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Endless Space

PC User Reviews

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positive
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Showing 178 User Reviews
Feb 27, 2024
8
Dco326
Meni se iskreno svidela, i bila je zanimljiva nema neki replayabiliti realno ali dva puta sam je igrao i oba puta je bila bas zanimljiva :) Neka bude 8 ali izmedju 8 i 9 je iskreno :)
Aug 11, 2023
9
apokalipto
Very good game. I enjoyed playing this game a lot. I strongly recommend this.
Jun 9, 2023
7
HydrophobikFish
Fun 4x game with a great fantasy to sell but ultimately falls short feels limited. Cinematic battles are cool but ultimately finnicky and hard to get a grip on. planet development is good but feels... limited for an interstellar civilization
Aug 5, 2021
8
Tabbou
Trouvable à 1€ sur certains sites Je découvre la licence avec ce jeu et pour le coup c'est vraiment intéressant, il y a pas mal de choses à gérer le jeu est assez complet pour son age Vous pourrez même utiliser Cheat Engine si vous galérez trop ou juste pour + de fun ;)
Oct 11, 2020
9
MatikTheSeventh
One of my favourite experiences of the 4X strategy genre. The exploration of space and conquest of the galaxy is very appealing to me.
Feb 17, 2020
5
Tomicsavo
It was free. I don't like sci-fi so much, but it's good.-------------------
Mar 29, 2019
6
DuhDude
One problem with this game that I never see mentioned is the OP human v. AI when it comes to battles. You somewhat get to pick which of the AI ships you want your ships to target, which is great, but you also get to pick which of your ships you want the AI to target, which is weird and completely unfair. You can just have 2-3 tank ships in every fleet that are loaded with nothing but hit points, repair modules, armor, and defenses while all of your other ships can just be bristling with weapons since they never need to worry about being shot at.
Jun 19, 2018
7
GolovA
Good 4X. Although if you are not waging war, gameplay becomes somewhat boring, since you cannot overtake Star System any other way, such as through influence. Good 4X.
May 31, 2017
3
Winters
The best way to define Endless Space would be to combine the Civilisation series with the space-stage of Spore, then remove the voice acting, dialogue, content and finally **** out all of the fun. The combat options are "Auto" which just shows the combat results, or "Manual" which allows you to pick a battle tactic for long range, medium range and melee range, then watch it played out. Not sure where the manual part comes in to play there. The Pirates, which if you are familiar with other games of this genre, are the random, pain in the arse element. They would be fine and an enjoyable part of the game, except that while you are still trying to develop ships bigger than a scout-class, they show up with three cruisers and wipe out your civilisation. You literally have to prepare for and take preventative measures from turn 1 to have a chance of dealing with a random pirate attack. I really can't think of any balancing points. There are much better space-based games of this genre out there, from 10 years ago, with the same level of graphics, with far more attention to detail and immersion. Endless Space will drive your average gamer to tears through boredom. Only a hardcore genre fan will complete it and almost no one will play it through more than once. The game is not awful but it is trying very hard to be.
May 17, 2017
8
JinReview
With the release of the Endless Space 2 later this month I decided to revise and review its predecessor. It has been almost 5 years since the release of the first Endless Space and it's remarkable how the game can still hold up as a great game even so many years later. The gameplay is very addicting and although it might not have a tutorial level or scenario it displays all the information that the player needs, when the player needs. If you never played a game of this magnitude you might feel lost at first because there is so much to manage, so many options and so much strategic depth but learning and discovering all the little things and systems that this game has to offers is part of its fun. Taking the 4X turn-based strategy to outer space, Endless Space expands on the genre's recipe and with its 8 different victory conditions the game really incites the player to try multiple strategies and approaches. The battle system is very simplified but it has a good depth to it. Most of the strategy here comes before the battle itself from optimizing your ships depending on the resources you have and trying to predict your opponent's strategies and weapons. In terms of civilizations Endless Space offers a good variety. Some are human-like, others mechanical and others more alien. And they all play differently, with unique differences like the ability to colonize all planets right from the start or the ability to leave your system and migrate to other planets. A nice touch is that each civilization has it's own ship designs. In the overworld there isn't much to speak off in terms of graphics since the game aim for a simplistic "holographic style". The plot is quite absent but Endless Space does offer unique lore to each of the civilizations. This lore is delivered through a little cinematic that install the right mood and mindset for understanding that species backstory and playstyle. • Last Thoughts Even today Endless Space is a game that can hold up as the simplistic graphic style doesn’t show its age and the strong gameplay provides for many hours of engagement and entertainment. The unique concepts, the great array of available and uncommon civilizations and the multiple victory conditions make replaying the game feel non-repetitive and that’s something that Endless Space really relies on since it doesn’t have a campaign or story mode. This is one of my favorite 4X games until now and I’ll be looking forward to the release of Endless Space 2 later this month.
