the Escapist - 4.5/5
Endless Space 2 is a gleaming example of the depth of the 4x genre, though the intricacies will make it inaccessible to the most casual players. Of course, ES2 doesn't look like it's trying too hard to be accessible, focusing more on making the 4x game for 4x players, who aren't looking for something that just anybody can pick up in a single session.
Bottom Line: Endless Space 2 doesn't sugarcoat the 4x experience, and it can be daunting when you realize that all 600 icons on the screen have a tooltip you need to read to make just this one decision. Despite all that complexity, none of it seems unnecessary, which means every one of those tooltips has essential information.
Recommendation: Endless Space 2 is not an entry-level 4x game, though an experienced strategy gamer will likely be able to pick it up readily enough. Serious strategists won't want to miss this, even if the learning curve is more of a sheer cliff face.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Recommended
Amplitude have crafted a game that oozes character and charm out of every pore. With its faction-specific soundtrack, lavish art and light RPG-like quests, its hard not to fall for it. Character doesnt just mean flavour, either. Sure, Endless Space 2 is full of that, but whats most compelling is the way in which it intersects with the mechanics, elevating them both.
Take the factions, for instance. The business-savvy Lumeris colonise worlds by paying private companies to do all the work. No colony ships needed. The arboreal Unfallen, on the other hand, link star systems together with cosmic tendrils, instantly colonising a world once the vines take root. Each of the Xs is informed by the history and abilities of the factions. Even on the same type of map, with the same opponents, playing as the the extradimensional Riftborn or the ravenous Cravers feels like a fundamentally different experience.
Factions arent just defined by their unique techs and fancy powers, however. They set the tone and inspire certain types of playstyles, but the politics system has just as big an impact. Its perhaps the biggest hook that sets Endless Space 2 apart from Endless Legend, and its influence permeates throughout the entire game.
Each empire contains six potential political parties vying for power. How much control they have, and indeed if they they exist at all, is determined by the species living under your yoke. All of them have a political ideology they are most closely affiliated with, and over time theyll help parties that espouse the ideals they dig. Political events, wars, building projects and other actions can also drum up more support for them.
Im relieved that Amplitude have managed to do some last-minute fixes. It saves me from having to tell you to give it a miss for the time being, even though Im besotted with it. Instead I get to happily recommend it. From the interface to economics, it sports some of the best systems Ive seen in a 4X game, and like Endless Legend, its simultaneously confident and experimental, finding new ways to spice up a genre that can too often be bland.
Game Revolution - 4.5/5
That being said, Endless Space 2 has an incredibly detailed tutorial that will take you painstakingly through every detail you could possibly have questions about, transforming you from complete noob into 4Xpert in no time. After you get over the steep learning curve, youll be absolutely enthralled by everything Endless Space 2 has to offer.
Perhaps the best aspect to discuss in more detail in this limited capacity is picking a faction, as this can drastically change each and every game you decide to play. Right off the bat, there are eight of them, each with their own lore and, perhaps more importantly, their own abilities. Theyre each good at something different and gain different resources in different ways.
Because of this, not only do you know more about the faction as which you play, but Endless Space 2 feels like a different game each time you play it. In other games, such as Stellaris, you essentially do the same thing each time. In Endless Space 2, you are able to do all the same things each time, but you may build up a huge bustling economy with one faction while barely scraping by the next time you play with a different faction, as your efforts are better spent elsewhere.
Destructoid - 8.5/10
Endless Space 2 makes a significant addition to the Endless feature set by including a political dimension, influenced by faction choice and by individual population units. Every faction has an affinity with one of the major political ideologies (industrialists, militarists, and so on), while minor factions also have their own viewpoints. Just about every decision you make in the game can nudge political feelings one way or the other, from building certain structures to having too many enemy ships hanging around your borders. Populations express their political feelings every twenty turns, when elections return representatives to the Senate.
Essentially, the political dimension adds flavour, potential points of internal conflict, and another way for the player to push their empire in a particular direction through Senate laws. There may be times when you really want a particular party in power, either to push a lot of science research or perhaps as part of a particular narrative quest. The dictatorship model can ignore voting results and select a preferred party (at risk of angering the populace), but other government types can also be gently manipulated (through direct or indirect action) in order to get the result you need. During these periods, massaging political opinion can become a bit of a meta-game.
I had a lot of fun with Endless Space 2, and I'm looking forward to putting more time in with it. Despite my initial reservations about diving into the deep end, I soon found myself invested in the stories that came from my triumphs and failures. There's a lot to like here if you give it a chance, and even if strategy isn't your preferred genre, you might find that it's worth your time to give ES2 a shot.
Gamewatcher - 8.5/10
Endless Space 2 once again delivers a top notch turn based 4X sci fi experience.
COG Connected - 84/100
With a much improved tutorial advisor, fantastic graphics, and race specific storylines, Endless Space 2 is a galactic adventure worth having. The races are all unique and challenging to master, but well worth the effort and you will easily find yourself attached to your favorites. There is still room for the tutorial to explain more about the game and its mechanics however, and it wouldnt hurt to allow proper command of your fleets in space combat as opposed to watching them carry out a single order. Endless Space 2 is a must for fans of 4X and strategy titles.
PC Invasion - 8/10
The feeling that Endless Space 2 could do with more time residing in early access is enough to give me pause from unconditional recommendation. That said, the pre-release version Ive been playing for the past few days has been extremely compelling in spite of the bugs. If the game receives the same standard of long term support as Endless Legend (and most signs suggest it will), then itll be an outstanding 4X title. Military logisticians wont find their dream game here, but anyone who values top-tier faction design, atmosphere, and intuitive, interconnected empire management will find another splendid Amplitude universe to lose themselves within.
PC Gamer - 77/100
Although Endless Space 2 will inevitably be a heavily patched and expanded-upon game, it definitely needs polish and refinement. A launch-day update solved lots of the most serious issues hanging over from the game's time in Early Access, but there's still a laundry list of known bugs for Amplitude to work through. While some of these are edge-case glitches that only affect players in certain situations, more serious problems with the game getting stuck during the end turn sequence and broken saves persist. That Amplitude is aware of the problems is reassuring, but doesn't necessarily offer much comfort to the player who can't make progress because of a bug.
Endless Space 2 is a good game, but there's no getting around the fact that it'll be a better game in six months. That is ever the case for 4X strategy games, of course, but you'd be forgiving for waiting until that list of known issues is a little shorter.
Opencritic - 8.3
Metacritic - 8.5
