Inexplicably, even individual hero ships all look exactly the same right down to the paint job, regardless of which species or society they come from, creating a severe discordance between the unique cultures in the title and their non-existing correlation in-game. While race specific ships look absolutely amazing, featuring great animations and handcrafted visuals, they all share the same weapons, sound effects, and behaviour a fleet or army made of longevous gigantic trees fights in the exact same way that a swarm of short lived ravenous cyborg insects. Gameplay mechanics are also shared, to the point of disappointment. Given the strangeness of some factions, that gap gets even harder to explain: the race made up of clones of its sole dictator shouldn’t be subject to the same internal political strife that the multicultured Human empire is. Similarly, political discord and groups are the same across every single species: they all have political groups such as industrialists and pacifists, and inexplicably, they all have elections - even the dictatorial governments. That cookie-cutter approach extends even as far as side quests narratives goes, with events shared between races regardless if it fits their character or physiology. Makes sense for the decadent Soviet-style United Empire to have protests outside a bureaucratic government building regarding what the politically correct term for an alien is, but for the huge, ancient, Ent-like trees that make up the Unfallen race, that barely even have a building, let alone bureaucracy? Not so much. I understand the appeal that Infinite Supermarkets would have to the materialistic and greedy Lumeris trade empire, but I fail to see how the eternal, ethereal, and time controlling extradimensional Riftborn would care for such a thing.
While there are different species traits and ship designs, every single race has access to the same improvements and behaves in exactly the same way, to the point it contradicts their entire premise. Even building improvements offer zero feedback - your resources increase or decrease in accordance, but every single planet looks as destitute and empty as any other. Combat, diplomacy, and government also play out as glorified Excel sheets, offering very little palpable payout and mostly feeling like a numerical confrontation. Given how different and unique each faction is, they actually play pretty much exactly the same. Research is a severely unsatisfying universal field that gives very little substantial rewards, acting more like a number stat boost even on later tech tiers.
The different races do get small adjustments to their playstyles, mainly thanks to the myriad of traits and internal factors that affect their starting position and overall development.Īll that intricate narrative comes at a cost, and Endless Space 2 is so focused on creating a beautiful and varied presentation that it sometimes forgets it’s a game. The quests themselves are basically just flavour - and very well written flavour, at that - but ultimately all play the same you get tasked with finding a number of anomalies, or constructing a number of improvements. The care put into every species - both playable and non-playable - is lovely, and the quality of the creative team is amazingly consistent throughout every facet of the title.Įach faction has a unique background and concept, and they all feature their own personal quests along with slightly different gameplay mechanics. From the industrialist and aggressive Soviet-inspired United Empire to the extradimensional abstractly shaped Riftborn, every single race is unique in appearance, government, and style, and each one features a distinct narrative about their origins and why they are expanding into space. Like its predecessors, Endless Space 2 is a turn-based strategy game with a big focus on Heroes and storytelling, preferring to present large and intricate cultures filled with backstory and content. The game is a sequel of both Endless Legends and Endless Space 1, and they're all connected via a shared setting and gameplay. A 4X sci-fi title, Endless Space 2 takes place in the same universe as previous Amplitude games a galaxy that was once colonised by a heavily advanced race called the Endless, whom since vanished. From its myriad of handcrafted faction-specific quests to the significant selection of creatively developed races, Amplitude’s latest strategy game oozes charm out of its every pore. Reviews // 14th Jun 2017 - 4 years ago // By Marcello Perricone Endless Space 2 ReviewĮndless Space 2 is a very charming game.