Apr 14, 2017
4
gingerninja11
Bad out-of-digital-box experience with too many options and aspects of the game presented with no campaign storyline and a ton of instuctions to get started. No mini tutorial campaign that teaches the ropes in a fun way to provide basic guidance on how to leverage advantages from skill and build combos. Some techs are absolutely useless (IE, researching tier 3 siege only to find out maxing out tier 2 siege is better). Extremely exploitable strategy where you can stack a few space fleets on a system for "offensive attack" where your enemy has a large amount of their ships stacked, and then run away from battle every time so that the enemy can never fly their ships elsewhere while you're blockading the system. Even if the defender has faster space ships. This makes no sense: if they run from battle, you shouldn't still be blocked from leaving the system. Combat isn't very interactive, tech trees are really not fun to dig around, and there's no explanation of precisely how influence works, anywhere in the game or online. Off to find a better 4k.
Jun 17, 2016
8
Klewer
A very good space exploration and management game, with economy and fleet management. A fan for the strategists with so much to do and take note of, still quite tough on the easiest of difficulties and not for those who don't want to put the time in.
Feb 10, 2016
7
dinin70
Oh my god... I decided to step in after reading so many negative reviews of people losing in Medium Difficulty (go back to Civilization 5 pleaaase) or playing in Easy (do you really excpect challenge in easy?) The game is for me a 7. Pros: I've never seen a game providing you such a wonderful user friendly interface. It's is incredibly well done. Even with 30 systems, and LOADS of armies, you can quickly see everything that is going on and plan you moves according to the situation. This is where it clearly crushes Galactic Civilization in which, at later game stages, you were completely overrun by a ridiculously high number of armies and systems to manage in an unfriendly manner. A bit like in Civilization IV, where at later stage, you have TOO MUCH of everything. This is really where Endless Space excels: the interface, I repeat myself I know, is well made that you could have 100 systems and 100 fleets, and even if you are overwhelmed of information, you can quickly figure out what to do, and, most importantly, you do it quickly and easily. But make no mistake, this is NOT an easy game and requires you a very high degree of thinking. The game however falls TOO short in two aspects: 1. combat is just awful. You can customize your ships very easily and create armies based on the strategy you want to follow and it's GREAT on that side. But once the battle starts, it's really a rock-paper-scissors that anyway has a few impact on battle... Pitty... It's better no doing anything, engaging the battle and see how it goes (like in Civilization). Anyway in Endless Space 2, combat system looks GREAT. 2. this is the worse part: IMMERSION is ZERO!!! While Endless Legend provides a great immersion, one of the best I ever saw side by side with Dominions, Endless Space looks completely empty... You don't feel in ANY way connected to your empire. As Total Biscuit says, the game is well made it is fade... What do I mean: you pick up a Race, you play a certain strategy and all races are different enough and provide a different gameplay experience. The "Play" is different, yes, but the "Feel" is non existent... No images; no architecture whatsoever, ships barely different on Map (in battle you don't really care)... PLEASE ADD SOME FEELING!!
Oct 13, 2015
5
Muramas
Good intentions but a bad game. The game looks pretty but certain UI elements work against itself with ships not being clickable at times or unresponsive. The AI is pretty aggressive and can do stuff that you cant such as move ships in your area but you can't do the same (no notice of war prior to move) and high levels of micromanagement that doesn't give much feedback than the popup notifications at end of turn. The Bad -Combat falls on its face with a interface that has good intentions but ends up being difficult to use, best fleet trumps all type of battle style. -Needing to go into each planet to change its custom setting, change planet type or remove negative traits. -When research or building is done and queue is empty the game will not do anything to notify you. -Moons are mostly useless -Influence is useless -Luxury Resources are a bit confusing -Mood (purple buildings) have such a huge impact on the production, either they are building slow or everyone is 100% happy. This needs more of a happy medium. The good: -Being able to remove negative planet traits was nifty idea.
Sep 27, 2015
9
Hecatone
The game is a bit complex, but once you get past the learning curve, it's great. The AI is some of the best I have seen in any game... ever. You can play and win in any way you like and the artwork is amazing.
