Galactic Civilizations® I: Ultimate Edition
This was one of the few games I played over and over as a teen.
I’ll be honest, I never got into the sequel, because I didn’t like the way the planets were depicted (though it probably made influence more intuitive). So I don’t know how this one holds up to GalCiv II. But on its own merits, it’s a good game.
In Galactic Civilizations, you start out as ruler of united Earth. The various alien races, having gotten the secret of hyperdrive from the humans, have turned off their massive wormhole portals and scrapped them for hyper-capable colony ships. The real space race has begun, and it’s up to you to determine the path you want humanity to take.
– Real player with 194.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best 4X Grand Strategy Games.
In my ongoing and likely futile effort to write a Steam review for every game in my library (#291 out of 612)… it’s time for Galactic Civilizations I: Ultimate Edition.
You might know Galactic Civilizations by its other name: “Oh, yeah, there was a game before Galactic Civilizations III, wasn’t there?” Indeed there was! The obvious question here is: why should anyone play Galactic Civilizations 1 when the third game exists, and is so, so good? Historical context? Pure, unadulterated whimsy? A PC so old and out-of-date that it doesn’t even qualify as a toaster? Galactic Civilizations I has got fewer features, less polish, and less depth all-around. Furthermore, you’re in for one hell of an uphill battle if you’re even -thinking- of trying to get the game to run on a modern operating system. Galactic Civilizations does not play nice with anything more advanced than Windows XP!
– Real player with 24.6 hrs in game
Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity®
In my opinion this is the best version of this game.
I say this because each “new game” is just a tiny expansion of the original product. in simple terms, they have been charging 60 bucks for the the same old game over and over and over.
I don’t support rebellion for this exact reason.
the only reason you shold buy ANY of these games is if you plan on using one of the many mods available.
as this is an older version, mods for this title will be more likely to be finished and less likely to be broken by random updates.
– Real player with 125.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best 4X PvP Games.
For Starters…
Let me preface by saying that I purchased this game back in 2012 during a steam sale. I installed it along with a few other titles, played for a few hours and uninstalled it within a few days. A couple years later I decided to give it another shot and removed it within hours of installing it. In fact, actually googled online to see if there was a way to delete the game from my steam library because I swore the damn game would never fool me into installing it again. It was extremely frustrating trying to learn all of the complex technical nuances to managing and controlling your space fleet, especially when I just downloaded a bunch of other titles and this one has a learning curve, and expects you to actually play through all four of the dense tutorials to gain the minimum level of proficiency to play the game. And of course, I clicked through them without retaining anything, immediately started a skirmish, couldn’t control my empire, was confused about what was going on, got obliterated, cursed the game and uninstalled…
– Real player with 61.4 hrs in game
Arcane Sorcery
This game feels like a cross between Master of Magic and Medieval Total War (the first one that is). Gameplay wise, it feels like Master of Magic with the magic spells, and the isometric battle system, but the campaign maps feel more like the original Medieval Total War. As one of the other reviews described, it has an early 90’s feel to the graphics (and for once that phrase does not mean ‘pixel art’, which is a rarity). The 4x nature of the game is more 4x-lite, specifically with lite aspects on the diplomacy and exploring aspects of 4x. There’s three different maps, but it would be nice if there was random map generation, though that would probably require a different map style I think. It has flaws, but it’s an inexpensive game as well.
– Real player with 32.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best 4X Grand Strategy Games.
A game that strongly resembles strategy games of yesteryear, that actually does not pretend to be anything else. Its pretty straight forward, without much tactical depth or need for strategic thinking. Still its an enjoyable game, even if only for a couple of runs, its still worth playing. If you are a hardcore 4x or strategy player, I would strongly suggest you stay clear, for you will be disappointed as the game lacks in both areas. Its perfect for the casual strategist, looking for a fun run.
– Real player with 26.7 hrs in game
Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes
I read the reviews on this game and honestly, I don’t know if can go by them or not anymore. I ordered the ultimate package so I would have the add-ons, paid the full $40, and for that amount I will be replacing every other game I own. Here is why…
I love Civ series games, Heroes of M&M, Age of Wonders, Endless legends, GalCiv etc, those types of games, but they always had me looking for ways to make: decisions, resources, battles, buildings, etc to mean more and to be more meaningful, more important in the game while not sacrificing anything too much. For me, Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes Ultimate pack is the game that finally did that in a satisfying way.
– Real player with 236.3 hrs in game
Empire building like Civ 5 + RPG elements + extensive customization for your army
It sounds like a winning combination, yes? Let’s find out..
First off, the ((tutorial)): videos and encyclopedia feature explains most of the basics very well, so the learning curve is pretty smooth. So even though it is clearly a complex game, it’s not hard to learn and play with most of the features. You still have to experiment yourself to master the customization features, which is great cuz such features are usually up to experienced players to make use of them anyway.
