While Endless Space is a very very good game, the only flaws I see are the lackluster borderline-dull card based space combat; and the micromanagement level of large empires. In my opinion most 4x and turn based stragety games become tedious at endgame, this game falls into the same pit with limited automation abilities.

Fantastic music, very clean and simple UI.

Endless Space is what Master of Orion 3 should have been. That said, its main problem may be that it can best be described in relation to other games, and not so much on its own. It has a sprawling tech tree, planetary systems to develop, space battles, alien empires, powerful commanders: basically the whole mess that we have learned to associate with the 4X genre and love it for. But I have a hard time pinpointing what it does that goes beyond this point. It feels like its searching for its own niche with the interesting idea of the sentient currency that is Dust, but this fluff isn't matched to game mechanics that explore it; if I called it Credits, the game wouldn't really be all that different. I really want to see Endless Space create its own mark on the genre, something unique to it. The good news is that the developers have been expanding it constantly since release, with four free expansions out so far (though so far these are more 'additional content' and less 'gameplay changing'). So hopefully this uniqueness is something it will achieve in the near future.… Expand

AWFUL BATTLE SYSTEM THAT COMPLETELY RUINS A MAJOR PART OF THE GAME The battles are pre-render boring cutscenes and you have to use cards in battles. Why they made the battle system into something like Yu-Gi-Oh is beyond me. Tthe battles are a complete turn-off from my point of view As for the rest of the game (economy, colonization etc) fortunately it is better but everything you do in the game feels like a chore somehow. After playing some hours i got bored with the game. Does not have the same kind of addiction like MOO2 had it becomes "stale" after playing some hours with it… Expand

This is a nice game, but the combat system is done via cards which are selected in which you choose the type of attack or defense you wish to use for that phase. This game is pretty easy to learn and the different levels of difficulty provided will ensure many hours of enjoyment whether playing against the AI or in the multiplayer mode against other human opponents. For myself, the game has never crashed and I am glad to have bought this game as I consider it money well spent, but if you are more interested in having space battles with lone ships up to fleet size, then I suggest you try playing StarDrive. Both Endless Space and StarDrive are fantastic games and each offer a special type of space strategy gaming, which should be experienced.

Enjoy… Expand

A good and very promising game!

Lots of new original concepts and game mechanics. Very refreshing. Moreover the support of the dev is constant, the patch are quite regular with lots of new and free contents (free DLC).

Endless Space is a diamond with golden future.

Extremely good looking game and very customisable and overall enjoyable, few minor grudges with the game like it's extremely slow passed as it is a turn-based game but I personally can live with that, Amazing game, graphics and thanks steam for letting me buy it for 12e. All the people who enjoy strategy and space I recommend it to you!

I've purchased the game, based on some user reviews and the video content of game play. From what I see, it's a turn based game similar to Civilization 3. No graphic display of combat. I'm a bit disappointed and I feel a bit mislead by the video with regards to fleet combat. Combat is a bit like some card based game, use hero cards mixed with action cards and boom, win or lose after a click. Some of the game shows polish with art and concept, but there is no game beyond micro managing star systems and Pokimon style combat. I choose you Defence Frigate, use tactic 1 for +10% combat strength and use Captain card for a +15% bonus. Lets see, looks good, click and lose... Just glad it was on sale.… Expand

I think this game is perfect choice who want to pursue realistic SF. For example, 'Sin Of Solar Empire' and 'Galactic Civilizations' are not realitstic SF 4X games but RTS that mix some 4X. This game is not warfare game. This is real 4X game and you need some skills of diplomacy and management. I hope that 'Sins Of Solar Empire' learn this game and next one maintain balance.

Played this game recently and it wasn't too bad. I agree that there is a bit of lacking in the depth area, both in content as well as the races. The combat system was a bit redundant in that I grew quickly tired of the same battle cutscenes time and time again. The tech tree is just all over the place. And the AI pose little to no threat on a consistent basis. While this game did have some potential, it's replay-ability was pretty much in the shallow end.… Expand

It's okay. Really there's just not anything special about this 4X game. I wanted to enjoy it, but it ended up being really repetitive once I got the hang of the game. The same strategies are usually used to win every game, and there's not much difference. The maps are too small even at the largest size. I wish it were more entertaining, but it feels like it's missing too much.

I thought I wouldn't ever really return to the joy of turn based strategy from the 90s. Games had moved on. However Amplitude makes one of the best attempts I have ever seen at modernizing the glory. Its not quite Civilization, but for an small developer's first try? It's awesome. I'm being honest with myself and rating this a nine. I'm tempted to give it a 10 like others just because I want to see endless space 2 so bad. This is a GREAT start to what could be an epic series. I got it cheap on Steam promo, now I want them to release something else so I can give them the full price they deserve.… Expand

A good strategy game with some interesting concepts implemented to make it an enjoyable experience. I did find that poor tutorial a sticking point for me at first, but once you get the hang of things its a good game. Watch a youtube tutorial or play your first game on easiest mode just to figure stuff out while you do not care about victory. The card game which is part of the space combat is an interesting twist which can either give you an advantage or disadvantage depending on what you and your enemy plays. If you catch this game for $10 or under it is well worth it providing you like turn-based strategy games.… Expand

This review is accurate as of January 2013 and includes only single player. To give a background the only space 4x games i've really enjoyed were alpha centauri and the galactic civilization series. I've tried others and have never found them to be very engaging. I have enjoyed every civilization game since the beginning although V held my interest the least. I have enjoyed other similar 4x titles, but games like europa universalis tend to be to complex for my liking.

Pros:
9 pre-made factions plus 1 reskin. I've seen complaints about the factions being bland, but I feel each faction has a very distinct playstyle that it encourages
the ability to make a custom faction
complete control over the galaxy you play in. Choose the shape, size, density level of systems, abundance of resources, pirate strength (or existence) etc.
the tech tree is very interesting in the way it is laid out. 4 trapezoids with the small ends all around a central point with the tree growing wider the further away it is.
Decent graphics with low requirements. I play on a laptop from mid 2010
Once understood the combat system actually does a good job of building tension.
The game has free addons that the studio continues to develop (The game shipped with only 8 races) There is a special xmas event that has been added (you can disable it if you like) and the community actually votes on what features will be included in upcoming releases. This level of developer support is amazing I would say the game is worth getting based on this alone to help make a statement to the industry.

Cons:
No Demo!
The tutorial is better than when it was released, but still leaves something to be desired. As you'll only use it once it isn't a big deal.
The graphics aren't the same quality as a AAA title, but they are adequate. There are no cut scenes which some people may find as a turn off, but that isn't why I play 4x so it doesn't bother me.
The combat is card based, and at first seams very luck based, but i'll go into combat more at the end.
Custom factions use a base race as a template. This includes racial bonus, ship design, and portrait.
The ship visuals do not change based on their weapon and armor load outs. During the combat animations weapons actually just fire from the side of the ship, it looks a little silly.
The game tends to end abruptly. I'm often surprised by the game ending and have to take a minute to figure out what victory condition was achieved.

Combat:
I've seen numerous complaints about combat not being tactical enough, or the entire game being card based. Both of these are false. The combat is handled by choosing a tactic (based on cards) that you have researched. your ships then carry out those orders. You can select your cards before battle if the battles happen to quick for you, or you can select them as the battle plays out so you can react to how the battle is going. It is only not tactical in the sense that you can't control each ship individually, but you do decide the tactics your army will use for each phase of combat (long, medium, and short). Also, each weapon type performs in a unique fashion compared to the others, and the armors behave differently as well. You can learn what ship types your opponent has, or what tactics they typically employ and modify your fleets and/or tactics to counter them. It is only in situations where you are way ahead or behind in tech that the outcome is a given. Lastly if you are finding the battles tedious to watch you can select all your cards, then auto battle. The battle will play out in about 10-15 seconds showing you which cards where played by you and the opponent and the outcome.

If people are claiming that this is just a card game with a 4x skin then they are only interested in combat. If you enjoy other aspects of 4x then rest assured this is far more then "just a card game"

The last thing I want to mention is about the story. It is true that there is no inherent story, but stories in 4x games are often odd creatures requiring your "persistent" civilization to restart the tech tree, lose your entire military, and rebuild your economy from the ground up for every mission. I tend to look at each play through as its own story. If you require something to motivate you there are achievements, some of which can be very difficult to accomplish.