Jul 27, 2015
4
TsukasaHiiragi
Unfortunately ES isn't a very good 4x strategy game, playing it more only reveals all the major flaws of the game, however one major aspect of any 4x game is decently programmed AI, and that is something Endless Space doesn't have at all, since the AI is poorly programmed and starts with more or less infinite bonuses and the ability to do things the player can't - the outcome of the game almost always leans in favor of the A.I winning no matter the difficulty setting, unless the player has enough experience to know all the aspects of the game, knows the skill tree and how to get important research done first and of course, the player gets an almost legendary start. Even on the easiest of difficulty settings, the A.I can still easily beat a skilled human player because of the boosted AI stats. Not to mention, throwing almost endless high powered fleets of ships if war is declared against the player and to add further insult, knowing almost intimate information about the players empire so it can attack your weakest points at any time, like many 4x games - basically the AI is programmed to cheat since thats the easiest way to program an AI to give a human player a challenge, even on the newbie difficulty A.I difficulty makes me want to face palm. I'd like to know how its possible for an A.I player with a couple of planets to have nearly double the score I have sometimes when I have nearly triple the star systems, wonders and a large fleet of ships? Some would say its a "Smart A.I" but there is a difference between a proper smart A.I and one that has been programmed with cheap bonuses that more or less gives it a clear winning edge against the player. Also, I think the galaxy map isn't big enough, the so called "Huge" map feels quite small by comparison to other 4x space strategy games with maybe less than a 100 star systems without mods. Many of the good mods unfortunately break the game completely as they haven't been updated, these mods we're perhaps the saving grace of the game but now its more or less been abandoned. Like someone commented, this game seems to be better played co-op against A.I players. Single player just isn't worth your time, especially if your a 4x fan - ES seems to be more like a zerg rush than empire building, which weakens the gameplay considerably - so the title really should be changed to Endless Zerg or Endless Fleets. I think the premise of the game is fairly good, the graphics, sound - all that is fine. The problem really lies with the execution of the gameplay, thats where it falls down. I think a sequel that fixes all the major problems the original has would be a good contender for the top 4x space strategy title, but they need to fix a lot of problems and make sure they don't make the same mistakes. 4x space strategy is about expansion, empire building - in a nutshell turtling out your empire, building fleets - defending choke points - exploring the galaxy. ES does this, but in such a way it all takes the back burner, the galaxy without 'working' mods is way too small - The AI cheats too much to make the game fun or interesting, so a sequel needs better programmed AI without infinite bonuses or other stupid stuff. Overall, 4/10 Endless Space isn't 'terrible' per say, but AI does heavily let the game down. GalCiv remains the king of 4x space strategy games. I'm glad I got this from the Humble Bundle sale, I would never pay full price for this. I would like to see a sequel to see if they can improve the game.
Jul 26, 2015
10
Valaridan
This is not master of orion you people shove that opinion this game has its own features and differs a lot from master of orion,whining its more like master of onion keep crying for nothing
Jun 26, 2015
8
rd1349
I understand that this game is old already by the time I am reviewing it but with the recent Civilization starships and Beyond Earth being a rather unsavory experiences I wanted to write a review for a game that did all the same things with one exception. It did them right. First things first this game plays as if someone ported the civilization series to space and gave them a rather good backstory. You build, you buy, you coerce and then you destroy, the typical 4X game in a nutshell. Where it differs from the civ games though is in it's lack of a hex system and it's surprisingly asymmetrical play. Each of the games factions has a series of traits good and bad aswell as an overarching main faction trait. These traits drastically alter each faction style of play with one having to rush the game before it collapses on its own economy and another trying to outlast the rest of the factions by stripping planets of resources and making them undisireable and eventually even stupid to invade. These assemetric factions all mesh very nicely into eachother and make for an interesting game that is quite fun to learn. The game much like it's spinoff endless legend (which is also pretty good) lets you create custom factions with all the bonuses and tradeoffs you like. The graphics are nothing spectacular but have aged quite well all things considered. The combat while more complex than in Civ games is still rather simple. There's your fleets, their fleets, and a whole lot of explosions and space opera in the fully animated battles. The problem with this game is acctually is simplicity. In high level play you'll notice that there are only a few strategies that work well. leaving the late game experience a little dry and stale. Final verdict: 7.5 out of 10 (rounded up to 8 (blame metacritic)) Dispite my greivences with the games lategame it holds up brilliantly until then with the first half probably getting a higher rating then the final verdict. It's a very nice game that manages to induce that one more turn symdrone. It holds up even today and I think that anyone who is a hardcore fan of 4X should try and pick it up since by now it's pretty cheap.
Apr 17, 2015
9
Greywolf2001ca
This is what Master of Orion 3 should have looked like. Luckily, even though we had to wait a long time, someone somewhere decided to make that MOO3 possible... minus the name. Everything is good in the game, especially in the patched base game. Its expansion changes stuff and it's not pleasant changes for everyone. I really liked the base game, the expansion, meh, I don't know... To buy for all Master of Orion true fans (not the fans of MOO3).
Mar 13, 2015
5
NathanAllen
It's not terrible, it's not good. That basically sums it up. Three years later and some basic features still not implemented . Influence is just there so you can waste research points until you figure out there's no real need for it. No real espionage. There are still typos in some descriptions and the tutorial. Just doesn't seem like a fleshed out 4X. It's enjoyable only because I got it cheap.