– Real player with 197.7 hrs in game
Sorcerer King: Rivals
After finishing game on insane difficulty I finally feel ready to write a review. In short, I think Sorcerer King Rivals is an amazing game. One of the best games I have ever played in fact. Having said that, I doubt it will appeal to people looking for a deep strategy game. Because this game is not that deep and not particularly hard, except, maybe for a highest difficulty. Also, I think it is important to mention, that I barely played FE:LH and did not like it at all so if you are looking for a similar experience, you may not like SC:Rivals. SC:Rivals is more like Eador: Masters of a broken world. So, as always, keep your expectations in check) Now, let’s talk about what is good, not so good, and pretty bad in this game
– Real player with 87.0 hrs in game
A great game. It’s fairly small in scope for a 4x, but I think this has allowed the developers to focus on producing a polished product. Sorcerer King: Rivals has lots of scripted story and events, which makes it different to other 4x games which rely soley on the quality of the AI players to pose a challenge. As Sorcerer King relies on heavily scripted events, don’t expect great AI. On the plus side, Sorceror King tells a great story with writing that is often hilarious.
You will see reviews complaining about lack of replayability, but I think if you want 300hours out of the game you need to look at the Civilization series or Galactic Civilizations 3. I’ve played Sorceror King for a total 65 hours. I will agree however, that the strategic map AI is extremely passive. It generally does not initiate combat and will wait for you to attack it. This means its not really much of a threat and this does effect replayability.
– Real player with 65.1 hrs in game
Sins of a Solar Empire®: Rebellion
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is a space strategy game and a real-time strategy (RTS) game which incorporates 4X strategy game elements. This game was developed by Ironclad Games and published by Stardock Entertainment and is only available on PC.
While you may notice another game with Sins of a Solar Empire in its title (Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity), that is an older version of the game. Rebellion is the definitive and superior version as it not only offers numerous additions to the game, like Titans and new Factions to play as, but also contains everything from the previous versions of the game.
– Real player with 1719.1 hrs in game
Sins of a Solar Empire represents a fun and visually spectacular 4x game. But the 4x is a bit tilted. There is diplomacy and you can win with diplomacy, there is exploration and you will need to explore and there is exploitation. But Sins of a Solar Empire at it’s core is a game of extermination, combat drives the game and will dominate the majority of what you do, but that is perfectly fine considering how fun it is.
This game is well supported considering it’s age though optimisation in multiplayer is poor and they do not allow you to local host your games instead requiring you to connect to their servers. The attention to detail in the base game is excellent from space elevators and space traffic around your planets to having individual weapon ports on ships with their own firing arcs. It’s hard to get bored of this game especially if you have friends to play with.
– Real player with 663.8 hrs in game
The Ancients
Earth in prehistoric times. The continents are shifting, the last ice age is coming. Fierce predators roam the land.
KEY FEATURES
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Survive in harsh conditions of prehistoric earth and wild creatures of virgin nature.
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Research and craft new tools according to your geographical needs.
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Protect your tribe from wild animals, cold winters, drought, make them feel safe.
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Discover the language and build an identity for your tribe so your people will be a whole.
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Create root religious ideas and combine them to create your own religion.
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Observe every change of your tribe. (Further reading tribe scene below)
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Build your own culture, make your tribe patriarchal or matriarchal, polygamic or monogamous, etc.
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Shape your tribe policies, authoritarian or free people, brutal or peaceful, equal or hierarchical. Each decision will help you deal with difficulties in its own way.
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Migrate different nodes on earth, to even the most impossible areas and try to survive there, you will be native to where you stay in the end.
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Meet the prehistoric animals, and be prey to them or make them your prey.
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Witness the historical development of humanity or create your own history.
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Try to make the best decisions in various events caused by internal or external sources.
From being starving hunter-gatherers, you will develop a great tribe with many options on prehistoric technology to great cultural breakthroughs. Your goal is to survive and thrive in real-world-inspired locations and migrate to new lands.
CULTURE TREE
The culture tree is where you discover religion, policies, and human interactions inside and outside of your tribe, the main purpose of the culture segment is to allow the player to shape the cultural development of the people. We worked on it to make it as real as real tribe’s decisions.You decide the roots of the culture of your community and what they are like when they advanced to settled life.
RESEARCH TREE
The research tree aims to help the player overcome the obstacles of the game by inventing new tools materials and crafting options. Research Tree is composed of six different categories inspired by historically correct ancient technologies. Our research tree consists six different categories, and six consecutive historic periods. You can become better in any category than others, like historic tribes.
