Endless Space 2

Nice, schizophrenic atmosphere. Hypnotically Autistic. The DLC is both strikingly overpriced and at the same time very easy to pirate: another of god's little tests.

Absolutely beautiful. More like Civilization than anything but a clone, Endless Space 2 finds its niche with the best interface in the 4X genre.

The look, sounds, and tactile feel are matchless. Eschewing the compromised proportions, overwhelming scale or abbreviated art style ubiquitous to 4X, ES2 renders the interface, game environment, and the player's agents fluidly based on the information being presented such that no element is ever compromised in either function or appearance. Few computer strategy games in history have offered such a sense of breadth and beauty without challenging the relevance of its most granular scenes and interactions.

Enormous attention has been given to the speed and appearance of buttons, data cards, windows, and other spreadsheet-adjacent interface elements which dominate one's attention as part of 4X gameplay. Sound cues are crisp and legible, and the modern electro-orchestral score is both familiar and fascinating. Endless Space 2 is an uninterrupted firehose of sounds and images which appear gorgeous and important and which adhere flawlessly to the game's inspired artistic vision.

Gameplay is little distinguished from the subgenre, but it works well here. Notable exceptions include class-leading asymmetry. Available factions, while individually occasionally conceptually uninspiring, together offer a broad selection of distinct and coherent playstyles without torturing the narrative fiction of the Endless universe. More often defined by jarring limits than by special abilities, each faction is permitted to retain a singular identity with a greater depth than its relative propensity to violence, even as the player develops it throughout each match with an expansive degree of freedom.

Like Civilization, however, ES2 can be dense and opaque. While tutorials and tooltips are overall excellent, a few broad gaps exist in the game's tutoring functions which can make the first few starts frustrating or force you to use the internet to fully understand features such as trade. The rigid polish of the interface can occasionally feel limiting or unintuitive, with idiosyncratic methods used to access certain views or data. Diplomatic voice cues are ostentatious, repetitive, and mandatory. Elements of chance can be disappointing, and it is the sort of game where you can spend hours in a hopeless situation without realizing it.

My favorite 4X. Its resemblance to acclaimed titles like Civilization and Stellaris is undimmed during gameplay, and those innovations in management and presentation which do separate it are most often preferable to me. Mastering the interface and arriving at one's first sensation of total control offers an organic satisfaction and a love for one's tools which are worth the effort. Less content than Stellaris still offers months of unique gameplay without attempting any specific mastery; for its nearly flawless AAA presentation and masterful execution of a cohesive 4X experience, I strongly recommend Endless Space 2.

This remains one of my all-time favorite turn-based strategy games. Indeed, one of my favorite games of all time. It's got great gameplay, really deep interesting stories and characters that come out of the Endless universe, and incredibly good gameplay. Each faction has its own characteristics and encourages different play-styles and the mission system gives each play-through its own character and unique feel, not to mention an effective forward drive that makes it constantly playable. Also, this game, even 7 years later, still looks amazing. I've played this game for 500 hours and I'm not stopping.

This is the most enjoyable 4X game and one of the best strategy games I've ever played. The glactic empire building and management has strong immersive themes that I liked. The factions have strong flavors to the game's playstyle. Also this game offers the best game soundtrack collection I've heard. It seamlessly set inspiring tones for a space-empire building game.

Since installing ES2 I have completed four games with four different factions winning four different ways. It is rare that a 4X can hold my attention for even one full play-through. I am eagerly eyeing game five.
What's different? Well for starters, the UI is exquisite. The layout, color-coding, iconography, searchable tech tree, and intuitive control scheme are all best-in-class. Combined with the excellent in-game tutorial, Amplitude have created an elegant accessibility that I just haven't experienced in any other strategy game. Right in those first few turns I felt like I was "getting it" and making decent choices. Four wins under my belt I am sincerely min/maxing. I AM NOT A MIN/MAXER.
I'm also not simply playing a given empire, I'm roleplaying them. The factions are outstanding (where else in sci-fi can you find Horatio?). The writing is profound and sometimes hilarious. The quests provide rich context and immersion that take everything well beyond spreadsheets in space. Nothing wrong with space-spreadsheets, it's just nice to feel like the universe is alive too. Quests come in all sorts of neat flavors as well: faction, solo, cooperative, and competitive.
Ships are neat. Blowing up planets is wickedly satisfying. The music is a perfect fit across the board. Normally after this many hours I'm ready to turn off the in-game tunes and rock my own thing. Not so this time, especially with the addition of the easy-to-recommend soundtrack DLC.
Speaking of, my first couple plays I went vanilla and that was perfect. I have since been gradually adding DLC and it does add a lot to an already excellent game. And if you've read this far you probably know that Amplitude just put out a major balance and bug-fix release that, according to the pros, fix some longstanding balance issues and bugs, particularly with their later DLC. in other words, it's a perfect time to jump in.
And jump in I have. In fact, this review's taken too much time away from the important things. I have a galaxy to rule!

Re-Awakening Update's a bombshell. The best surprise anniversary update I've heard for any game. Fixing a game that I believed was very broken (battles) and unbalanced. This update doesn't just fix the dlc that it's named after, but also every other aspect of the game (including all dlc's).
I'm forever a fanboy now of AMPLITUDE studios.
As of March 2024 this is a confident must buy!

I've got a 100 hrs on this game and i still don't know what i'm doing.
Blast all those ships out of orbit to keep them out of your territory. Get freaky with genetics or consume everyone, either by eating the planet itself or buy absorbing them using different methods. I don't really have all the experience yet to describe this game, but I can say this game is not for everyone, this game is really beautiful and has a really good cinematic and music, very atmospheric. Haven't tried the multiplayer yet because i'm really bad at this game. This game is beautiful.
8/10 Though I recommend this game, but it's not worth the price unless it's on huge sale. Buy the bundle, the game shines better if you have everything except for the academy(just disable it or play and destroy it as fast as you can).