Feb 11, 2015
7
zombiechan
I find it to be a good turn based space strategy game. Though I couldn't get most of my friends to pick it up, I did enjoy playing against the AI. The combat mechanics are interesting, but can't say I'm a huge fan of it. I wish this game had the same combat as Endless Legends.
Dec 29, 2014
7
Vorpal_SF
I had high hopes for Endless Space, since the space-based 4X genre is my favorite. The game ended up leaving me a bit disappointed. It's good, I guess, but really feels limited. It marries a well-executed strategic empire management game to a paper-thin tactical space combat engine. To be honest, the space combat seems like an idea that just didn't succeed, so the developers threw in the visuals because they'd already done the work. If this was the space combat they envisioned from the start, I really wonder why they bothered. The "manual" combat mode leaves you basically as an observer with almost no control over the battle once it's begun (other than ordering a retreat that, due to the mechanics of the game, would almost certainly come too late to be useful). The combat mechanics are disappointing as well. While you get to design your ships (a must for any game in this genre, IMO) the design choices are really only reflected in the power ratings for your ships, So, all your research basically just increases the numbers a ship has, but not its play style or tactics. The tactics themselves are basically a set of rock-scissors-paper decisions (beam-projectile-missile and long-medium-short range). They only play into the game pre-battle, when you pick tactics. So, the tactical combat basically just ends up being empires throwind ever-larger stacks of ships against each other to compare numbers and have one side win. The strategic game is better, but except for the setting (a universe in which a powerful elder race came before you and left ruined wonders) it's basically like every other space game. The developers seemed to want to create variety through many different playable races, but they all basically play the same, so it doesn't work. All in all, it scratched my sci-fi 4X itch for a while, though not particularly satisfyingly. The 7 I'm giving it is pretty soft, but I did play through several times on escalating difficulty levels, hoping for more depth and challenge (I never found it). It treads the same path as Master of Orion, though not quite as well. For my money, if you want a space-based 4X game, the gold standard is the indie series "Space Empires". SE is not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, but it's the best combination of a strong strategic game with a functional tactical one.
Dec 20, 2014
4
Taram
While the game seems well laid out the tutorial is downright awful and the game is not intuitive at all unless you're a 4x veteran. Unfortunately the 4x Genre seems to be hell bent on making games as complicated as possible. What I wouldn't give for a "Civilization" in space game that has simple controls and easy to understand tutorials.
Dec 12, 2014
7
snowbert87
Endless Space is a capable turn based strategy and civilization game that suffers from late game boredom. Every time I come back to this game and get started I'm excited about my racial features and exploration. mapping the galaxy, forming new colonies and growing in the different development trees is fun. The game boasts enough complexity to make my choices matter, without being so confusing that I spend all my time looking stuff up on forums and wikis. The goal of the game is to achieve victory through, economic, exploration, population, diplomatic, militaristic or natural wonder conditions. Different species are more suited to different victory conditions and have strengths and drawbacks that give depth and meaning to my choices. These victories all center on reaching new star systems and colonizing planets. Each planet based on it's planet type and what each player constructs on it will support the empire differently. There are about 10 types of planets and some planets have positive or negative attributes associated with them. For instance a planet might have acid rain which decreases food production or it might be mineral rich increasing money generated from factories on the planet. I have also been excited to find some rare specific planets that have wonders on them like a giant living tree or a polar workshop. These special planets are rare and most galaxy's (game boards) only have 1 of each type. The exploration and colonization of galaxies is definitely the game's, strongest and for me, most enjoyable aspect. Endless Space looks pretty good however the graphics are primarily a 2D game board with ships moving like pieces on it. The star system and planet UI is straight forward and accessible to use. The ship battle cut scenes are out of place. they felt unnecessary and too drawn out for my taste. In ship to ship combat you can pre-select orders for each of the 3 battle phases and then see the results which skips the cut-scenes. It was rare that my choices during ship battles felt very meaningful. I either had a lone colonization or explorer ship that I immediately retreated with, or I had a bunch of warships that defeated whatever they came across. Perhaps I didn't draw enough militaristic enemies in my different play-throughs of the game, but other ships never changed how I played my games. My biggest concern with the game is that one victory condition seems to be more easily attainable than all the others. The economic victory is a simple matter of achieving X gold based on how big the galaxy is and how many players there are. Other victories force players to endure the long task of completing entire discovery trees, or the slow monotonous over taking of the galaxy which requires tens of turns per star system to do. The diplomatic, scientific, wonder and expansion victories are all much harder to complete than the economic or supremacy victory. Endless Space did allow me to tailor each game to only allow for certain types of victories to actually count. In fact I can customize almost every part of the game before it starts. There was a little piece of me that really didn't want to change how victory came because I felt like it was a way of turning the difficulty down. I won't say that this issue ruined the game for me, but ti took me a while to get over and is why I think this game is more of a 7 and less of a 9.
