Recent reviews by Thamis

Truly amazing game!

Superb game!

Fantastic game. Great storytelling, very mature, and surprisingly not boring. I completed it in about 6 hours and enjoyed every bit of it. I found the ending a little surprising, though.

I've been a fan of the Civilization series for over 25 years, since the very first game in the series was released. Unfortunately, I was deeply disappointed with Civilization VI.

The game is simply boring, and the pacing is off. For most turns, you will just hit "end turn" without doing anything. This is due to the design decision to place buildings onto the map. Because buildings are now on the map, and space on the map is limited, the game is balanced in such a way that you can't build everything. This in turn means that the number of things you can build is severely limited due to the time it takes to build. A simple building can take 20 turns to construct in a city with medium-level production capabilities. In previous titles of the series, 20 turns was what you'd take for a wonder.

Unit construction also takes a very long time. You won't need your units very much, though, as combat is discouraged more than in previous titles. The diplomatic penalties for warfare are severe, and since it takes so long to construct anything, wars will cost you a lot. Each unit you build will set you even further behind in terms of the buildings you can construct.

All of this leads to games being rather boring in general. A real pity!

Endless Space is among the best 4X games I've ever played. Beware, though: The learning curve is steep and the in-game explanations (and even the online wiki explanations) are absolutely terrible. The first few games, you won't understand what a large portion of the game mechanics do.

Give it time, though, learn bit by bit, and you will be richly rewarded. The game is beautiful, entrancing, and very intelligent. The pacing is just right (never boring, never overwhelming) and the decisions you make are actually meaningful and never obvious. Lastly, the AI is clever and diplomacy actually works -- allies will come to your help, for example.

Highly recommended.