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.