Oct 17, 2014
8
bloodyshan
A beautiful and well-designed 4x game with lots of narrating background, you got excited at the beginning with exploration in space and establishing of your early colonies, it's not difficult to learn yet it's deep enough for one to keep experimenting, with various type of victories you can try to manage your space kingdom with different strategies on different factions. The end game of this game is a bit easy once you beat an AI or two, but it requires careful management to get yourself to that point, the combat system is over-simplified but the graphic still draws mine attention, recommend for every space theme lover and 4X game fan.
Jun 30, 2014
3
Vas
This is even more disappointing than ****. The reason? Because this actually had a lot more potential and looked a lot better and the videos were great. The videos draw you in, show a lot of exciting combat. You know what happens when you play? Tedius research planning. End turn. End turn. End turn. End turn. End turn. Build one thing. End turn. End turn. End turn. End turn. End turn. End turn. Build one more thing. End turn. (x10). Yep. You basically just end turn, a lot. The tutorial is terrible. It's a picture with text (Ok, an advanced picture with text). I lost my fleet because the tutorial came up and stopped me from clicking anything, I lost before I could finish reading the large volume of text information, and it canceled it's self so I couldn't finish learning battles. I tried a manual battle, it ****. Auto is the way to go. Which kinda **** too. There are only 3 ship classes you can use, this is after I researched 60% of the military research and 40% of everything else. It's a really long boring RTS with great graphics with misleading videos to get you to buy it.
May 26, 2014
8
thehumangerm
Pros: Newcomer friendly given it's simple controls. It is not a space sim but a pure strategy game with a space backdrop. The real challenge lies in multiplayer but prepare for a long... game. Expect 1-6 hours per match depending on settings and map size. Move timers are a must. You are going to want to create a custom faction to be successful out of single player. Cons: Due to the match length many multi player matches sadly end in teammates abandoning the game but on an up note they can return and others can take their place.
May 19, 2014
9
Flatroy
This game like Civilization 4 in space. Beautiful graphic, good game play; at first glance difficult, but not really, with the constructor of ships, and with lots of technologies and capabilities to win...
May 2, 2014
10
skocan
All whats wrong with Civilization is fixed here! You really have to think what to build next, some improvements can have even negative effects if you build them in poor star system. You create your own ships! Combat is better than in any civilization game, but there could be at least pause option. It has some of these frustrating things, but what doesnt. AI just so much better than last civilization. Overall no idea why this game is under 8 here.
Mar 10, 2014
7
timujin
Bottom Line: if you are looking for a game that has a beautiful package you will enjoy this title. if you are looking for a game with depth / challenge this one is not for you. p.s. there is the multiplayer option i hadn't played Pros: -Graphics -Plenty of options to randomize the generated universe or your race -Replay-ability -GUI is fluent and of great design Cons -Unsatisfying combat -After 10 hours of game-play the O.S.T might annoy you. -Poor AI -Poor Balance, some tactics / weapons etc.. much more powerful / useful then others -You will not feel much room for decisions. some times you will find yourself just clicking end turn button until you win. On normal difficulty level, i won several times just by building the right building according to the planet / system researching the cheapest tech each time and attacking the weakest AI neighbour. Basically the AI is so bad, and there is so little strategic depth to this game that by following several rules of a thumb a cat can beat the AI. On higher difficulty level, AI gets bonuses, to overcame them you will need to look for the OP weapons / techs / race bonuses to win. Meaning your choice of tactics narrows to 20% of the OP things out of all what the game has to offer.
Jan 29, 2014
4
JoceDoIt
Seems great first but after few games, realise that there is lack of making choices than building ships. Graphics and sounds poor. Need to follow straight lines between the stars that are connected together. Worst, the battles are controlled by the IA, you choose 1 special move by round (3 by attack) and you watch the battle without doing anything? So, you hope that your ships build is better than the other and cross your finger. Go get "Star Lords" : In Alpha for now but really better than this game. JoceDoIt
Dec 31, 2013
5
Fyrestorm3
It's not a bad game, per se, but the learning curve is astronomical (pun intended). There's also a distinct lack of in-game information; the tutorials do a good job of explaining what all the buttons do, but leave out so many crucial pieces of information that you'll constantly find yourself Googling what should be basic questions about the game. It would have been nice to know that the "wavy" planetary connections are wormholes, and require advanced technology to navigate, or that ships only repair themselves when in combat or in friendly territory. The in-game notifications and tooltips don't help much, either. It's so hard to determine exactly what you'll unlock when choosing what new technologies to research; the tech tree explains what things are just fine, but it has serious trouble telling you what they do. This extends to all facets of the game. Nothing seems intuitive; instead, it all seems designed for someone already familiar with the gameplay. This is a major problem, because the game has so much to do, and so much to understand, that new players absolutely need their hands held during their first few games. It's primarily for this reason that I found myself absolutely unable to get into the game. There's some minor gameplay issues as well (the combat is fairly unimaginative), but overall, it plays fine... if you know what you're doing. Exploring the galaxy is plenty of fun, but be prepared for some serious trial-and-error and many moments that will leave you scratching your head and/or Googling for an answer. If you're looking for this kind of strategy game, I'd recommend Civilization V instead.
