Panzer Corps 2

If your favorite part of playing CIV games was going to war and not all the other diplomacy, religion, culture, etc stuff you might enjoy this. If you just like turn-based strategy games with good game mechanics in general this seems pretty solid. The maps are interesting, terrain matters, interesting units, music is good and it looks nice. This is my first dive into Panzer Corps games but so far I'm impressed.
Edit: 9 hours in and I'm more than pleased. Considering the passability of terrain, strategic locations such as airfields, supply depots, transport locations such as ports and rail lines- it's really well done and that's just the planning/deployment phase XD Not a casual game but not hardcore, either. Highly recommended for turn-based strategy fans.

its a fun game but be prepared to be milk dry from this company in DLC. Its sad since back in the old days u bought a full game upon release

66 hours into the game I have some comments, pros and cons compared to PC1 (200+ hours).
Pros:
Panzers can now overrun again (hint: try to optimize a single pazer, and you will see it blitz through as many units as it have ammo in one round after just a few missions). This is so cool and is like playing the old Panzer General.
Planes are much less effective now. Only used 2 bombers total, but 4 fighters to keep the opposition down.
Cons:
Infantry and artillery are not really developed through the game. You end up using mostly the same as in the first mission.
Despite all the diversity of units, the point buy system limits your use of new exciting units severly. This is perhaps my biggest regret. The best end-game composition seems to be 4 overpowered tanks, 4 starter pioneers, 4 starter artillery. +2 AA (again starter units as the 88s are the best, and the planes mentioned above). Everything now serves as support for your uber-tanks. Just as it did in the old Panzer general.
They actually cut down the number of missions from the magnificent Grand Campaign DLC we all played in PC1. I guess they save that grand experience to the endless DLC's in Steam games we all dread so much.
Well I did sound a bit negative here, but I really enjoyed the game. There are just some things that could be better (in my subjective opinion).
BTW: Be sure to disengage the Nvidia in-game utilities as they crash the game all the time. Just a hint.
Try this game if you liked the first PC or if you liked the old Panzer General. It actually reminds me a lot of Panzer General 2 where they also did the 3D trick. Here it just works a bit better. And the starting campaign is rather cool, with some fun alternative history missions at the end. Thumbs up.

After two decades of buying Matrix/Slitherine games at full price (before they ever discounted anything), I was sitting on the fence with this game like no other. And yes, my profile is open and it embarrassingly just scratches the surface in terms of wargames.
I still play PC1 with excellent mods like Modern Conflicts and that great East Front mod, but after all these years, pushing around the counters has become kind of rote for me. And that was my concern with this game: pushing around 3D counters instead of 2D. Well, the new game is a lot more than 3D so far.
With less than five hours in, I am in no position to comment on campaign structure or bugs (none so far). But the FEEL of the game is brand new. My eyes were having trouble with the old game's tiny counters, but now we have Zoom. I would recommend accessing the Manual on the Store page and reading the What's New section. I was so afraid of a "rehash" but the changes and additions they made make it feel like I'm playing a "new" game. And that's what we pay for, right?
I am also enjoying learning the new UI. I, for one, love lots of stats and in-game info, and the devs raised the bar on this. Before, at least for me, it was, yeah push your units forward, attack, attack, onto the next one. There is more to consider now, and a really impressive suite of customization options. Yes, my computer fan tends to "whir" even on lower settings, but assume it will not break my rig and they will optimize as needed.
Considering all the changes, the game plays very well so far right out of the box. And because it one of the most important products Matrix sells, it will get better and better. For this game anyway, the patches are like death and taxes - we can count on them!
Of course, I might be led astray because it's all so new and shiny. Well, shine on...I can't wait to start modding the text files, no less the editor, although the latter will take some effort, as they added a lot of stuff.
Anyway, I will update this initial review (for what it's worth) should I find something horrible hidden beneath the surface. But based on the more in-depth reviews, that is unlikely. I was really prepared to refund the game as needed, which is why I bought it on Steam, but it turned out quite different, for me at least. And I am a pretty jaded old wargamer.
Best to all!
****************** Updated after 14 hours **********************
The designers have done an exemplary job with this new game, but it is still Panzer Corps. Meaning it gets a bit repetitive - move, kill, move, kill, etc. This is not John Tiller's Squad Battles. While the devs have added considerable chrome, it still boils down to a beer-and-pretzels game for me, which is kind of expensive at $40.
If you have the discipline not to open the Chat menu and use all those lovely cheats, the single-player game might get pretty tense and add to the immersion. Or it might get pretty frustrating. Not sure.
So maybe MP is the way to go? I tried it today through my Slitherine account and it didn't work. Maybe just me, as the forums would be flooded with complaints if MP didn't work.
Again, the devs have had to walk a tightrope to improve the game (which they did immensely) while not turning it into Squad Battles. For me, it is just not deep enough to be a favorite. I don't examine the map and carefully ponder my next move. That is what Field of Glory 2 is for. However, an MP match against a human might change my thinking a bit.
Finally, the editor is amazing and will guarantee some (great) scenarios down the road. So far just playing the Afrika campaign and the devs have done a lot to flesh things out, but again I get tempted to just win the game via the cheat and move on to the next scenario.
Still a "thumbs up" for the player who liked the previous games. Love the more complex UI and all the data available for perusal and customization. But it is Panzer Corps, albeit with a few tactical nuances added in. It's not a game that will keep you up at night thinking about your next moves, unless you are a complete noob. Few of us are.

