Emperor of the Fading Suns Enhanced

This game is a wildly ambitious, old-school 4X with unmatched depth and atmosphere. It’s clunky, brutally micro-heavy, and the AI hasn’t aged well, but no other game quite blends planetary warfare, galactic politics, and gothic sci-fi like this. If you love complex, uncompromising strategy games, it’s a classic worth trying out or revisiting. If you want modern polish ... yeah, stay away. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3640954143 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3640517063 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3650398892 Unlocked all achievements!

Excellent game that you can't truly enjoy unless you play with four other people on the multiplayer. Good luck finding people who won't crash out when after two months of sharing turns, you conspire with the other players to annihilate their armies and seize the crown.

It turns out that planning out why your game has the mechanics it does makes for a better game. It's good. Big Dune vibes. Big tabletop wargame vibes. Twilight Imperium without needing friends.

I played this back in the day, and since then no other game really accomplishes the same sort of star map + planet map conquests without getting bogged down. At the start, the three (or four) non-player factions are way stronger than the noble house factions you play, but they're not there to get you unless you seriously mess up. Instead, they create a more immersive world. Make no mistake, it is almost 30 year old game and it shows. Even back then it was an unpolished gem. Devs picked this up again and have added some polish, but you have to expect some patina. However, the system still holds up and scratches an itch that later titles manage to scratch only in part.

Very deep and unique game, but play with the Emperor Wars Mod or Phoenix Mod! It makes everything 10 times better! Also, Luxor and Framer are gigachads!

This is probably my game of the year for 2025 Multiplayer. If you can get a team of 5 humans together you can create some of the most incredible turn-based multiplayer mayhem that exists out there. And being the best at the mechanics of the game is not enough to win if you can't also bring your out-of-game diplomacy hat to the race. Never has such a simple game concept kept me up at night while I plan and scheme my way to victory or glorious defeat. Can't recommend this enough for someone looking for real diplomatic strategy multiplayer.

I bought this game after doing a little research and seeing some Youtube videos praising it for being so ahead of its time that no 4X today really compares. Last night I finally managed to sit down and was absolutely enamored for 4 hours - time flew by. Initially, I was worried about how much I would enjoy this, the game is showing its age in regards to some of the controls and the graphics (but I think the art is very fitting for the setting and didnt find it puling me out of the game at all.) The systems in this game are so good, and you would have thought that some developer would have used this as a foundation to build off of recently, but I havent seen a game like this ever. For example, I was sieging a planet, trying to get ahead of a war declared on me by House Decados because I wouldnt give them my votes in the regency election. I managed to secure a farm and a factory, and was pushing through the mountains on the planets capital. I come to find out that you can actually produce units in the captured buildings/towns despite not owning the whole planet. I used the production to pump out a few medium tank divisions to use in the assault on the spaceport (we lost, the AI consolidated all of its forces in the port and absolutely wiped the floor with me.) Even exploration in this game is fun compared to other games in the genre. I took a couple militia divisions and went around my homeworld - you know, the place that you think you would obviously have under total dominion and likely would, in any other game. I come to find ruins that house a rebel noble, two warlocks, and a dervish. The two militia units were vaporized on approach. I didnt even know psyker units were in this game. Not only that, this angered the space wizards and they marched on my capital and destroyed one of my assault landers that I was using to ferry troops to the rebel planet, and they actually captured the other one. I was stunned and actually laughed when it happened. I havent had an AI surprise me like that in a very long time, and it was great! The dynamics between the houses, church, the guild, and the Emperors own forces is woven into the gameplay in the most non-obtrusive way I think I have seen. I think of Stellaris' council and diplomacy, and I find it lacking in some areas when compared to this. I cant quite put my finger on it, but I feel like the AI moves with more intent and planning than in other games. Now, I only have 4 hours in, but thats my take thus far and I am here for it. Don't let my low playtime deter you - I have been playing 4X games since the late 90's (Star Wars: Rebellion and Civ 2 were my intros) and I cant believe I missed this when it first released. I would have been obsessed with the possibilities here. If you like 4X, and the more modern offerings arent scratching the itch, take a chance on EFS, get past the dated graphics and slightly clunky interface, and see this gem for what it is - a grand space opera 4X, the likes of which we may never see again in a one well put together package. My only wish is that this might get a remake/remaster in the vein of the recent Master of Magic, if only to bring this to a wider audience because it certainly deserves it. Oh, and you really should be concerned that all of those cities falling in Absolution...

When this game first came out I played it constantly. I think it is my favorite game of all time. Just enough resource planning, I like the flavor of the politics even though they weren't really implemented. I'm looking forward to all the updates and mods.