Dec 27, 2013
3
evild4ve
Endless Space has all the problems normally associated with 4x strategy games, but few of the fun parts. The tech-tree is large, convoluted, and the discoveries don't correspond at all with the effect on gameplay. Want to colonize a lava planet? That requires graviton thingummy-jiggies on tech tree #4. Research can't be queued. Diplomacy against the AI either includes no options whatsoever, or they get switched on by some obscure discovery. Balance is everything with these games, and when each system takes 150-200 turns to conquer and the tech tree is a complicated limiting factor, even on Easy difficulty (which is boring) it's very possible to build your empire "wrongly" and reach a stage where you can't make further progress against AI opponents who only have 3 stars but chose the "right" kinetic weapons oojahmahflip from tech tree #2 50 turns previously. Combat is always between two fleets of up to 12 "command points" (1=gunship, 2=cruiser, 4=battleship). In practice, most battles are between maxed-out fleets and victory is determined by tech. Tactics and ship customisation will not change the outcome against an opponent with an extra point in beam weapons. A fleet with an extra point in beam weapons and an extra point in deflector shields will chew up an infinite number of weaker fleets suffering virtually no attrition in the process (due to insta-repair during the opponent's turn). This means the economic weight **** empire during the end-game isn't an advantage, making the end-game take even longer. They have actually found a way to make the 4x formula's classic problems even worse. The ship customisation is so limited that they might as well have kept it to templates. Choose from little, medium or big and lasers, machine guns and missiles. There are also carriers, but this is a bad use of "command points", and also ground bombardment and ground invasion options. Ground invasion could have been quite an interesting idea, but there are no significant fixed defences to bombard, and no garrisons to attack. Sieges take 20-30 turns, or you can send in a single unit of infantry for instant conquest. Sins of a Solar Empire also came out recently as an easier-on-the-eye, slightly "liter" 4x strategy game, and it's much better at the things listed above with few if any drawbacks. The one thing Endless Space does get right by comparison is that its map consists of stars and their orbiting planets, rather than the peculiar free-floating planets of SoaSE. Upgrading planets in Endless Space makes as little sense as the tech tree, but it does at least give the impression of there being a solar system whose local planets co-operate with each other to build stuff. Planets can be: barren, arid, desert, tundra, terran, jungle, asteroid belt, lava, arctic, gas giant (hydrogen, methane or helium), and they can be tiny, small, medium or huge. The differences aren't as noticeable as they should be so long as you choose advanced intergalactic bobbins on tech tree #3 (left branch), they are all equally easy to settle and look after. The graphics and artwork are mediocre. Planets of the same type look the same as each other, each faction only has six ship graphics and I defy anyone to actually tell them apart either at the strategic scale or in the close-up battle sequences. The auto-resolve battles (with added rock/paper/scissors) aren't as annoying as others have made out I had been watching them to try and better understand the combat mechanics. The problem is that you can tell who is going to win by adding up the tech levels of each gun in their fleets. Graphically, they impressed me less than Gratuitous Space Battles, as well as tactically. I got this on Steam for a single-digit sum of money and was bored within 8 hours. Get a fan-mod of Empire of the Fading Suns, or even a copy of Supremacy (1990) instead for "4x lite" done well. Don't get this.
Dec 23, 2013
6
vence
Boring game, you are supposed to lead your civilization into the galactic age searching for some ancient race or something but everything is so abstract you just don't care anymore after a few turn and you just keep playing like a zombie, even fighting use a paper-rock-scissor system to resolve battles and you can not witness your mighty battle steeds clashing in glorious battle
Dec 23, 2013
8
Warlord8
This is a good strategy game. Difficult, that makes you think more on what to do and wait to wage **** it's not needed. You can't focus on one single war tech, you have to adapt and develop. I like it
Dec 13, 2013
10
iThirst
Do you like composing your own unique race, building vast empires, playing the complex game of politics, and waging war with obscenely customizable fleets of ships? I know I do, and Endless Space pushes all those buttons just right. There are so many options that the game can seem intimidating at first, but the UI is incredibly user-friendly and easy to navigate while the game comes in varied difficulty from granny mode to juggernaut levels of play. You're not going to understand the whole game at a glance, so if you're looking for something no more mentally challenging than an FPS, this is not the game for you. However, once you do grasp it, it provides you with the tools to play the game in new and creative ways every single time. Since its original creation this game has been updated and expanded(mostly free of charge) into something far superior to the original product. Critics rightly pointed out the flawed combat, semi-bland universe, and wildly unbalanced starting situations in multiplayer. However, every single one of these problems has been thoroughly handled by the devs at Amplitude. The universe is still not top of the line in terms of interesting story-telling, but the combat has been fleshed out to an absurd level and the unfair luck of the early game has been almost entirely eliminated. In short, if you like 4X strategy games, get this one. It's currently the most solid one on the market due to the horribly botched coding of Civ 5. If you don't like them, don't bother, this game is 4X to the core with nothing particularly unusual to offer a player who doesn't care for the genre.