TLDR: This is a good space 4x game. It is not perfect, but in my opinion it is a contender for best space 4x game on the market right now. If you are still on the fence go try the demo for star ruler. http://starruler.blind-mind.com/ If you like it get that, if not, get this.… Expand

This game has elegant design and a nice progress system for developing colonies and terraforming planets. Good luck trying to actually win a game though if you want to be peaceful. There are numerous victory conditions and NONE of them are EXPLAINED. It's a game based on building the biggest space empire possible yet if you expand you are BRUTALLY PUNISHED with DISAPPROVAL. Why? Um, because people don't want to be part of a large successful empire?????? You can "Choose" eight factions, only there are no choices beyond the selection. You are stuck with a horrible generic race portrait, and cannot choose any variants skill sets from the set-piece. All the science choices in the game unlock a vast number of system enhancements yet only a few of these, such as the one that allows travel through wormholes, are actually worth getting. And while there are dozens of "possible" play styles and victory conditions offered. All of them are a waste ot time, as the AI cheats and will beat you on even the easiest difficulty setting, and by huge margins if you waste your time hunting for an 'economic' science' or 'wonder' victory. The best and only way to come out on top in this game is find an ally and go to war. attack the other factions as soon as you can, develop as many war-techs and build as many ships as you can afford and destroy everyone else. When your enemies are dead betray and attack your ally. Diplomacy and trade in this game and undeveloped and joyless. The tech tree is a vast forest of useless distractions giving you literally hundreds of ways to improve your planetary systems which will be lost if you can't fight to hold them. Endless Space seems to have the makings of a good game. And it may get there with more patching and playtesting. For now you can summarize how much fun this is to play by the facts visible in the steam achievment screen: Less than 12% of gamers who bought this game have played more than 10 turns of it. They were the wise ones who quit while they were ahead. After 300 turns in 4 lost games I still can't figure out how it is the AI be trading tech or whatver it is they are doing behind the scenes that gives them such massive score boosts, such superiority in all development areas and such massive fleets. Something is wrong with this game. At present it is more frustrating than enjoyable, and it needs, if nothing else some kind of INSTRUCTIVE tutorial that actually illustrates the principles of winning. As a side note, I actually love the combat card system. The game gets many things right and could be sublime if the developers either explain how to play better, or re-code it to support the less aggressive victory types… Expand

4X turn-based strategy with a focus on economy & tactics. The music is very immersive and changes based on where you are in the game (planetary view, shipyard, etc.). Combined with the crisp, clean visuals the devs have found a way to make the sterile menu navigation somehow not boring. Sadly this charm can only last so long since most of the game is spent digging through menus trying to balance your empire on a see-saw. The biggest graphical disappointment is how "flat" the galaxy feels; there are eye-catching planetary views when zoomed into a star but from above it feels like playing a board game. Although there is combat, there is an "Auto" mode that lets you pre-load commands so many battles end up playing themselves. Even with the wealth of tooltips, many basic game features are hard to grasp, such as the seven victory conditions. The devs have been working hard to improve the game but the current tutorial is really barebones and is basically popup screenshots that explain things that the tooltips already show.

Endless Space is a highly customizable sandbox in space that offers you many unique ways to conquer the galaxy (or not at all; you can disable all victory conditions). A work in progress worth picking up if you can handle the difficulty and steep learning curve.… Expand

Just would like to point out that the developer has continued to make not just bug fixes but enhancements to the core game and seems to be doing a pretty solid job in this regard. Even if this game gets a 7ish score initially, I think this dedication to their game should bump its value to an 8.

I felt this game could have used more micromanagement. Most similar to Master of Orion III. I played both Master of Orion two and three, and while MoO II was an excellent game, 10/10 would play for the rest of eternity, MoO III fell short. Why? No micromanagement. Same thing goes for Endless Space.

This is just a virtual card game. Steam advertises this as some kind of RTS or action oriented game, when in reality you make a huge litany of small decisions in order to counteract the means by which the deck of cards hits you when you have to face other empires. The lack of ingame information is also infuriating. After spending a couple hours watching youtube tutorials, the faction I chose apparently didn't like missiles. No matter how large or how vast a fleet I made, I would just watch it get blasted to smithereens by two paltry and insignificant pirate ships. Space combat is entirely dictated by who draws a better card. If you try to employ any kind of strategy, logic, or common sense the card just smacks you in the face with "sorry about your luck, your vast armada just got blown to bits by a couple lowly pirates". This is by far one of the most regrettable purchases I have ever made on Steam.… Expand

I came into Endless Space expecting something like Civilization meets Sins of a Solar Empire, and... well, I don't know what I got. It plays very similarly to Civ in that it's turn based, has a tech tree, and you direct your 'civ' through their first steps into colonizing other planets, but that's about where the similarities end. The biggest surprise for me was finding battles are fought through a 'card' system as opposed to something more tactical. Perhaps it was a bad assumption on my part, but it's not mentioned in the game description and the screenshots seem to indicate otherwise, so it's something to be aware of. The rest of the game (tech tree, economy, even ship designing) is pretty shallow once you get past the technobabble. Researching Xenobiology sounds cool the first time, but soon you'll realize about 3/4 of the entire tech tree just give +1 to a particular stat in a star system, and research loses a lot of shine. The biggest disappointment: 90% of the game is spent staring at the galaxy map clicking 'end turn'. On the plus side, graphics during the combat portion are pretty nice, and I enjoyed the random events which pop up from time to time. So, I don't know, Endless Space isn't bad, but then again, it's not all that great, either.… Expand

This review is only of Single Player.

I am going to start this review off by simply going through a match adding in the ups and downs. You begin by going through and either picking a race to play or creating your own. I found the premade races to be a bit generic, with only a few fresh races. Upon creating m own race I ran into m first few disappointments. 1st: Your race will have the generic ship look of one of the premade races of your choice. You will not get to customize your races ships past conforming to a premade race style. Also your picture/portrait will also have to be a premade races portrait. Both of these things slightly irritated me from the start as my United Federation of Planets had no style of it's own. Moving on during race creation there is a ton of traits/skills/cultural things you can add to your race or take away. You can also use this system to give advantages or disadvantages to your home planet. I found this system to be very creative and well though up. You can even going into the negative in some aspects to get a higher bonus in others. Getting into the game I noticed the GFX were ok, the menu system and interface was easy enough to use as well. The tutorial while somewhat bland did indeed show me the basic ins and outs of the game systems. I will also add that the story line was non-existent. You just in a galaxy with a whole bunch of races who apparently just want to beat the other race or something. You then start playing with a couple ships to colonize and scout other systems out. One of the first positive things I found was that if you had a colony in a system you could use that planet to colonize other planets in the same system this is a boon as I would not have to build a ship for each planet. Early phase of the game is basically a scramble to colonize as many systems as you can, and to explore as much of the galaxy as possible. Each solar system that has not been explored by any factions has some sort of exploration event. These events tended to bore me as I seemed to always get the same one aka finding another scout ship out of magic land. Also it is worth noting when you meet another race early on you start as cold war status. This basically means they kill every ship of yours they see until you or them research peace through the research trees. Some reason every1 is just out to kill each other in this galaxy for no reason. During the mid game you will be focusing on upgrading solar systems and planets. Every planet can be exploited in one way be it for food (farms) labor (factory) money (called dust, and you never get a good explanation of exactly what it is) or science. Solar systems get a large amount of upgrades that require money, and labor. You can unlock better planet exploits and better solar system upgrades through the research trees. During mid game you are bound to get into combat. There is always one race that hates you no matter what, and you will be forced to smash their face or give them something for peace (even if your stronger) First off let me tell you there are only 6 ship visual designs per race. There is absolutely no ship visual custom designs. So no matter what you watch the same 6 ships no matter what weapons or armor you put on them. During combat you can see the different weapons in action, but this only amounts to a different color missile or a blue laser instead of a green. The combat is visually appealing, but slow and tedious. When you go to war and you have 4+ battles each turn you will quickly learn to hit the auto button (Might I add the auto fight still takes about 45 seconds of watching a blue bar fill). The combat system used cards to attacks/def bonuses. You opponent can counter your cards with their own. You start with about 6 cards and more can be researched through the tech tree. This system while original is utter horse **** So many times I went into a fight with a superior force only to be countered every time by the computers cards and loose my fleets. Also you only have 30-45 seconds to pick your first card, you don't have enough time to make a correct choice before the battle begins and you miss out. It boils down to pick as fast as you can and prey. The research trees are my next topic. To be frank it blows. Research is all over the map. If you want better weapons do down the combat tree, if you want bigger ships you gotta go down the exploration tree. If you want more ships in a fleet to kill your enemy with number you gotta go down the diplomacy tree..... What this amounts 2 is you either balance you tech out and play the same way every game of you get stomped. If you focus your combat weapons and def you will get destroyed by bigger ships in larger fleets. If you focus on big ships, you will be destroyed by larger fleets of ships with better weapons. If you just want large fleets then you will die to bigger ships with better guns.… Expand

It's an indie game. Ofcourse it has little to no voice-overs or amateuristically done at best and the quality is low to mediocre. I wish people would stop buying indie games only to whine about the lack of depth and quality.

A good 4x game for long winter nights, but with a disappointing card-based combat game play unfortunately. Perfect technology tree, nice graphics and good planetary management system.

