Emperor of the Fading Suns Enhanced

I first encountered the game when it was new. Loved the lore but never managed to get into it. Throughout the years, I tried again many times and always failed. Until now. And oh boy... Yes, I do recommend it, but you have to be mad. Because the game itself is mad. You have a planet, you can build factories, farms, mines, the usual assortment of units like infantry, tanks, planes, naval units, including carriers, destroyers (that can even carry vtol units). Even this one planet (map) could be a game in itself. But then you have your spaceport and here the madness starts. You now have your space destroyers, spacecraft carriers, dreadnoughts, transports, you now not have one planet but 50 (or so in the historical campaign) and 5 other factions to compete. Still not enough? Add two non-playable factions to that, like church that can punish you if you research forbidden technologies or trading guild that has its own "Coruscant" like planet. You still do not have enough? Add two distinct alien factions (really fun trying to find all the hives if the "flood" manages to break through to the wider galaxy). And I have not even mentioned regent voting system. Still not screaming and tearing your hair off? Then be a complete madlad and turn off your universal warehouse so you have to manually transport all the materials from mines/farms/etc., even across planets. This is the craziest game I have ever played... no, the craziest game I even heard of.

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!

A game so drastically ahead of its time that not even modern games attempt to do the same things that it did. Every planet in this game is a decently sized game of civilization, proceeding at the same time as the space opera 4x game, and at the same time as the capital world political intrigue game. How the hell did they even consider pulling this off in the 90s, let alone actually succeed in doing it to a degree? It's old, janky, clunky, and rough as all get out- But holy hell, props to them.

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.

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.

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!

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.

One of the best 4X games of all time updated to run on modern systems with some nice quality-of-life updates. The UI is a bit clunky and the gameplay is a bit heavy on micro-management. Otherwise, this is a fantastic game with incredible strategic depth, a robust economic system, diplomatic intrigue, challenging AI, fascinating lore, and immaculate sci-fi-Gothic vibes.

This is one of the titles where I wish there was a mixed/meh review. The game itself is great with the big if that is if you loved the original. There is a little bit of quality of life updates and it easily works on modern systems is great. I may of just been expecting a little bit more from an 'enhanced' version. A little bit more qol stuff a bit more UI polish. It's still the simple little things like on the turn summary, I can see a farm was attacked but a simple way to find and/or go to the attack site, still no. It's still a great game I was just hoping for a little more enhancment to try and limit some of the more painful elements.