Dec 4, 2013
8
Raybit
The game begin with random and you may really need to reload to obtain a couple of lucky planets which can provide a decent resources since AI seems never lack of resource. The real strategy part begin in the mid game, well, the battle system is simplified by playing cards, but enemy AI is quite smart at the hardest level I mean it responded to player's ship weapon&armor very soon: almost each time you beat them, they will convert their ship's weapon&armor into the kind can restrain yours in a few turns. So, the earlier fight is not gonna be easy since you won't have enough resource/tech to upgrade or convert your weapons. Thus you'd better try your best to defeat enemies with your new weapons at their planets before encountering them at your base, and by this means they won't have reacting time to adjust. And this situation will only get changed after you take down your first close opponent since after that you can grab more resource from new planets and your ships and heroes also become experienced a lot whereas enemy just rebuild ships and recruit new heroes. And then the late game become a bit boring because opponents may fight each other and not just against you, and their advanced ship and weapons are not lead by a high level hero, which cause them to lose bounus -like 50% atk/def power. ----- I tried several times at the hell level of "-195" but all failed, since whatever how many times you use S/L and other bug or trick,this largely weakened ship or resource setting won't give you the chance to take your most close(or weakest) opponent down while other opponent will do that before you can, and then the whole game lose the balance. It seems someone succeed in that by using very specified race, map and other setting- but I don't think that method contains any of strategy.
Dec 3, 2013
8
Saw7473
This game is fun but sadly i have no friends to play it with and that's a bit of game breaker for me. Once I had the slightest idea what to do it became very fun and i do like a lot of things about it, the only thing i cant stand and the only reason it didn't get 9 stars is the expansion penalty. Even if your playing as a class that is the most likely to win you get a penitently for expanding, even the mostly robotic faction with basically no emoticons (according to the description) or anyway of disapproving expansion still has this. Once i dealt with that there are only some minor things that bug me like when your planets go into rebellion but that's usually my fault :D Over all i would still recommend it because it is very fun.
Nov 4, 2013
8
keefbaker
Very good 4x space game with pleasing visuals and a really crazily wide technology tree. It plays somewhat like a cross between master of orion 2, fragile allegiance and galactic civilizations 2.
Oct 17, 2013
0
Rotar_Rocket
Poor turn-based game that has a military focus. A hack copy of Master of Orion without any fun. This is another example of Steam taking peoples money for complete crap.
Oct 17, 2013
10
dajarvi
Simply put, Endless Space is the most recent turn-based 4x space strategy game available on the market that is worth a 10 score. Not as much as a "Total War" kind of game, as the battles are less focused on, Endless Space requires attention to empire management and cultural development, as well as beefing up your battleships for war. I was surprised to see a Metacritic score of 7.3, and was compelled to bolster its points. The game is great. Anyone who enjoys turn-based strategy will find enjoyment in this game. My only major criticism is the lack of "movie-like" detail in the battle sequences. I hope the develops make a sequel that truly reels in the feel of outer-space in battle and Empire building through visuals.
Aug 24, 2013
8
Zekraviax
Such a huge game. There is a lot to take in when you play, and it can be a little off-putting if you are new. But if you persevere, you'll discover a simply amazing game. Each game is not entirely the same, but not entirely different. There is a lot of patience needed to play this game, clicking "End Turn" repeatedly while waiting for something to be finished isn't most people's idea **** time. And space combat is fairly limited. You pick three tactics for the three phases of the battle. But the battles themselves look simply amazing; no tiny little units stabbing each other here. Full on cinematic battles are just the icing on this sci-fi cake. There's a large amount of strategy behind the beautiful grahpics, and I would heartily recommend it to any turn-based strategy fan.
Aug 23, 2013
7
KingMob4313
Possibly the best successor to Master of Orion 2, even better than Galactic Civilization 1. ...If it didn't completely fall apart in the last half of the game. The game is very easy to master and best even on the highest difficulties. The game is in serious need of balancing (Favors expansion far too much) and the tech tree provides too little bang for your buck. Still, if you're looking for your x4 fix and you've completely exhausted MOO2 and you find the humor makes Galactic Civ 1 feel too lightweight for you, this might be your game.