Now this game has a very acute taste. For those who wan't to buy this game and have seen the steam trailer I say to you "It's not really like that". Part of the trailer is accurate, but it forgets to show the painstakingly long period of time where it's basically you clicking next turn and research this. Plus the actual gameplay fighting scene/battle... WHICH, I would have never called it that. It is a strategy game and multiplayer but it is a pointless game. Which is anything but addictive. I played it on the normal setting's it provides as default and to but it nicely, "IT WAS CRAP". I played it for over 4000 turns to see if it was any good and i unlocked everything off the tech-tree and it was useless. The game requires multiplayer to make it the slights entertaining, but that was only because i was chatting to them on Skype. The only thing you can do on this whole cheap, crapy knock-off of "Civ" is, inhabit planets, choose what you would like to do on the planet, explore the universe which after 150 or so goes is done. Then there is the battle stage which you still only get to click buttons!!!!!!!!. To summarise this game I would say buy Civ 5 or any other strategy game that isn't this S**t piece of a game. It makes me so mad that i fell for that stupid cinematic trailer. What a waste of £27 or £23 for those who buy the normal edition. DON'T BUY THIS GAME. unless you like crapy repetitive stuff.… Expand

I do not accept the argument "Your playing wrong, don't just have fun exploring and colonizing planets while defending yourself. That isn't how Endless Space is meant to be played, and we won't LET YOU play it that way"!

There is a concept in most of these games of "corruption". As your empire grows bigger, you need to spend more to maintain it. I made it 1/2 way through one game before my economy went from 1 or 2 planets out of 25(ish) having problems with major problems with corruption to my entire empire crashing... in ONE turn (and the game was then unplayable).

I was researching (and building) people-placating technology at about a 4-1 ratio compared to everything else.

If I can't expand my empire and enjoy myself without the game breaking, it isn't worth playing. I wish I could get a refund from Steam for this turd.… Expand

The current installment is decent and fun to play. If you are looking to colonize space, research futuristic techs and design your own battleships, this is definitely worth the money. It has little to no storyline and very little "flavour", tho, and feels a bit too cold - I would say that it lacks a little grit that old masters like Alpha Centauri or Masters of Orion had. But it still has good, distinct feel to it and a very decent soundtrack. Negatives include linear gameplay - there really is only one winning strategy, despite multiple "victory types", repetitivness of tasks (all systems colonized need to have nearly the same basic structures build, in the same order), pointless diplomacy options (all are worthless) and a lack of any voiceover. I can't help it, but I would love to have some narrative and voiceovers incorporated.… Expand

Nope. Not a game you want, whether or not it's a Steam Free Weekend this weekend (11/30/12-12/2/12). Yuck. It's like intergalactic Risk: It's slow, you can't figure out what to do, and basically, it's not a game I want in any way, shape, or form.

It must be in Spanish or another language.. It's only in English, If it had been free to play, I wouldn't have been disappointed. I like games based in the space

I really wanted to like this game, but after playing it feel that I was a victim of the pre-release hype machine. As a long-time strategy gamer, I'm mystified by all the high scores people have given it on Metacritic. Fanboys I guess. Anyway, there is a lot wrong with this game: 1) An AI that cheats and spams. 2) The research tree is a total mess. For example, you will find critical military technologies buried half-way up non-military tech trees. 3) A terrible rock/paper/scissors combat system. 4) A totally dull and lifeless galaxy void of any real surprises. 5) Diplomacy feels useless. 6) Generic races that lack an serious differentiation other than the physical. 7) Dull 'advance turn, advance turn' gameplay. 8) Heroes are overpowered. 9) Soundtrack is uninspired and amateurish. In short, this game is devoid of any soul is the worst case of the Emperor's New Clothes I've ever seen in a game. If you like 4X space strategy games, try the infinitely better grand strategy RTS Distant Worlds.… Expand

Extremely deceptive game. It's not really a 4x space strategy game with spaceships battling in space but its actually a card game disguised as a 4x game! If they had mentioned this in the advertisement, I never would have bought it!

As much as the research is nice, the game is horribly slow. I have given it several chances because I really want to like the game, but it just has boring combat and a limited A.I system, plus the lack of story mode is to bad.

Wouf.
Seemed to be a funny game. Amount of playing time won over the fun I had. Mysterious technology tree, mysterious conditions to win. Sometime you play for 10 hours and the computer suddenly annouce you that you have lost even if everythings was looking like if you were heading to win. At a moment I faced some agressive pirates and when I finally get rid of them, I had two planet and my neighbours 20 ! another lost game and few suggestions to do better. If you choose an easy way, you will overcome and destroy any ennemy. If you choose the hard way, the ennemy arrive with unbeatable armada. I had like to find the middle way.… Expand

It is only after buying this game that I found out that it's card-game wearing a 4X's skin. The lack of tactical combat is txtremely dissappointing to say the least. The technology also seems kind of bland.

Endless Space is a dumbed down version of the strategy classic Galactic Civilisations II. You dont even get better graphics, compare the old graphics of 'GalCiv' with this and GalCiv wins every time. If you are one of those people scoring it a 10 then go get a copy of the aforementioned game (I think you can still get it as a digital download) and be prepared to be astounded by the gameplay and combat cut scenes. (yeah more than a little has been taken by Endless Space from that old Classic - unfortunately not enough). I give Endless Space a score of 6 because its at least a step towards satisfying my desperate need for a good successor to GalCiv II.… Expand

Endless Space is very well done. However, right up front I will tell you about it's fundamental flaws. I had to play a lot before the flaws really became an issue. We must divide the game into single player and multiplayer modes, because they play differently. In single player mode the AI has to cheat ALOT to compete. Yet, has no clue how to manage systems and heroes effectively. Since the latest patch, except on the very highest difficulty levels, which just make it cheat more, it spams sips until it eventually goes bankrupt. Now in multiplayer mode, it's a lot better as you have hyper-efficient human opponents that don't make the AI's blunders. But, there are two glaring problems there too. Namely, the combat that favors "glass cannon missile boats" and the fact that the combat is simultaneous with the strategy map. This means that if you have 3 fleets that could potentially face combat ina turn , you can only actually play out the fight in one of them, the other two will be auto-resolved. The auto-resolve is terrible, so you will lose a lot of fleets you otherwise would not in this way. So, what ends up happening is you end up having to customize your ships and character traits based on knowing yo will have no participation in 95% of the battles. All that being said it is a great game and is a lot of fun, the small studio that made it s 100% committed to fixing the aformentioned shortcomings in the future, so it should only get better from here.… Expand

The card-based combat is an interesting idea that could have been executed much better. As it stands, there are two ways to approach combat. You can gamble with your fleets which is not a good idea because you will need them as AIs will get very aggressive as soon as your borders meet (the AI has a knack for suddenly exploding in military despite the most retarded planet management ever...), which they will always because you either expand or get overrun. Or the better choice is to just ignore the combat mechanic entirely and just focus on outnumbering (ships per fleet, not overall - that would be impossible) and just steamroll through fleet after fleet loosing only a few ships. Then switch your weapon tech when they adapt (AI is very slow at adapting). Almost trivial.

In the end, all the components of a good 4x seem to be in place, but it just doesn't 'balance out' in the end. And the game becomes either trivial or frustrating. Still could be fixed with some balancing of techs, introducing some AI (I wouldn't call the current computer oppenents 'intelligent' at all, just abusive of difficulty bonuses - raw resources for them, and approval penalties for you, what joy!) and a rework of the combat.

TLDR: Another promising 4X game that misses the mark entirely. You will either figure it out the game-breaking strategies quickly and grow bored, or will give up trying.… Expand

This game was so close to being a classic game but fell short on a number of bugs and lack of polish. I can not tell you how disappointing it can be to play a 20 hour long game and at long last when you win what happens? A simple pop-up that says y"You win!"

That's it. It would have been worth at least 1 more point to have had something at the win/lose of a game beyond 2 words.

The other major issue was with the lack of information, too many parts of the game just had to be tried to find out what they did and many I still do not really understand despite having over 40 hours into the game.

Still it is a nice twist on the 4x games and was a lot of fun, with a little patching this game could be an easy 9.… Expand

As nice as the game is in looks, it's a very difficult game to enjoy. Even on the easiest difficulties, I find my race always in last place, eventually being wiped out. Nothing is more torturous than a game you can't win. Other then difficulty, it's an alright strategy game. The music is good, as well as the climatic battle scenes. The graphics are beautiful. If you've ever scene the camera work for Battlestar Galactica, it's just like that. Multiplayer is a failed concept. Turn based multiplayer is an absolute bear.… Expand

It's a fun, straight-forward 4x space strategy game, with a great UI. The developers seem motivated to keep improving the game, too. Not a classic, and not a must-have, but also not a bad way to spend some time.

A good modern remake of the classic game STARS! in my opinion. This is a typical 4X game (eXpand, eXplore, eXploit, eXterminate). Turn based games bring back the nostalgia of the 90's and so does this one, it made me dig out the original CD for STARS! and install it with dosbox to compare. They are both good but i think STARS! edges it with the extra depth. Good graphics, they remind me of the ships from EVE. Brilliant interface, very smooth and easy to work. Makes the learning curve a little less vertical.

I would reccomend it to kill a few nights but not varied enough to make me go back for more. I got about 20 hours out of the game.… Expand

Fun, but needs a lot more work to be worth the $30 I put into it. I guess we will see how the three major updates they promised change the game.

I played many 4x games before and this one is the greater deception of all games I tried. Endless Space looks promising and is a nice production, but the game play is so boring than I give up after only two or tree hours of playing. I gave the game a second chance some days later...same sleepy effect! Research system is well developed but return no real feeling of some advantage; combats are boring and need absolutely no strategy; Commercial exchange are frustrating because of the balancing value mechanism.

