Galactic Civilizations® II: Ultimate Edition
In a word: Addictive. Yes, addictive in that terrifying, inescapable, “just-one-more-turn” way. Galactic Civilizations II is what you get if you take Master of Orion II, expand it so that the galaxy, tech tree and ship customisation are roughly a hundred times as huge without ever becoming boring, bump the graphics up to a standard still respectable today for a TBS, give each civilization some serious make-or-break differences (hint: the Drengin and the Yor almost always end up dominating most of the galaxy that ISN’T YOU), and shove it out there to give almost every other space-based TBS a serious poke in the eye.
– Real player with 216.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Grand Strategy 3D Games.
I decided to pick up a new 4x space game after pouring many hours into Endless Space. Endless Space lacked complexity and I searched for a more in depth game. Galactic Civilizations 2 fulfill that criteria. I started playing this in 2015 so I have no nostalgic feelings for it. The game is quite good and fun despite its age and limitations, in fact it is the best 4x space game I have played so far (other space 4x I’ve played are MOO2, Endless Space and Sword of the Stars). Take a good look at the pros and cons because some points might put you off.
– Real player with 196.7 hrs in game
Steel Nations
Wait
– Real player with 5.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Grand Strategy Political Sim Games.
Early access doesn’t mean an unfinished game that has 0 features. Bugs and overall control of this game is beyond early access. Small developers releasing their game as early access should consider finishing the game to some extend at least. I understand the game has been done without a budget or anything but this is literally unplayable. Instead of trying to make 243 playable countries make 4 and make them really “playable”.
EDIT: Oh and the “5 playable modes” do not exist there is just one mod to play and the thought that they might try to sell them as dlcs is haunting me. Please if you respect the players for at least one bit pull the game out and fix the issues.
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Chess’Extra
Tried it out with a friend of mine, it isn’t very well made but gets the job done.
UI could use improvement, sounds could be introduced properly.
It’s free, but it’s a mixed bag. Leaving as “Not Recommended” since there are better versions for free or paid on Steam and on the Web.
– Real player with 14.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Grand Strategy Board Game Games.
_It’s Chess but with something a little Extra!
Haha! You see what I did there?_
– Real player with 10.9 hrs in game
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
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
Scuffed Tower Defense
A must play game. Scuffed Tower Defense is genuinely a lot of fun to play, and I’d recommend picking it up if you’ve got the money. Buster.
Buster
- Buster.
– Real player with 5.2 hrs in game
When I first saw this game, I had high expectations, mainly because of its resemblance of the hidden gem New EPIC SCUFFED BHOP SIMULATOR 2023 (POGCHAMP). After playing it, I can gladly say, my already high expectations were blown out of the water by this modern masterpiece. Most triple A games cannot even compare to the work of art that is this game. From the aesthetic design, to the gameplay, everything about this game is the definition of groundbreaking.
When it comes to aesthetic design, this game is perfect. Menus are simple, yet effective. The background of the main menu in specific shows gameplay that makes you pumped to play. The sound design has real bangars that always get you hyped for the next wave. The enemy design is minimalistic, but charming. The levels in the game all have a charm to them in a different way. From the dark lighting of the asteroid, to the minimalistic style of the fall, every level feels different from the last. The voice acting has tons of personality and sets a tone for the rest of the game. Even the towers all shoot bright bullets that feel really satisfying to watch tear down the enemies. Also the doggo is really cute I wish I could pet him.
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
Power & Revolution 2020 Edition
Its recycled from their previous editions so most 2019 features have bugs, The game itself is still bugged so clearly they never worked on that with this new release, the cheat codes for the game no longer work, something they didn’t fix, the same gamebreaking glitches from before are present here, only worse.
I can promise anyone reading this, This game is NOT worth anymore than £13-15, yet they charge basically £40 for the base game, more for the dlcs, Despite the fact you can clearly see they haven’t put the effort into this game.
– Real player with 647.5 hrs in game
My recommendation for purchasing before I played heavily and time passed is directly below, which has led to the correct review of this developer and their products below the initial, good review.
(This review no longer applies, but is left up for others to see how great it is upon the first gameplay when purchasing)
[Power & Revolution is not for the faint of heart, or those who want a easy diplomatic game. I recommend it for the strategies and fun involved. If you are one who prefers peace over war, P&R will not be too difficult on the realistic settings as long as you do not select a country currently involved in wars (terrorist or nation v. nation). I personally enjoy creating contracts, upping the researches and viewing the Space Programs to see space, upping the quality of life, and increasing my military presence. Power & Revolution (2020 especially) can be challenging with the citizens happiness and keeping the countries out of debt. A great option is the ability play various countries at once, and the ability to create, join, and leave international organizations (NATO, UNO, WHO, ASEAN, etc…).]
– Real player with 310.5 hrs in game
Waiting For The Raven
Well, it’s still an early-access game, so don’t expect it to work all the way through -
but I thought it was an interesting approach, and it was nice to try something different.
Douglas Adams, alas, predicted this sorry state of affairs:
“In other words - and this is the rock-solid principle on which the whole of the Corporation’s Galaxywide success is founded - their fundamental design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws.”
And if they were actually from another planet, you could overlook the developers poor grasp of human languages, as well.
– Real player with 59.9 hrs in game
The game still needs more polishing. The first spymater session is enough satisfying and the storytelling is quite reliable. There are a bunch of spark ideas during the first session gameplay including some right in time visual effect, some good cypher solving games and some well hidden bonus. The problems of first session could only be some buggy UI display and the strategy management part. I spent like 5 to 6 hours to totally break through the first session and to find out how naive the management part actually is. Beside the 10000 gold bonus and some other hidden bonus, I can just use some wine barrels, a 10 stealthy big boy and a 10 charming miss to burn all the houses to the ground without any real punishment. And the game is just like lying down there suffering from my giant gold dick-play. I mean, you guys did a lot of great work in designing the dialogues and storytelling and visual effects and different strategy dealing with different situations. But why the actual management part is so disappointing. The balance of some punishment events and the credit bonuses is totally a mess. That’s not cool at all.
– Real player with 7.5 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
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
Eormor: Shattered Lands
Instant Action!
Nice strategic thinking!
Play and continue whenever you want!
– Real player with 82.8 hrs in game
Fun, good gameplay. The AI is ruthless
– Real player with 24.2 hrs in game
Gemini Wars
“So i had around 40 hours in this game, it is not good it is not bad either. Missions lack in challenge, they are mostly the same, protect this, defeat that. The later part where the aliens apears was slightly better but i wish game is longer, more ship classes and details. However for people who like this kind of game its okay. Graphics, could be better, much better.
Would i recommend this game?
Game recieved many negative reviews,and mostly because it didnt deserve positive ones, for the current price of 14,99EUR i wouldnt recommend this game. If you find it on sale, for cheap, try it, you wont lost anything except few hours of your life. I would give positive on this one since i did had fun in skirmish with this game, and because i love some of the ship designs. Otherwise if there is neutral button i would hit instead.
– Real player with 43.6 hrs in game
This game feels like it is still in beta with all the glitches.
Pros:
Good concept. I enjoy how quickly bases can be built if you have the resources which makes comebacks not entirely out of the picture. Easy to pick up.
Cons:
Ships will shake violently when trying to move and sometimes won’t even move when part of a large selected group. AI is horrible for skirmishes. I played a skirmish where the AI player sent its starting construction ship to where I was building my fleet about 5 minutes into the game and it was destroyed easily ending the game.
– Real player with 28.0 hrs in game