Endless Space 2 isn't just a very solid 4X game. It's also quite the narrative experience. Every faction has a story to tell, and every game will see you playing to their strengths while learning that story.
This is the MoO II replacement I have been waiting for for 20 years. It expands on MoO II in every area. It's a new game and will surely improve over time, but it already has a much better combat AI than Civilization VI. It does have a steep learning curve and the UI could use some work, but the combat graphics are impressive. The "Just one more turn" factor is as high as in any game I have ever played.
Endless Space 2 is a great 4X strategy game that is almost guaranteed to improve. While not free of bugs, including a few large ones, it's a title that oozes character. Each and every game offers the flexibility to play the way you want to and adapt as you please, while offering some excellently told stories with every game also offering a fresh emergent story to boot.
Some may prefer the accessible Master of Orion, some may want the complexity and diversity of Stellaris. Bur for now Endless Space 2 is my first choice: challenging, suspenseful and sufficiently versatile, but still accessible enough, so I don’t tumble into one failure after another.
Quite simply one of the most beautifully crafted 4X games to date. So much polish, in every game system. Wonderful UI navigation with deep lore. Support this game!!!
A solid 4x game for those who have the time and can get in to the finer details of it. Some improvements on the first and for fans of space exploration, settling the galaxies and fighting aliens it's a good time.
Endless Space 2 has been a pleasant experience so far, but I can't say whether it's better than its prequel. In the first game, you could love a faction to death and keep using them over and over for days on end, but in this one, you're more inclined to try each faction in order to keep the novelty going.
Games feel like they last much longer in this sequel, and there seems to be a strong bias towards a conquest victory, regardless of the faction. The other forms of victory are unrewarding to achieve. The AI isn't amazing in this game so diplomacy kinda **** and resources are pretty much impossible to trade in this sequel, which means you're better off just taking over planets with the resources you need. Alliances are easy to make, but it feels like going solo is the best way to play.
In the prequel, you had to figure out the best research pathways to take or else you would end up lagging behind other factions. However, in this sequel, you have much more freedom to pick whatever research you like, so the game is a lot more forgiving. If you played Path of Exile before, it's kind of like instead of having every faction start off somewhere different, every faction starts off as a Scion.
Amplitude tried to polish the game a bit and introduce some new things while reworking others, but they neglected a lot of features that gave the first game its shine. It feels like this sequel was meant for playing with real players, not the AI. If you enjoy conquest victories, this game's pretty fun for that, but otherwise, you might want to stick to the prequel or Endless Legend. Not a whole lot has improved. "Above average" is the best way to describe this sequel.
I think the game deserves a 7.5/10. It's okay, but I still prefer the first game and its factions more. I get my money's worth out of this game because of how long each session lasts, but I think that's just a way for the devs to hide the fact that the game turns kinda grindy after the early game. This sequel is really just a recycled version of its prequel.
The factions difference is minimal only 10%/faction.
No landscape view for planetsurface.
Graphics: medium
Sound: low
Controll: good
music: depends on taste but i prefer unique stlye music/faction but the game use same music effects.
Perfomance: sometimes we get unreasaonable low fps.
Inferior in every way to its predecessor. Clunky controls. There were times you wished for better information in "Endless Space". With ES 2 they went the other way. Incredibly slow game start. You can't do ANYTHING for the first couple of hours. I return happily to the superior, first version of the game!
SummaryThe sequel to Endless Space. Endless Space 2 is turn-based, 4X space-strategy that will put you in the role of a leader guiding his civilization in making its first steps into the cold depths of interstellar space. Your Vision. Their Future.