With the release of the Endless Space 2 later this month I decided to revise and review its predecessor. It has been almost 5 years since the release of the first Endless Space and it's remarkable how the game can still hold up as a great game even so many years later. The gameplay is very addicting and although it might not have a tutorial level or scenario it displays all the information that the player needs, when the player needs. If you never played a game of this magnitude you might feel lost at first because there is so much to manage, so many options and so much strategic depth but learning and discovering all the little things and systems that this game has to offers is part of its fun.

 

Taking the 4X turn-based strategy to outer space, Endless Space expands on the genre's recipe and with its 8 different victory conditions the game really incites the player to try multiple strategies and approaches. The battle system is very simplified but it has a good depth to it. Most of the strategy here comes before the battle itself from optimizing your ships depending on the resources you have and trying to predict your opponent's strategies and weapons.

 

In terms of civilizations Endless Space offers a good variety. Some are human-like, others mechanical and others more alien. And they all play differently, with unique differences like the ability to colonize all planets right from the start or the ability to leave your system and migrate to other planets. A nice touch is that each civilization has it's own ship designs. In the overworld there isn't much to speak off in terms of graphics since the game aim for a simplistic "holographic style". The plot is quite absent but Endless Space does offer unique lore to each of the civilizations. This lore is delivered through a little cinematic that install the right mood and mindset for understanding that species backstory and playstyle.

 

• Final thoughts

 

Even today Endless Space is a game that can hold up as the simplistic graphic style doesn’t show its age and the strong gameplay provides for many hours of engagement and entertainment. The unique concepts, the great array of available and uncommon civilizations and the multiple victory conditions make replaying the game feel non-repetitive and that’s something that Endless Space really relies on since it doesn’t have a campaign or story mode. This is one of my favorite 4X games until now and I’ll be looking forward to the release of Endless Space 2 later this month.