Don't spend your money on it.… Expand

Love the climate and music of this game. For a long time I haven't played such an awesome turn bassed strategy game that attracted me for long hours of gaming, making me to come back to it over and over again. If you like old school turn based strategies, Endless Space is a good pick

Really loved the game. I recently took a liking to 4X games, especially space-themed ones, and this is what I really loved. If you're new to the 4X genre, or even a hardened veteran, you /should/ like this game. The graphics and general look of it is fantastic. The interface isn't cluttered, and relatively easy to grasp after the tutorial. The tech trees are quite interesting, but it seemed to me with enough science production, the colonization tree was the easiest to gain a 'technology' win, after building the wonders that are unlocked via the last technology. Maybe that was just me, being Sophons (I think.).
But it seems a lot of emphasis is placed on three things. One, your dust production, two, your 'building'/production production, and three, your ships. I don't know if I was a bad ship designer or what, but it seemed the enemy /always/ had better combat strength than me, and I had to build an armada of ships every time I went to war. Dust production plagued me throughout games, even when I put all emphasis on dust production and improvements, I still was struggling on the net gain of dust. Building/production was rather easy to obtain being the Sophons, and really it's the basis for everything in the game. Slightly OP, if you have a high building rate. You can build everything faster, improvements and ships, so you have a bigger edge. Then again, that might have been me. The game itself is really good in terms of mechanics, it's really smooth until you start exploring a large galaxy and end up waiting for a bit for other players'/AIs ships to move, but that's to be expected. The ship building was pretty interesting too. The only thing I rate this down from a 10 is the combat. Although the card-based combat is okay, I'd really prefer a RTS combat-style, so I can really see how useful those things I put on my ships are. It's not gamebreaking, unless you are the kind of person who just attacks everyone and wants to exterminate the universe. Although that is one of the 4 Xs, I tend to stick to more technology/diplomatic victories. Although having an armada of dreadnoughts helps too! Brilliant game, I love it.… Expand

An cap of a space rts game, if only to fall short on the mark.. This game features ruling ruling solar systems, space fleets, and heroes. Unfortunately the lack of random events, indepth diplomacy or strategic battleplay or actual planetary system management makes this game somewhat bland. You'll find urself ignoring food production or public happiness and seeking merely to boost production/economic output. Your space battles will be fun at first, but will quickly turn to a repetitive \\\"damn i have to sit through another one...\\\" as it is purely cinematic, unskippeable and there is a lack of tactical mobility. You\\\'ll find yourself trying more to figure out/research your tech tree than actually playing an rts game. With a few patches this game could quite likely become something to talk about, but up to this point its not.… Expand

A great 4x game that just keeps on getting better! The game is allready polished but it is still constantly tweeked and patched by Amplitude Studios. They will also release 3 free add ons witch you can read more about at the Amplitude Studios home pages before Christmas.
This is the typically "just one more click" game that will keep you up all night. Deep and streamlined at the same time with an exceptional UI, a must buy for turn based strategy games fans!… Expand

Refreshing game in this genre, have lot of upgrades, lot of improves, lot of everything but don't have more important thing...story which would make you to sit and read, watch, interact in the same story of being ultimate best strategist of universe! also its much more addicted when its battle time because game itself is a bit of boring when u wait for research, turns, but when ship creation start then begins fun and build of same! tons of ships, tons of dps, tons of everything! 7/10 just because lack of deeper reason for playing. .… Expand

Looks so good, but is really a very bad game. Combat is horrid! You cant auto resolve combat unless you have at least two times the force they have or you will always lose. Once I attacked with three times the force and still lost. STAY AWAY FROM THIS GAME!!!!

Initially, it seems like loads of fun, and it does do some things pretty good. The different types of planet and their pros and cons are pretty fun, the heroes can give specific systems a pretty hefty bonus, and the graphics quality is also quite nice.

However; the amount of stuff you can actually do boils down to setting governors, select cards (yes, cards) for combat, and maybe build some ships.

The tech tree is somewhat arbitrary, but especially the military end of the tech tree is a simple upgrade system with pretty names. In the end, I couldn't finish a single game, and went back to other, more fun 4X games, which don't need heroes to give the player some level of control over an otherwise bland and boring game.… Expand

This is a great game, a blow of fresh air to the decaying turn based strategy game genre.

I have played most of the old games, MoO, Alpha centauri, Galactic civs, and the first two civs (the historic strategy just don't fit me, i'm more a pew pew lazor guy) and I won't say, this is the heir of MoO, or the heir of SotS, or the heir of GalCiv 2.

This is Endless space, a game which will surely become a classic in its own, thanks to a polished UI, neat graphics, simple balance and complex strategy, and most of all, thanks to a developer who is willing to improve the game and listen to the players. On this weekend, they released a patch to improve the planetary population growth, so it will growth first the best planet, so you can colonize worse ones for the resources and still growing the big one.

I'm pretty much happy with this game, I bought it in steam for mere 20… Expand

A lot of 4x games have been coming out these days, but unfortunately most of them are not very good. Endless Space stands out - it's one of the best i've played for a long time.

So when i first played this game i was lost with no idea what to do very little in terms of a tutorial. First game i thought i was doing good then when i went to the score screen i was in last place on normal difficulty. So i looked up on-line to find some techniques to help me out and after implementing them it seems this game only has one real way to play it successfully. Other Reviewers don't like the Rock Paper Scissors aspect of the combat it was a nice break at first but after many battles it was whoever had the better research. A really powerful pair of scissors can cut through rocks and so on. I did like this game but i know there is better out there somewhere.… Expand

Given the proliferation of bug ridden 4x strategies recently, Endless Space is worthy of commendation. The game represents a smooth, polished example of the genre. First impressions reveal a well built game with ample humor and character in the tool tips and design choices. Sadly, this experience does not continue throughout the game. Ship design is limited, with little real freedom other than equipping lots of the most recent module. The combat likewise is limited. Although employing an innovative 'cards' system which allows bonuses and counter reactions, combat is automated and largely a case of the biggest, best armed ships winning regardless of strategy. Repeated playthroughs will find little real character or differentiation in this game. Overall an enjoyable but bland game which bears future potential dependent on post launch added features.… Expand

Honestly the people whom are complaining about this game, simply haven't grasped it's intricacy.
This is what MOO should have always been.

There's one reviewer who said battles are «pot luck» yeah sure, if you don't do them manually!
With the right number of properly armed ships, a well trained Hero and well selected card tactics one can take out far greater fleets 10 times as powerful as the one you take up against them___this isn't a pot luck formula, it takes wit and strategy. This game has the incorporated mechanics to grant you the right tools to use strategy.

I LOVE IT!… Expand

I'd really like to give this game a 7.5.

This is not the best 4x game I've played and it seems to be lacking in some areas (combat) and has generally low customizability (compared to Galactic Civilizations and others) and become rather boring at higher levels of game play.

However, as a pre-order player, I was very impressed by the responsiveness of the developers which seems to matter more and more. They are very dedicated to creating a quality experience and I'm sure it will get better with time.

I like this game and it had some neat ideas and implementations (resources, for example), but it is lacking in ways that reduce my desire to keep playing it and I've found myself returning to older classics instead.… Expand

I wouldn't give this game a 10, but I understand why some people are. The 4X genre is starved for good games, and most recent entrants have been half-baked buggy disasters. Endless Space is polished and plays well. Gameplay wise, Endless Space is really a game about two phases of play. The early game is great. Exploration is tricky. Some planets are hard to colonize. Keeping people happy on a budget matters. You don't want to lose ships. Leaders are highly valuable. In the late game a lot of that changes, however. Colonization is cheap. It's dirt easy to keep everyone happy. Resources flow freely, even at low tax rates. Production rates get so high on good systems that fleet spam becomes a huge problem. Ship design at that point also becomes about glass cannons or guessing games between which weapon he's using right now, and picking the right defense for it.

That said, those are balance issues and the core game here is fun. It needs some tweaks to become "great", but is already "good" today.… Expand

As a gamer fairly new to the 4x genre, I found Endless Space a great introduction. The mechanics are easy to grasp and the game becomes less intimidating the more you play. Unfortunately, a couple annoying flaws prevent it from standing out. The developer has admitted the game is not a finished product and I can only hope they dedicate themselves to continued improvement of a promising title. One flaw is the enemy AI. It will frequently amass huge fleets in one or two systems and do nothing with them. The AI does not actively challenge the player as he or she grows an empire across the galaxy map. The more your empire expands, the more your populace becomes unhappy. Even if you are playing an expansionist or militarist faction, you suffer an enormous approval penalty for growing your empire too quickly. Many people have complained about fleet combat because players have very limited control over it. Once you engage an enemy fleet with one of your own, your fleet attacks on its own. You have three rounds of combat to play a tactics card that gives you bonuses and rock paper scissors counters to other cards. You have no direct control over fleet movement or attack during combat. Personally, I don't mind this as it simulates managing an empire from afar and leaving the dirty work to the admirals. You can customize ships with technology that forms another rock paper scissors mechanic. Admittedly, I have not played multiplayer, but I am thinking it is probably a lot more rewarding than playing against the AI. If you're new to 4x games, I would recommend Endless Space. If you're a veteran looking for a new, engrossing experience, you might not find what you're looking for. The game is a good amount of fun, rewarding (if only for a while), and a nice segway into games like EU3, GalCiv2, and Victoria.… Expand

As a long-time (decades) 4x game player, I was very impressed with the quality of ES when it was still in its alpha version. Its main flaw (common in 4x games) is lack of a compelling narrative to carry you through to the endgame. Still, I've put in over 200 hours on this game (thank you, Steam, for reminding me) since first downloading the alpha version, I am particularly impressed by the clean, smooth, consistent user interface. And while some have criticized the combat system, I rather enjoy it, and I find it has subtleties and balancing aspects that casual reviewers overlook. A fun game -- and that's what games are all about, isn't it? ..fritz..… Expand

no storyline, no real tutorial, no real backbone.
You shouldn't have to research how to play a game on google.