TRIBE SCENE
The Tribe Scene gives you a close-up look at your tribe’s development. You can see the results of your tribe development on this screen. In addition to visuals, tribesmen and tribe states can be observed here. You can check if your tribe members are fed, feeling safe, and bound to the tribe socially. Otherwise, they may fight, steal or leave the tribe. Being a tribe doesn’t mean traveling and eating together, you have to live together and survive as a community.
MIGRATION MAP
While surviving against the wild, relentless nature of the last ice age; travel the vast landscape of the ancient earth. The ancient earth was geographically different than the earth we know today. The world was not like today at the last ice age, do you want to try to walk to America from Asia? Do you know Britain and japan weren’t islands at all…
Discover the ancient earth with your tribe.
HEXAGONAL MAP AND TACTICS
In the game, the player controls different clans of a tribe. These clans may gather food, hunt animals, make camp, or later in the game improve campsite with basic structures like tents and fences against wild animals. Our maps consist of hexagon tiles which is very useful for planning tactics for your clans.
Final Theory
Final Theory is basically turn based space combat with different classes of ships pew pewing each other. It’s a great little game that keeps being updated and improved (so updating this review - again).
If you’re looking for an in depth space strategy, this is not for you, as it’s more tactical space combat at the core, however with the latest version there is now some strategy involved in how you configure your Fleets, based on the numbers you can have and the upgrades you have against certain hulls (Destroyer, Cruiser, Battleship etc.).
– Real player with 523.5 hrs in game
65/100 Challenging + Frustrating ..mmh, rather not play this without reading ;(
EDIT: ..NEW DLC Royal Navy (Dec 2020)
***PLAYGUIDE scroll down
decent game (runs on tablet/notebook) with quite some flaws, so the fun is limited and that´s why most players give up after some hours.
Not sure I keep on playing this, it´s a real chore ;(
Main Limiters are:
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only 1 move per turn (so wasting moves can be deadly)
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AI is quite good even at Novice level
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Frustration comes when you are head to head with AI and lose by 1 move to start Final Thesis Nuke ;((
– Real player with 80.8 hrs in game
Galactic Civilizations III
NOTE: This is a review of the Final Release Candidate for the game, so it should apply to the released version.
Having been a long-time GC2 player, I eagerly signed up for the Founder’s Edition early-access over a year ago, and have followed the development of GC3 since then closely.
Let me tell you, getting a 4X game that incorporates all the features that hard-core strategy gamers want, while remaining both relevant and competitive, is really hard. As in, EXTREMELY hard. StarDock has done an excellent job with GC3. That’s not to say there still aren’t quibbles over the direction certain features have taken, but the reality is, that if you actually want to release a game, certain decisions are going to have to be taken, and you’re sure to piss off someone who wanted that feature and didn’t get it. But GC3 is a solid and entertaining game, if not a radically innovative one.
– Real player with 2842.9 hrs in game
First of all it is critical to understand that the game is still in beta testing and therefore has some glitches. That said it has been pretty stable for me. (Four year old dell xps 8100 with 16gb and a 750 Ti video card). At present the plan seems to be to a go for a final release in May. There will be frequent patches before then and perhaps a beta 6 release (beta 5, with enormous additions, was released yesterday (Mar26). If you don’t like encountering bugs and reporting them to help the game, then wait for the release. Of critical importance remaining is tuning the AI to be smarter and more aggressive, imo.
– Real player with 2285.4 hrs in game
SPACECOM
Spacecom is a strategic-to-the-bone starfleet-command game with a heavy focus on multiplayer. Using 3 types of fleets (siege, invade, battle) and 4 types of planetary systems (hubs, shipyards, repair yards and supply systems) command your armies to dominate in the galaxy. Capture enemy hubs using proven maneuvers learned from military legends (blitzkrieg, burnt-ground, cut supply lines, outflanking) or devise your own plans. Raise smart thinking over fast clicking in galaxies with up to 6 players in Multiplayer mode.
– Real player with 68.8 hrs in game
I came in expecting the simplicity of Galcon Fusion, but got something in between Galcon Fusion and Sins of a Solar Empire (though closer to Galcon). This is a pretty good complexity level as you can understand everything. By contrast, in a game like Sins of a Solar Empire, I don’t really get it all, so I end up doing stuff because it seems right, not because I really understand the nuances, which makes strategy a bit dissapointing. This is partially the games fault, and partially my fault.
The first third of the tutorial (what I’m calling the incredibly short campaign/story mode) is nightmareishly painfully slow to get through at first, but gets much better about a third of the way through. They overly spell things out for you, while not explaining other things your become interested in out of bordom that they shouldn’t be showing at all. I think a single page overview of all iconography and abilities (without going into strategy) would have been more ideal.
– Real player with 17.3 hrs in game