it doesn't stop me from staking exactly the same claim. Some may decry this but it's actually a key strength of the design. You'll win or lose on the 'engine-building' decisions you take over tile selection and placement on your individual board without having to look over your shoulder for spanners being thrown in the works by other players.

That said, the dynamics of the game change as you increase the player count. You have the same six-tile market at all player counts, so at two players you may draw a tile with an expectation of what tiles may still be available to you on your next turn. That certainly won't be the case in a five-player game.

The theme and aspects of the mechanics position Sanctuary as 'an Ark Nova game' but this is a less complex and so more accessible game that plays in around half the time of its predecessor. It doesn't replace or supplant Ark Nova, but it's an appealing game that you're likely to get to the table more frquently.

#Sanctuary #ArkNova #FeuerlandSpiele #opendrafting #tileplacement #setcollection #puzzleoptimisation #enginebuilder #tableaubuilder #wildlife #animals #solo #solitaire