I Wish i spent my 35$ on a bag of dope.

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 suck out all of the fun. Or if you prefer, imagine a great comedian at the peak of his career who has had a severe stroke. There was something amusing and enjoyable there once but now it's just sad.

I digress. 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.… Expand

There are different types of 4x games. Some are turn based. Many where you control the ships in combat. All of this is great. But haven't you ever wanted to build your empire and ships, and watch the battles instead of feverishly clicking around with your mouse? There has to be a game that eventually comes out like that right?

Well now there has. Endless Space is a cinematic 4x empire builder. The ship customization is pretty good as you get to choose what type of weapons, defenses, etc that you earlier researched to put on your ship (classes also researched). Also fleet size can be upgraded. So you start off with small ships with a few weapons, and can end up with lots of ships and more weapons (or a ton of crappy weapons if you want to see a venerable light show). The angles of the cinematic battles is pretty good. They could of botched this badly, but they did it quite well. Could be a little better, but still does well. They could patch in more cinematic screens or make it better for a sequel. But for now, it is quite fun to watch. Needs a little more variety, but they can add on to this later.

This is a new type of 4x, and the point is, as it's patched and/or the series progresses, this new sub-genre will get better. I like variety in my 4x games. I don't want them all being clones of each other. This accomplishes that, and lays the ground work for a branch of the 4x genre.

The upgrade tree is vast. Don't grow too fast in the game empire wise. There are techs to upgrade to mitigate the 'empire expansion' disapproval factor. You don't need to colonize everything first. Get the bigger solar systems with five planets, and/or the ones with extreme resources. I think this is a great game. A fresh and needed look at the 4x genre. Seriously I've been waiting for a cinematic space battler for a looooooonnnnnggg time. Finally one is out there. Buy it and enjoy a new sub-genre. You'll have your Sins. You'll have your Galactic Civ. You'll have your other. Now you'll also have your cinematic 4x in Endless Space.… Expand

An OK game if you're really itching for an updated Civilization 2, in the sense of "it's 2am and the bar's about to close so grab anything". Matches are determined by the random number generator when you start the game. For instance, pirates might curbstomp you with fleets that are literally unbeatable while you're starting out, but you have to invest a ton of time to find out whether they'll show up or not - it has nothing to do with what you've done. Another problem is the resources. Unlike Civ 2 which made the resources 'nice to have', in this game they're a requirement to win. If the RNG doesn't spawn them in your home systems you're really just done and have no chance of success.

Rolling back to being a beginner, the tutorial deserves special mention for being aggressively useless. When you go into a new screen it brings a pretend version of that screen up and then kind of points at what it wants you to look at, blocking you from interaction while it _sloooowly_ metes out information about what the screen is about. I defy anyone to keep it turned on for more than 2 or 3 screens. In addition the research tree is completely opaque unless you're willing to use wikis and the forums to research how to actually _play_ this game.

That said, it's pretty and it's fun to play in the same way that it's fun to optimize a spreadsheet to make the numbers really high. Ultimately there are too many frustrations to bother with and it's a waste of money.… Expand

Description:

There is something that everyone should know about Endless Space and that is that it is hard, it is going to be confusing the first few games, and you will lose. I'm going to use the combat system just to show you how complex the game can be.

Combat in Endless Space can best be described as a Rock, Paper, Scissors game within Rock, Paper, Scissors within Rock, Paper, Scissors . Choosing between Ballistics(kinetics), Lasers, and Rockets and then the proper defense systems against each of those weapons and then a semi-R.P.S. card battle system. Then there's the max weight of your ships(how much you can equip them with), researching the tech for the weapons, defense systems, and ship chassis. And assigning proper commanders to your fleets. Now this is one of the easiest parts of the game and I didn't even describe all of it because that would take a whole review on JUST talking about combat to do that. Oh and did I mention that there are 7 ways to win this game so it's not all about the combat. You have to focus on not just Combat but Economy, Expansion, Tech Building, and Diplomacy.

So if your the kind of person that enjoys this level of complexity then this game is probably for you. The Good:

The interface is super clean. For how the complex the game is the interface really helps in making it "easier" to manage your colonies, fleets, etc. The combat looks like a scene straight out of Battlestar Galactica it's a super fun event to watch in fact I've forgotten to play cards because I was too busy watching the combat. It's a beautiful part of the game end of story.

Colonizing, choosing what each planet should pull it's resources to, governing, and terra-forming, ect definitely give you full control over what's going on in your empire and better yet if you get so many colonies that you don't know what to do with them you can assign an AI to take care of that star-system for you. So that's really handy for when your busy conquering or doing whatever and you don't have time to deal with the 20 colonies you own. Customizable Factions means you get to play your way!


The Bad:

There is no play by email which is really disappointing because this game is LONG. And if you're playing multiplayer it is going to take a while to finish. I'm unaware if Amplitude plans to add this one day but it doesn't look like it.
-There is some saving grace in this situation though because if you're in a match against a person and they drop out of the game then the AI will take them over. Now this can be a good or bad thing itself because what if they just had to leave to go to work and they come back and the AI completely ruined their strategy or an entirely different person joins and then they haven't been there the whole game so they don't really know what's going on for that session. So multiplayer definitively needs a little more work, mainly the option to choose to play by email.

The combat is not very dynamic it is essentially the same thing over and over and while it drop dead gorgeous it is extremely repetitive.

Pirates are OP and there are too many pirate fleets and the strength of the fleets is too high for how early they can show up and you could lose the game before you even encounter other factions. If you choose to enable pirates(which I suggest you don't unless you want to have a rage induced brain aneurysm) Pirates are broke in all the wrong ways. Space Pirates should be a nuisance with maybe one really strong Black-Beard fleet once in while not a whole faction that can spawn 5 battle cruiser sized fleets any where on the map on every turn one right after another non stop. You lose half of an early game fleet for every pirate fleet you destroy but guess what! After that pirate fleet is dead there's three more that are even stronger that JUST spawned in the system right next to your nearly ruined fleet.
- Now since Pirates are optional I'm not going to let this effect my rating

The biggest problem for me however is the lack of story and lore in the game. If the lore of the factions was measured in the deepness of a pool we're swimming in a bathtub, with the drain unplugged. There's not a whole lot there and the game generally lacks personality. The immersion is not there. I don't have any other reason to like a faction other than their stats and the style of their ships. Which is why I made my own so I could have some form of an actual story or motivation to conquer the galaxy or the befriend or smite a particular faction other than to just do it for the sake of winning.

And that is the reason why I can't give it a 10/10. If it had Story and Immersion then yeah 9/10 and if the combat was more dynamic 10/10 but since it doesn't I have to give it a solid 8/10. Bottom line: excellent game, terrible story.

Anyway I hope my review was helpful to you.

Happy Gaming!
Vorlo… Expand

A goat in a pretty dress. GUI: In the trade screen items are listed for trade. But clicking on them often brings up an error message "trade refused. Reason is it contains an item you clicked". AI: The computer player frequently loses without any assistance, suffocating under the financial burden of many planetary upgrades that have no value or relevance to the planets they were put on. There is also no visible reaction or interaction with the player, it simply goes about it's private business of expanding and conquering worlds. So designing a rock-paper-scissors ship to defeat an opponent is a one-shot affair, with no counters forthcoming. Ships can be revamped at any colony shipyard; there's some needless restrictions on the number and naming of ship classes, which doesn't change the game play at all. The game is over after 20-30 turns, when it has become clear that you have completely outclassed all enemies. Then the rest of the time is spent on a long and dreary mop-up. Some bizarre penalty structure is applied to the player for early expansion because it is the winning strategy, which fails to alter the winning strategy. Overall, it can be enjoyed as a learning experience, an exploration of a new game for 10-20 hours. But I don't see any reason to play it again.… Expand

To start off, this game is challenging and has a steep learning curve if you don't take time to read the tutorial boxes. In the beginning you start off in a tiny world, possibly very advantageous or possibly the most unforgiving of all environments.Regardless you are pushed into a thrilling experience of trial and error. It may possibly take many games to even understand what most of the values and attributes even mean. This game is all about making mistakes and learning from them. I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes strategies.… Expand

This game need's a lot of work. Where to start.
1. This research tree will force you to follow the same steps over and over to maximize expansion. Everything is shown so you have nothing to discover and nothing changes.