Jul 30, 2013
8
Wizzsama
Endless space definetly is a good game. I like to spend some hours in it. But there is few things that I don't like. And all of them based around fighting. 1. I don't even bother myself again with another 4x with "rocket/laser/cannon" cliche. Really, I don't find it fun to always rebuild my fleet to fighting with rebuilded enemies. And AI do this faster and better. 2. I prefer MoO2 or even MoO3 combat. 3-turns collisions sometimes makes me feel slight frustration. 3. Conquering systems just *censored*. But it still ggod game about building space empire with funny features.
Jul 29, 2013
4
Osmium
As much as I want myself to actually like this game, I just cannot really get myself to give it another go. Being a big fan of space strategy (or 4x) games and having played for around 30 hours, I find the game mediocre at best. The start is extremely slow and tedious. The starting position in this strategy game and the first hour of gameplay basically defines if you will have a chance to prosper or fail miserably. Also, I found yourself confronted with an AI that clearly cheats so hard in this game (starting from "normal" difficulty, everything below is pointlessly easy) it makes you feel absolutely incompetent. Fighting and invading usually comes down to who has the bigger fleet, which in turn comes down to who has the bigger empire. The slow pace, the weird balance due to AI cheating, the boring combat system, and the somehow lifeless and uninspired presentation made this game a disappointment to me.
Jul 28, 2013
8
greywolf00
Best space 4X game I've played since GalCiv 2. My only major complaint is the AI, it's terrible. Even on normal difficulty the AI gets artificial boosts to make them "competitive" with the player. The combat system is different, basically rock paper scissors. Everything counters 1 other card (resulting in a boost), and is countered by one. I was pleasantly surprised to see the AI seems to learn from the system and adapts its strat around your habits.
Jul 23, 2013
8
Ian277
The diplomacy is probably the most well refined in a Turn based strategy game i have played, surpassing civ V. there are really only a few things i want improved, and none of them are in gameplay. They need to add different art to planets (there is little to no variation). and to be honest the biggest reason i love the game is being amazed by the beautiful planets. the fact that there is so little variation ****. also the map art when you zoom out for a specific map type is the same every time, they need to add variation to that too. i really like the soundtrack (it makes me space out and fall into a gaming coma). really all i want is more aesthetics and art variation. I'm not sure if they are going to patch it. but there being so little planet variety is actually sort of a big issue. other than that, it is good. it isn't worth 30$ in my opinion get it when it is on sale. I think it is a game you could get a good 50 to 100 hours in before it gets redundant.
Jul 19, 2013
7
billybobdiddly
Started off with a lot of potential. Felt a lot like a space-based Civ V, in a good way. I liked it. I was just getting into it when the battles started. That's when it began to unravel for me. The battle system for individual battles is OK, I get how it's supposed to work. But there isn't a way to defend your territory. Enemy ships get to blow by my fleet like it's not even there. So, I have to cover every one of my planets with large fleets to defend them, meanwhile endlessly chasing the enemy around? Lost me at that point.
Jul 17, 2013
5
Cailore
It is a pretty game, until it crashes, and it will. The "strategy" is next to non-existent as you try to out spread AI players in an endless slog of waiting after pushing the "end turn" button. So very much wasted potential, doesn't live up to the Master of Orion comparison.
Jun 29, 2013
4
Bobchillingwort
Purchased the game on Steam sale recently after hearing a lot of hype. Endless Space looks pretty- the graphics a good for an indie title, and the menus have a pleasingly clear aesthetic. Unfortunately this title fails in some fairly basic areas of the 4X genre. First of all, the game does a poor job of explaining game mechanics to you, optional tutorial notwithstanding. It is difficult to tell how much food you need to a planet to add a new population point, or when your borders will expand (and by how much), or even how missile weapons actually work (the game's description is misleading). There is no in-game 'Pedia, but rather a link to the fan-made Wikia, which is out-of-date on some topics and useless on others. Second, the combat system is awful. As many people have commented here, a lot of it comes down to guessing the correct cards to counter the AI and loading your fleets with energy weapons and heroes. There is some strategy in the form of ship load-outs, but even that basically boils down to "lots of lasers & some defensive modules". Invading planets is a hideously boring affair, where you camp above AI worlds for potentially dozens of turns (and at least four), fending off the disposable fleets the computer pulls from its ass. Far too much is automated, leaving the player with little to actually control. Apparently the new expansion pack (from a different studio) resolves some of these issues, but I am not particularly inclined to invest 10 more bucks to make the combat system enjoyable. Finally and most egregiously, there just isn't a whole lot to do in the game. Even on a large map you'll expand to a half-dozen or so systems and then find your only options are to sit around teching for eternity or build up enormous fleets to take on an AI which hates to make peace, gradually wiping out one faction after another. If battles were more enjoyable to fight you might want to go after other empires for the sake of combat, but it's a mostly joyless affair. There's nothing much to explore once you've colonized your core systems and met your neighbors. Really, it ought to be called "Empty Space".
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