This game is like the old-school Panzer General 2, but with better graphics and more features.
Also, I like the fact that it's easy to change the variables in the excel unit file (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Panzer Corps 2\PanzerCorps2\Content\Data\units.cvs).
Just open up the unit file with excel and change things to your liking; for instance, I like to give my heavy infantry (grenadiers) the machine gun trait (traits are on the 29th tab to the right labeled traits). The possibilities are limitless, change attack strength, movement, faction, year available, etc.. I even played one time swapping many of the German units for American units (I also changed the flag to American by editing the factions.cvs file...remember to always save the original files, so you can always switch back in case you mess up). Again, I really like the fact they made this game easy to mod units.
Below is a list of modifications I like to make to various units:
Fallschirmjager - Camouflage trait (because paratroopers are sneaky as hell...I know, because I used to be one)
Gebirgsjager - PhasedMovement trait (because alpine infantry walk past the enemy like ninjas)
Grenadier - MachineGun trait (because heavy infantry uses heavy weapons...hello...MG 34)
Kradschutzen - I like to change their class to infantry and add the Overrun trait (nothing funner than watching a heavily armed military biker gang over-run a group of weak units...oh the sound of Harleys (actually BMW R12 Combos) and machine guns bring happy tears to my eyes).
As I previously mentioned, this game is wicked fun and modding units makes it even more wickedly fun.

If you are reading the reviews looking at if you should buy the game please read my review and maybe it can help.
The price for the base game can be a bit pricey but I can promise you, that money is given back in play-time. This game has locked me in hour after hour and if you want to fight battle after battle as the Axis or Allied and follow through with historical or non-historical (Changing history) You can. The game can be as easy or difficult as you desire. The options are many and leave for a good time which you're in control of, whether your wanting to run through the game on easy or spend a while thinking strategy over every battle you can. The options are not locked into "Easy, normal" or "hard" you have more advanced options, controlling supply lines, weather, how battles are resolved etc... The game gives you a-lot more than what most newer games can offer in a single player environment. I've put 20 hours into the game now and have not even come close to finishing all of the single player content. If you are into strategic war games then I would highly recommend you try it, or just watch some videos and see if it's for you. The game works well for multiplayer or if you prefer single player.
Now comes the 'Ok' side of Panzer Corps 2... Buying the pack with the music and skins; It really comes down to what you value. The skins are alright, I wish they were more historical to what was used, (mainly for the Germans) a lot of them feel like the "Golden AK-47" skin in an FPS, a more show off than an actual skin for war, but there are a few historical ones in it so that is nice. The music is fantastic, I am very happy with it and am 100% satisfied with owning a copy of it. I usually listen to my own music but I have found myself not wanting to with Panzer Corps 2.
The graphics are stunning and the game play can be fast or slow which is good to be able to pick from. You can do without the bonus content but I am a Panzer Corps fan so I kind of wanted to own it all... Hope the review helped.

If you like Panzer General or Panzer Corps, get this game. It moves the genre forward in ways that haven't been since since PG1/PG2 days:
The Good:
+Captured Equipment is fully simulated, and encourages encirclements and being careful with your captured equipment as reinforcements are limited to what you captured
+Overstrength separated from Experience, adding more customization
+General Traits that allow you customize you general from an general who can have more infantry or more tanks in their core, to someone whose tanks move slightly faster over land, etc. Makes each playthrough feel significantly different.
+Built-in encirclement mechanics: the game intelligent traces a supply route to the nearest supply base and if it can't the unit or group of units get encircled, getting progressive penalties and suppression by just sitting there. Now encircling the half a million troops in the Kiev pocket in 1941 is a thing
+Units take up a varying number of core slots: simply brilliant. Adds so many meaningful decisions and hard choices as to your force composition. It really does seem to promote more historical compositions, at least compared to before.
The Mixed:
~Heroes play a bigger role. You can assign heroes to whatever units you want, with 3 heroes in one unit. On the one hand they seem a bit ahistorical strong (but not imbalanced, just weird that a tripled hero Tiger will wipe the floor with enemies the normal tiger breaks even with..maybe it's historical, don't know). But in terms of gameplay, it really does add depth as you have a lot of meaningful choices to make as to where you put your heroes.
~The graphics are gorgeous, but poorly optimized. It's a mixed bag since strategy games don't need great fps, but it seems that the devs could have done a lot better because it struggles to get half fps I get in other unreal engine games with the same resolution (PC2 is based off unreal engine).
The Bad:
None for me. Maybe only 24 hours in the day lol? I started a new battle in my campaign at 11pm last night and when I glanced at the clock it was 4AM. No regrets. The game is that good.
TLDR: Get this game if you're a gronard. Period.