2. The Galaxy map: i: 2-d connect-the-dot with no hidden surprises. ii: Generated at random so as to decide multi-player games at the start. iii: Has only systems, pirates who block choke points ,and fleets in a 2-d display with little animation.

3. Random events that pop-up due to a scripted timeline that either help you or hurt you depending on your
current growth. Same events over and over.

3. Solar System maps have no real motion except in selecting a planet. Planets are not in orbit but put side by side with no rotation. Planets are displayed with no mysteries and only require certain technologies to unlock modifiers.

4. Space combat at first will be fantastic 3d until you realize its a card system with no other control. Rock, paper, scissors with admirals who add unbelievable attributes if in the fleet. Ships follow the same path every time with just the background changing to match the system your in. This after a time will lead you to automate battles to save time.

5. AI will spam fleets with no clear objective and can be simply defeated with a good Admiral as in point 4.

6. Due to random maps experienced players will know if the other player has a good starting position due to not resigning. If you do not have a good starting location you are wasting your time, but you will be a good sport in loosing. The UI is very smooth and the graphics are clean but this game will get boring very fast. If your expecting a good head to head match with a human I wish you the best. I can just see the walkaways from poor starting locations because that in a nutshell is the game. Obviously most reviewer's seem to be Civ fans who like repetition and memorization....

A boring 1 after 20 hours of play.
Wait 6 month's until the updates.… Expand

This is a pretty good 4X game. I can't wait for the mods to come alive with custom races and technologies. There are certainly areas that could use a bit of polishing, but compared to many other, this is a diamond in space... A slightly discolored diamond, but a diamond non-the-less.

Personally, I found the game to be very addicting and interesting. It had an amazing level of depth, and a very good replay ability value. The fact that you can create your own empire specific to what you want is cool, and the graphics are pretty good. Feels almost exactly like Civ 5, but space themed. However, there are some bugs that make the game suffer. One bug is that the Multiplayer often crashes after about 100 turns (had this happen all 5 times I've played MP so far). Overall, this game is great, and I'd recommend to anyone who likes Civ 5 type games or Strategy games. 8/10… Expand

Generally speaking the game is very soundly constructed. The space battles are beautiful to watch, and there is enough strategy there for some meaty games. It contains the elements of system control and choke points that I loved about Sins of a Solar Empire without the simplistic "Build a carrier fleet and gg" mechanic. Furthermore, the ability to design your own ships and the strategy of picking which tech to research and when is pretty engaging. Additionally, the various races that you can play as, not counting the ones you can design yourself, all yield additional replay value as they all have their own unique quirks and strategies that you have to deal with. Overall, there is a lot of good stuff there for several playthroughs, plus after that you can take it online to match yourself up against other players or people that you know.

All that said, I knocked two points because the game can get stale after awhile, but I think not anymore so than a regular strategy game. At the end of the day, we all know that we develop our own "pattern" of how to play strategy games. It happens with Civ, Sins, etc. Once you reach that point and figure out what works best for you on each race, you'll pretty much be on auto-pilot for the rest of the game. This is especially true in games against the AI where you can pretty much predict how each one will react on a general strategic level. This concern is somewhat eliminated by playing against real people simply because they can be unpredictable, but that doesn't really mean that your particular playstyle will need to be altered all that significantly.

So, in the end, it's a well-made, fun game that has a moderate replay value, but after you find your groove its easy to get bored, especially against the computer. I'd recommend finding a playstyle by doing games against the AI, then going online and playing matches against people to help keep things livened up.… Expand

A beautiful creation. A must have for any 4X fan- ES is a labor of love from 4X FANS at Amp. You can tell that G2G works by this shining end result - more companies should adopt this policy. I am missing only one element in this game- a map editor. Lack of full customization of the galaxy cost you a point; other than that- Bravo, Amp!

I got this game because it was rated so highly and everyone seemed to have great things to say about it. This game is really not that great. It is at best a mediocre 4X Turn-Based game and at worst terribly boring and frustrating. It seems to be trying to combine Civilization with Sins of a Solar Empire but it really never seems to come close to either game.

My first complaint is the combat system. It seems like it was originally intended to be somewhat like either Sins or Total War but they scrapped that and just decided some cheap Rock, Paper, Scissors card game, where you have next to no control over your fleet, was better. It really isn't and you are better off just hitting auto resolve, the result is pretty much the same anyway. If they were just going to make something that is essentially random then they should have just stuck with what Civ does and have them duke it out on the galaxy map instead of wasting the player's time loading up a separate screen.

My second complaint is that the game seems to be a mess of poor and annoying design choices. For instance you will be penalized for over-expanding early on in the game which is fine, it happens in Civ too. The problem comes when the only way to offset these penalties is to go deep into the tech tree, pray you find a hero that has some approval bonuses available on level up, or just not expand at all because if you keep going you'll pretty quickly find yourself with a revolt on your hands. If you stop expanding, you better hope you have some defensive fleets keeping the AI at bay because anything that you leave unguarded they'll colonize because they seem to suffer no penalties from over-expansion, they just keep going until there is nothing left to take. You'd also think that the race that is supposed to expand quickly, because they are essentially locusts, would not suffer this over-expansion penalty but you'd be wrong. If anything the game I played as them the penalty actually seemed worse than in any I'd previously played.

Another annoying design choice seems to be the AI's lack of ability to do anything but expand. Diplomacy is basically finding them, waiting a bit for them to warm up to you a little, and then asking for a peace treaty which won't ever be refused. Declare war on them and they do nothing about it except occasionally harass your fleets as you try to take their systems, never once did they send fleets to attack any of my systems. In fact the only thing that ever actually attacked me were some pirate fleets that were completely unkillable at my tech level. The fleet attacking my system had an attack score of over 4000 when the best the AI or I could seem to field at the time was just over 1000. Went in and tried to win manually, which like I said is a waste of time, and their first barrage wiped my entire fleet out and I barely even dented them. Didn't even bother attacking with my second or third fleets that had arrived because it wasn't even worth the effort of hitting auto resolve.

The concept of the game seems to be interesting and it could have been good but there is just so much wrong with the way this game works that it really isn't worth playing. I guess for a first game in the genre it isn't awful for the company and hopefully their future games will have a little more playability. As it stands you are better off playing Civilization or Sins instead since they are a lot more enjoyable and better designed.… Expand

I think Endless Space is a great 4X strategy game! Highly addictive, it's been a while since I have been sucked into such a game, playing one more turn at 3am...
You can't really compare this game with SoaSE, it's more grand strategy oriented like a Civ, a Moo, or a GalCiv, while Sins is more action oriented. The MP mode is also really cool to play, turns flying by quite quickly even for a TBS game.
The interface is very simple to understand which makes the whole experience really fantastic. Sure there might still be some small bugs and stuff that could be improved, but the dev team (and the community) is still working on the game even after release, which can only be positive for the game's lasting appeal. I recommend this for 4X newcomers and old school players. It could become a classic!… Expand

All my thoughts are summed up by this critic's review:

www.gainsense.com/2012/07/endless-space-review.html

Essentially though, ES has the basics done right but is lacking in complexity.

This was an enjoyable game, but I agree with other reviewers that it lacks depth or much replay-ability. The designers did an amazing job creating an intuitive interface that streamlines much of the micromanagement that inevitably is necessary in these types of games and I was able to pick up the fundamentals quickly based on past experience with "4x" games. The developers suggest that additional updates will provide new features, so perhaps soon then we'll finally have a worthy successor to Master of Orion. Until then, you'll get a few great hours of enjoyment with this one.. well worth the $30 or so.… Expand

Ascendancy - I was looking for a 4X game like that classic from 1995 when I bought Endless Space. Now I'm somewhat dissappointed.
The interface is crisp in Endless Space. Clear cut information, good tool-tips, self-explaining symbols and most of the time a good layout. Feels like a fresh, well though out game that is easy to get into and not easy to get out of because like in every turn-based 4X you can settle just one more system and research just one more tech. But after a while you notice this smell and you start the wonder why you are playing this. The rotten parts of the game come to your attention: Huge tech-tree? Missle1, Missle2...Shield1, Shield2... The numbers go up, the gameplay and even the graphics stay the same. There is no satisfaction in building your new ship with fancy weapons when it looks and fights just as the old one. Are the fights nail-biting and challenging? I set them to auto-resolve 15min into the game - boring card drawing system that takes forever. The boring fighting system is a huge turn-down because in SP you will have to grind through endless amounts of ai fleets that like to suicide into your fleets. That turns out to be a problem because there's only enough space for one fleet at a time to attack in "Endless Space". The highest ai difficulty is called "Endless". That probably stands for 'endless' amounts of metal they can send into your meat grinder and still not win because you can still outexpand, outtech and outsmart them. You spent 5min clicking on auto-resolve when playing against the ai at higher levels. Multiplayer is a little better but still not good. Don't attack the host. When he leaves the others have to remake the game. I didn't encounter crashes or major bugs in my game. That's what pulls up the rating for me a little. You can't expect that anymore at release nowadays.
Endless Space is not a bad game but there is no way this is a 10 like many people here rate it. Only buy it if you're desperate for a 4X game and don't expect too much complexity.… Expand

for me it's a good Turn Base game that waste time with excitement and let's me relax while my empire grows, the game has it a few flaws that are barely noticeable and the tech tree is incredible. this is the game for people who love to think and plan ahead!

