Beyond the Sun: Leaders of the New Dawn Review – Fixing the Base Game’s Useless Extra Limb

Beyond the Sun was always a game I rooted for, and one I hoped would eventually get an expansion. The base game feels like something special, with players collectively building a shared technology tree as humanity pushes deeper into space. It brought together theme and gameplay in a way that felt genuinely fresh, and I enjoyed it a lot.

The only downside was that Beyond the Sun often felt like two different games mushed together. The technology tree was brilliant, but the space control side of things never reached the same heights. It wasn’t bad, but compared to the tech system it felt like an extra limb the game wasn’t entirely sure how to use.

So when Leaders of the New Dawn was announced, there was really only one thing I wanted it to tackle. But did it deliver?

What’s new in Leaders of the New Dawn?

While Leaders of the New Dawn adds plenty of extra content, including new Event, Technology, and System cards, the biggest additions are Leader cards and a new solo mode. I’m not much of a solo player, so I’ll leave that side of things alone. The Leader cards, though, are where most of my attention went.

At the start of the game, you draft one Domestic and one Military leader. These give you personal abilities, either passive or active, that shape your strategy throughout the game. Some offer subtle advantages, while others can completely change how you approach certain decisions. For example, one Domestic leader lets you ignore restrictions on where technologies can be placed, while a Military leader can spawn a ship in deep space whenever a new guild tile is unlocked.

For those curious about exactly what’s packed into the box, here’s the full breakdown:

Core Expansion Content

• 20 Leader cards (10 Domestic, 10 Military)
• 2 Advanced Faction mats
• 8 Technology cards
• 4 Replacement Technology cards
• 4 Event cards
• 12 System cards
• 3 Android-Omniweb Hivemind Prediction cards
• 5 +1 VP tokens
• 1 +1 Red Military power token
• 8 +1 Blue Military power token
• 1 Credit token

Solo Content

• 16 Anarchist Action cards
• 1 Doomsday Tracker board
• 12 Anarchist Event cards

Not quite a prelude

Leaders of the New Dawn’s Leader cards gave me a similar feeling to Terraforming Mars: Prelude. They act as a jump start for the game, helping you reach the good stuff much quicker. The difference is that while Prelude mostly affects setup, Leaders of the New Dawn includes both one-off setup abilities and ongoing powers that stay with you throughout the game.

There’s a great mix of Leader cards in both complexity and gameplay implications, but they’re rarely straightforward. That creates a small problem during setup because you’re drafting your Leaders before play begins. In a two-player game, that means reading through eight cards, many with a paragraph or more of text, before you can even begin the draft itself.

That extra overhead carries into gameplay too. Beyond the Sun already has plenty of interruptions where you’re stopping to read a card, whether that’s drawing an Event or Technology card, unveiling a new System, or checking your Advanced Faction mat. Add in Leader powers and effect-heavy System cards, and it can become a lot to keep in your head at once.

Though the issue isn’t complexity by itself, it’s that these different game systems don’t always connect in intuitive ways. It feels like you have to renovate your mind palace every time a new card appears, and that’s a costly exercise… especially in this economy.

Because of that, I actually found the game more enjoyable without the Advanced Faction mats, reducing that cognitive overhead. The Leader cards already provide that asymmetric flavour, and I didn’t feel like I was losing much by leaving the boards out.

That all said, this expansion goes some way towards sharpening the space conflict that felt undercooked in the original game. With one of your Leaders tied directly to military play, I found there were more ships on the map and a lot more fighting over planets. Combined with the improved pace, it made the whole experience more enjoyable.

As I mentioned, I didn’t play the solo mode, which is a big part of this expansion. From what I’ve seen digging around online, reactions seem a bit mixed, so your mileage may vary there.

Otherwise, the last thing to consider is value for money. At around $50 AUD, Leaders of the New Dawn feels fairly expensive for what mostly boils down to a new deck of cards and a handful of tokens. Especially if, like me, you’re not planning to use the solo mode.

So if you can get past the price and want a little more out of Beyond the Sun, Leaders of the New Dawn is a solid expansion and ultimately my preferred way to play.