ENDLESS Space™ 2

I've had this game since 2018 but only really got hooked in 2026. Absolute masterpiece. I can only describe it as a perfect game in every aspect. Pure dopamine

Time for my long-overdue review of Endless Space 2. In short - a really good space 4X which has received extensive support after launch. I always arrived to the Endless Space games delayed. I didn't like Endless Space 1 because it had automated combat - but, after a few years, I finally *got* the combat, and fell in love with the game. Endless Space 2 I postponed until... basically, now. Fortunately, after idly playing some more MOO2 (my girlfriend took over the gaming PC to play Horn of the Abyss) and finding myself wanting something more, the mood was right to try it. And it fully delivers. I won't do a large overview of its systems, merely provide an illustrative example of the kind of gameplay thinking that went into ES2: There is an overcolonisation mechanic: if you colonise over a number of star systems (the unit of administration in ES2 is the star system, while planets are more like ... fixed districts which modify your citizen's work output depending on their type) - if you colonise more than, say, 8 star systems, each one above the limit applies a happiness debuff to all systems, usually 10 per system over the limit. You can pass laws that make your citizens more happy, build happiness infrastructure, research the very few technologies which increase your colonisation limit, and even spend precious rare resources to pervasively upgrade the star system itself (you design what rare resources go into the upgrade levels, and some of the resources add happiness or even apply a percentage reduction to overcolonisation impact). But, if you go into the late game (or rush research), there is an expensive (but non-unique) building that raises your colonisation limit by 1. You can only build it in top-level system (very well-developed, and fully upgraded with those rare resources). What this does is allow players to build either tall or wide-ish throughout the game, and manage overcolonisation as they see fit; but, requiring full system development before you remove it from the colonisation limit does put a stop to early expansion rushes in a very reactive way. The game is full of such thoughtful design choices, and has been a delight to discover - albeit so late. From my years-after-launch perspective, I can only add that the DLCs introduce interesting factions, patch support had been great, and Amplitude has collaborated with the players to release Community Patches to fix outstanding issues. Really awesome game, and I'm glad to finally play it.