It's an ok game. However the game completely lacks keyboard controls. While the interface is well designed, keyboard controls would have really benefited this game.
Also the manual is very short and high-level, that's bad because there is no tutorial level. Just a few screens, which are basically the same as in the manual.
The game play seems unpolished and unbalanced, a lot of important mechanics don't get explained. For example ship upgrades are handled very poorly by the AI. By reading the forums you can quickly gather that missiles are worthless, as they only hit one enemy and laser beams are overpowered...… Expand

The Steam video was impressive, lots of action, the promise of a really good space adventure comparable to Masters of Orion from years back. I bought the Deluxe version with the Dreadnaught and off I went to play... end turn... end turn... end turn... end turn... end turn... The strategy is limited to researching terraforming techniques to inhabit other systems in a land grab, then building endless numbers of disposable ships to wage a 'rock, paper, scissor' battle where the resolution is painfully simplistic and offers little for interaction to the outcome. The races are somewhat different technically, but offer no real interaction that makes Amoeba's different from the Humans. No voice overs, no videos, very 1990's interaction. Shipbuilding is limited to an 'auto-upgrade' feature, anything less and you are not effectively utilizing the capacity/firepower ratio that ultimately determines victory or defeat. If you are looking for a fun space adventure game, keep looking. $34.99 wasted, I've seen better facebook games that do the same thing, for free.… Collapse

If you liked Civilization 5 then this might be up your alley. Be warned though, while Civ 5 is nice to look at while you are waiting for your turn, Endless Space seems bland by comparison. Both titles have about the same depth, but Civ 5 wins out for me. If you like a simple space based version of Civ 5 then pick this up. Wouldn't pay more than $10 for it though.

Endless Space is fun for a time but it lacks that final punch and most of this is down to depth. There's really not enough of it. The galaxy is small, even on the huge setting, and the tech tree, whilst looking large, is more often filled up with technical babble. You can fill the whole tree without a lot of effort. Just to emphasise my point about the galaxy size, I was quite surprised to find, in my latest game, that I had explored almost the entire galaxy and found little more, if indeed, than 24 planets. I'd recommend Endless Space to those fans of 4X that like their games quick; those games where you don't have to trundle through turn after turn before you get to the middle game meat. There's a lot of promise here but it's just not deep enough. I'd actually lump this game in as a crossover between turn based 4X and a puzzler. You have to pick your expoansion path carefully and can block other empires if you get it right.… Expand

I was super hyped for this game, but ended being a super disappointment. Yes, the UI is great and polished, even more for a indie game. It has various races and planets. But it lacks short, plus it has a cheating AI. There's no real differentiation from race to race, and the tech trees are similar, except of a few techs... Overall, good tech demo, and not a bad effort for a indie game. But as a game, it is severely lacking. I was hoping to play it for a few weeks at least, but ended up not wasting two days. Even the soundtrack sucks. In fact, the more I write, the worse it gets.… Expand

It wasn't terrible. Neither was it very good. The "simultaneous turn-based" gameplay makes absolutely no sense. I cannot imagine the clusterF*** that is in multiplayer. Pick one or the other, please. The interface is clean and good-looking, but cumbersome to use for repetitive tasks. Also some very weird design choices, like severely penalizing expansion... Isn't expansion the POINT of these games? 0.o

No campaign to speak of (yet?). Complete fail for me personally. I'm sure a lot of bored 4X addicts will be interested for two hours before some flaw pisses them off.… Expand

This game is very boring, not worth the money. The game is oversimplified to the point where you are bored 100 turns into the game. Warfare has a bad system. I don't understand how this game is getting positive reviews. It's really easy to master, but it's really boring because it's so easy. It doesn't have much replay value. The lack of depth in this game is amazing. Space games require some kind of storyline to set the scene for the game. I really don't get any of that. It feels like you're just plopped down in some galaxy with a bunch of planets. It may be easy to control your empire, but the AI is ridiculous. It seems like it does not follow the same rules as the human player. The diplomacy is terrible, you have to discover technologies to unlock options for diplomacy. That's kind of stupid, especially since humans have been creating alliances between nations since the beginning of civilization. This game would be good if it was $5 -$10, but for $30? No way! Waste of money.… Expand

Overall a solid 4x space opera game. It contributes some minor improvements to the genre, like resources and such, which make for some interesting game play. However, overall it does not bring much innovation to the genre. I will say that in my opinion it is the best space opera game on steam.

For rating a game, I rate it based on hours of enjoyment per dollar. $1/hour = ok game, rating 6, $0.50/hour = good game, rating 8 or 9 depending on exactly how much I enjoyed it. Right now I am close to $0.50 per hour, but I enjoyed those hours immensely, so I rate it a 8.5 (rounding down). It will probably give you about 30-40 hours of fun game play if you are a 4x or space opera fan, so that makes it worth about $20 by my standards (wait for the steam sale :-) ).

Rating the Xs
Explore: 7.5/10 - typical, with a little twist
Pretty standard in this sense. Scout ships explore and so on. What makes this interesting is the new resource addition, you are really in a mad rush for certain resources early game and are totally screwed if you don't get the right resources. But mostly this is nothing new.

Expand: 7.5/10: typical, but a little better than past installments
Pretty standard, except need to get the new resources like with exploration. Some features in game like the ability to settle within a system without building ships are convenient. A bit better than other 4x games I've played.

Exploit: 7/10: Weak diplomacy system, balanced by interesting civilizations
The diplomacy in the game is kind of weak, like civ 3 weak. Just pay enough money or something and you can get whatever you want, way to easy to exploit in this manner. This could be fixed with a couple of patches.

I found some of the civilizations to be really fun in this phase, particularly the Sowers. Most of the races are nothing new, but the flavors make them interesting, like the Horatio, a race of clones of a single man. Each one plays differently enough that I played through a game with each, and enjoyed them on different levels. There still needs to be some balancing between races though.
Overall, the exploit phase is typical, enjoyable but nothing new.

Exterminate: 8/10: What it lacks in complexity, it makes up for in difficulty
Its been a long time since I was this challenged in combat by a game. The micromanagement in this game is almost non-existent, but in my experience the micro in space opera games is pretty pathetic anyways. The ones that have "RTS" combat seem to always end with your ships just sitting there and firing endlessly, with no real benefit to moving them, or a lack of finesse with the controls that makes moving them strategically nigh impossible.

I like the whole admiral feel to combat. It makes little sense for you to be able to control each individual ship in a fleet (unless you are a robot race), so this is a bit more realistic, even if it is kind of shallow.

The part of this game where I felt challenged was the macro-management of fleets. It is just a game of rock-paper-scissors, but so was galactic civilizations II, (three weapons tracks, chose one or all of them...), but being able to alter the make-up of your fleets requires a lot of fine tuning of industry and scouting of enemy fleets. Having the right fleet in the right place at the right time can make all the difference, especially if you are playing a non-military race.

Style/Interface 9/10: Really easy to use, good flavor and back story
The game interface was very simple. No scrolling through tables and stuff, which was very convenient. Honestly the interface is probably the most innovative part of the game. This alone makes it more enjoyable than many other 4x games, since you spend less time in menus and more time in more fun elements of the game.

I really liked the style of the game, the flavor of some of the races were very amusing (Horatio, Pilgrims, Sowers), and the others were just ordinary (Cravers, UAE, Sohpons etc). The story itself is typical, but there aren't many excellent stories in 4x games (Alpha Centauri excluded). Overall: 8/10 A solid game.… Expand

Totally enjoyable and engrossing. It manages all the relevant aspects of a 4X for me and makes sure to avoid the usual problems, like the tendency to micro-manage too much. I had my misgivings at first, but the combat really proves its worth in the sense that I can really focus on strategy and avoid tactics. The game is fiendishly attractive, the UI is a Godsend, seldom had I one which was so simply intuitive and enjoyable.
Great work Amplitude, continue like that! :)… Expand

Value, Value Value! I think most people can get off their high horse and admit this is an excellent game for $30. I'd consider this an excellent game at $60 considering the huge recent let downs from the money grubbers at Blizzard, Bioware, and EA. Is it perfect...show me a perfect game! I was on the fence, but I gave them a chance and its every bit as fun as was playing MOO1 and MOO2. Thank you for a SPACE 4X and not another shooter or RPG, I can't wait to see what they do next!… Expand

Trying to replace a true classic like Master of Orion 2 is certainly a massive challenge. Endless Space presents several elements that could clearly be considered on par with the Simtex-Microprose masterpiece. The phrase "diamond in the rough" fits perfectly. It is a diamond, but "still" in the rough. Luckily, the developers are listening to the gamers, and future patches promise an even more polished experience. The short answer is no, the game can't replace Master of Orion 2, but with enough patience, you'll see Endless Space stealing several days from you.… Expand

It's fun for a while, but has very little staying power compared to other 4x games. Feels like playing a beta test with a untenably unworkable AI. The hardest difficulty in the game can be thoroughly beaten after only a few games due to poor AI choices, and multilayer synchronous turns and lack of cheat protection mean that it is a poor substitute for single player.

