Highlights of this game after trying it out for +10 hours and ~10 won games (most in "high" difficulty, the one where the player and the AI play by the same rules), every faction, and various map sizes:
* END GAMES - One of the few games I've seen where the endgame doesn't turn into a slog. The victory points mechanic lets the obvious victor win before everything gets tedious, and because the sources of victory points are random every game, it doesn't hurt replayability.
* FIGHTS - Fights are quick, and when they aren't, they're fun; if you're caught in a stalemate, you can start adding new mechanics to your battle: a new technology might give you the type of ship you need, or a building (shield matrix, etc) or you may find something to turn the tide inside an anomaly. Other times? Maybe just focus on gaining victory points to try to win, or someone else will before you, and then you can move on to another game anyway. FUN.
* GOODY HUTS (ANOMALIES) - Speaking of anomalies, the rewards are kind of imbalanced. Very rarely you want to pick the resource, when you could instead pick-up a science breakthrough, which is immensely valuable since you can't just go and pick exactly what you want from the science tree. That said, because the rewards are really good, you are encouraged to go and explore them quickly, an actual good "goody hut" mechanic. FUN.
* SCIENCE - So, about the science tree: like other space games (say, Stellaris), this game never tells you what all the different technologies are (there's the wiki but that's another thing), but it gives you an idea of what the 3 fields of research give you; and, because the choices of discoveries are random every run as well, each playthrough is different. Fun!
* FACTIONS - The factions aren't very well balanced, some have extremely painful drawbacks that make them only viable in certain types of maps; I won't spoil which ones I think have problems, but nevertheless, this doesn't really get in the way of enjoying the game, just pick whatever you want (and you can choose your opponents too, like in other games in this genre)
* MAP CONFIG - it's great, changing something as simple as the map geometry changes the game so much, and you can config pretty much anything, for extra replay value.
Long story short, a game that respects your time, and doesn't drown you with overdesigned mechanics and awfully slow endgames. You will ACTUALLY be able to finish your playthrough in an hour most of the time, what other 4X game gives you that?
The music is serviceable, just like the graphics. The gameplay is tight and excellently scoped, a breath of fresh air.
Recommended! (you can always try out the demo if you're unsure)
