Stars in Shadow

Starting balance of pirates is beyond stupid... I started a game, and literally next to my system there was a cruiser that destroyed 4 of my ships in a single combat, then attacked my home system Started new game Same ♥♥♥♥ happened Started third game Same ♥♥♥♥ happened. I have said this so, so many times. I wish developers played their own games, because something like this is beyond retarded

Easily the best and most polished Master of Orion-inspired game out there. If you're looking for MoO's spiritual successor, this is it.

This game is very similar to Master of Orion 2, so if you liked that game you'll probably enjoy this game too. The game has more modern graphics and is fun to play but is not as feature rich as Master of Orion 2: you can't design your own race and there are no leaders. It's a simple game, the UI is well designed and intuitive: I was able to work out how to play the game without having to look anything up. I've been playing this for a while now and I'm enjoying it more now. The races are all different and have their own unique advantages. This variety greatly improves the replay value of the game.

Despite the fact that I am not particularly experienced in 4X strategies, I unexpectedly liked Stars in Shadow. Usually games of this genre seem too complicated and overloaded with mechanics, where you need to spend hours understanding the interface and tables, but here everything turned out to be much clearer. After just a couple of moves, you start to get involved: you explore new systems, build a fleet, and gradually expand your empire. I especially liked the atmosphere of space adventures and the variety of races — each one looks unusual and plays in its own way. The battles also turned out to be interesting: they are step-by-step, but not too protracted, so even for a beginner it is easy to understand the basics of tactics. At the same time, the game does not try to overwhelm the player with hundreds of complex mechanics, which is why the games are quite comfortable.

Did you love Master of Orion 2? So did the devs, and this game is a love letter to it. I even dare say it's better, with a simplified and improved planet development system that hits the just right balance.

This is a case where I wish there was an inbetween recommendation level. The game is basically a simplified 4x game. You can finish a game a lot faster than other 4x games because a lot of the micro-managing or choices just aren't there in this game. Race: All races are premade and there's no customization. It allows each to be "more unique" but you won't really get to mix and match to your personal preference. Ships: No deciding your fleet formations, ships have slots for equipment so they vary very little in their roles, and when designing them there's almost no info about the stats to equipment such as power used or actual effects. You have to figure out, learn, or guess a lot the hard way. Planets: No population controls or limits, so once you have another race on a planet they are kinda just there and growing whether you want them to or not. This means good luck getting the right pop onto focused planets. UI: There is a lot to be desired here, there's some filters in the options menu that add information but there's quite a few places in the game that I just want to know what is going on. Like what pops will increase this planets size and how much can each pop fill the planet. Overall it's got it's bit of fun, at least for me anyway as you see by the hours. But I would consider it a light 4x due to the above and more. Bugs I deal with in my current playthrough: Missile barrages stacking on top of each other so I can't aim intercepters to each one. Missiles disappearing from visual view, have to move my view/zoom around until they re-appear. Qol Issues: Ship design needs to break out components better such as adding a power subsection, too much scrolling. And the "Hide older components" should stay toggled between swapping to a new ship design.

Played this game a lot, it's simple in some aspects, but the one more turn, one more game feel is real. Nice thing to play when you played too much of Master of Orion 2 and wish for something different, but of the kind.

Fun little space 4x. Very good in that there is little of the detail overkill of many 4x games. But that's also a potential problem. If you want to dig deeper there is no there to dig into. Still I have fun with this game when I need a break from micromanagement hell that the top 4x games have become. I like the art style because it is fresh compared to other games. I recommend this game for many hours of relaxing expansionism.