Worth picking up if you like Space 4x games, but don't expect more than 30 hours game play out of it.… Expand

Great game. There's some performance issues and occasional bugs here and there, but it's a great 4x game in space. I especially love how the combat is decided through the decisions you make when building your ships. The late game is a little weaker than the rest but overall a fun game. You will easily lose afternoons playing this game.

The first couple of hours playing this were great, but it gets kind of stale after a while. The technology tree is only maximising existing stats even further (no new Weapons to be unlocked. no new building options besides building more and better stuff of the same type you already got) and the pretty nice graphics are hiding the missing depht of this game.

You want to play Civilization 5 Billy? No? How about some Rock-Paper-Scissor then? Not that either? Hmm. What about Eve Online? No? Well f*ck you billy. This is Endless Space and it has everything except real strategy elements in a RTS. I really tried to like this game, I did. But once I started to learn how things worked after getting over-run by excessively difficult AI's at normal, I realized that for all the different name-given technology trees, they are ultimately mixed together. Lets say you want to play offensively, military style. Sure, you can research better weapons and armor for your ships in the Galactic Warfare tree but unless you get better coordination technologies in the Diplomacy tree to have more units in a fleet, the AI/opponents will overwhelm you due to bigger numbers per group. Get bigger ship blueprints you say? Sure! Just spend over half the game's time researching technologies in the Exploration/Expansion tree! Yeah, lost an appetite for war already, didn't you. That's alright, we can try a scientific victory instead. Just start researching things in the tech tree and don't forget to get food for your people through the diplomatic tree. Oh, right. You'll need to inhabit planets to give people somewhere to stay as well. That's in the exploration tree, sorry. Short said, It is a MESS. It's like having four kinds of your favorite foods on separate plates just to have them slapped together in a mixer and then poured out all over again in piles of goo. Talking about feces, you think you can balance all that out by the same time while staying alive through constant blockades by 1 hp scouts, interrupting your research as pirates constantly swarm you? Have fun trying to learn anything from the intensive build-up of loading times. Let's say you want to research something useful, that'll be 30-50 rounds of waiting. Every round, the AI creates more units, increases their influence substantially and have war with each other which is constantly growing in scale. You WILL NEED to play the smallest map possible with as little opponents as you can. Anyone who played Civ 5 with 4-5+ players late in game will know what I'm talking about. But really, the moral of this review is: Try the game where you either can get a refund or not have to buy it at all doesn't matter. Make sure it both works and fits for you.… Expand

Another title claiming to be the heir to Master of Orion 2. I buy every title that claims to be that heir. I guess it's my fault, I should just go play that game.

This was the very first of this genre that I have ever played. So far I've really enjoyed it. I don't even play the game to win anymore. I love setting up a huge map and just seeing how the galaxy evolves as factions squabble over territory and resources, make and break alliances, and deal in trade with one another.

I have been following this game for quite some time now, and the reason that it gets a 9 is because of the way it was made. The developers listened, and responded to the majority of advice/points that early players made. They had both the "games2gether" system which allowed you to vote on the looks of a ship, or decals, or what gameplay feature to work on next, but they also listened to people in the forums. When bugs were found, they were swiftly dealt with, and people were generally listened to.

I do not think that the "retail" version of the game should be judged on its current quality alone. The game is a pretty standard 4x strategy game, that is missing a lot of things. I would normally give it a 7. But the devs still have a lot they are talking about adding to the game, for free, and are still taking player input.

What that means to me is that this game will continue to grow until it reaches a point where i could be proud to give it a 10.… Expand

This is a great game, make no mistake. It is not perfect, as very few games are, but it gets many, many things right. First, the bad: I've been a strategy board gamer since the Avalon Hill days and the combat system in Endless Space just isn't quite Gold Standard. In a complex game, the combat needs to be lively. It doesn't need to be complex, but there should be a greater degree of strategy and tactics than long/medium/short range battle selections between 2 individual fleets. I understand the desire to simplify, but this goes too far. It's not as horrible as other reviews state, it's simply, well, too simple. To be fair, this isn't a straight war-game, it's much more an empire building game for which the designers elected to go with simplified combat. Fair enough, doesn't break the game by any stretch. I do wish you could speed up the combat results, once the cards are selected. A choice between the provided full-auto and full-manual selections. As good as the intuitive interface is (more on that later) some things are missing. Browsing through the wiki clears most questions up, and I hope elements so of the wiki make it into the game. It's nice to peruse the tech tree and see a tech that opens up a class of ship, but it would be even nicer to know what the class of ship is before you research the tech. And now the good: Addicting gameplay. Intuitive interface that is just the right way to do it. Pop-up help everywhere, links to what is going on in the game pop-up as event happen, etc. Replayability is excellent - try the different races, experiment with different victory conditions, try different galaxy sizes and civ mixes. It just goes on and on. Knowing what to research and in what order, how to improve a star system, which ships to build and how to outfit them - these are all decisions you can tailor to your specific play style. Lots of different builds work, and very few decisions you make are game-enders. Some players may not like this, as they may prefer a 'perfect' order for things, but I think it is a strength. The 'perfect' order is for you to decide, out in the endless space.… Expand

This is a rating for how the game is now, and not how I hope it will be. Endless Space is a great game if you have time, patience and a love for strategy. There are a few things I don't like about it, such as the combat system (the fact that a space battle would always have both sides follow the battleplan of getting closer to each other is absurd), but if you're a fan of paper scissors rock, you might like the battle system. A lot of people will praise the UI of this game, I would say its good, but some more information could be displayed without having to change tabs. One thing I absolutely would love is if the game would tell you if an exploitation of a planet was cued up rather than saying "no exploitation" on the planet, then you check to see if you have an exploitation for the planet cued and go "oh yes, I do" this process requires too many steps and slows down the game for everyone. The games interface almost tries to make you have to select every single information tab during a turn, but really some more information could be displayed on the main galaxy view, just to save some players time. All in all this game is good, solid, and I'm glad I bought it.… Expand

I really wanted to give Endless Space a perfect 10 out of 10 but there are still a couple - very small - issues once you've put a lot of hours into the game. First off though, this game and its developers deserves every bit of praise that comes its way. In this day and age of buggy releases and lackluster developer support, Amplitude has stepped up to the plate and delivered a smooth, stable game on release that doesn't force players to sit around and wait for the next patch. With that out of the way, we can concentrate on the great things about ES: 1) The User Interface. This silky smooth UI makes late game tedium (almost) disappear. When you're not spending 5 minutes clicking through tons of menus to get where you want, the game is much more enjoyable. Helpful tooltips are available practically everywhere; you can hover your mouse over almost anything if you want to know more information about a specific item. Systems, planet and fleet info is all given in a very readable and efficient manner. Even late game turns with tons to do rarely take over 3 minutes. 2) Customized game options. Even if you don't like any of the game's 8 races, you can make your own. In the galaxy you want. Games play very differently when you change the shape, size and abundance of resources. The replayability of the game lies in the customization you can do to almost anything. Oh, and the developers made sure this game would be easily moddable. Extra fun. 3) "Just one more turn" factor. This game has it, even after putting in 100 hours. Now on to the critiques of this game: if you must have tactical control of your ships in battle then you will be disappointed by this game. If you want to focus on the strategy part and not tactics then you should have no problem. I've also heard that the game has no soul and it is essentially like playing a spreadsheet. People said that about GalCiv and yet it was very successful and a great game. If you liked GalCiv you'll like this. If you disliked GalCiv you will dislike this game. The bottom line is that Endless Space is good enough to mentioned in the same breath as all the addictive 4x classics and should only get better as time goes on.… Expand

This game is way too simple and the tech tree needs some balancing too, whit some tech pretty much useless. I did liked it, but after the first game it gets boring really fast. What really left me disappointed were the "battles". You can "control" your ships choosing a battle card that has almost none impact on the battle, you can' t really control anything. The battles are slow, boring, and you don' t really have time to choose the best card, you have to pick one, hoping. Yes, the game has pretty good graphics, and it' s one of the few games with a turn-based gameplay, but the combat is unbalanced (lasers are OP, along with missiles) and you can' t really customize your ships, it' s all about putting your best techs. When I played, let' s see, in MoO2, I customized my ships in order to give a role to every ship, but in endless space support ships go front line, exploding after few shots. Also the planet management is quite a mess, and you don' t know what will happen unless you do it. Also I have seen many people comparing this game to MoO2, and I can assure you that Master of Orion is on a higer level. The best part about this game is its price.… Expand

I came to Endless Space with the feeling this is going to be another GalCiv or Sword of the Stars clone. After actually playing it I can say it's neither. It's less of a x4 than GalCiv, comparing the 2 is quite unfair on both of them, but the best comparison is with Sword of the Stars. Comparing the two the entire Endless Space experience feels more polished and better streamlined. The tech tree will get some time to get used to and could stand some more streamlining but after a couple hundred turns when you figure out where the stuff you currently need is you will get completely used to it. The variety is somewhat less and the combat is streamlined, for better or for worse, but overall it's the better game, a lot of fun and completely worth the time you put in it.… Expand