Master of Orion

gg

This plays true to the original, for those of us looking for a reliving of the '80's/'90's experience with updated graphics. If you wasted countless hours in the original versions, you'll pick right up on this one with just a quick run through of the tutorial. There are some enhancements that make a lot of sense, particularly with navigating the map, planet lists, techs, diplomacy, etc. But not a lot of "new" features, which I consider a good thing. The combat system is a particularly nice enhancement, with options to lead the battles ship by ship in real time or let the computer do the results instantly using probabilities and random chance. That makes the game play either fast (for a game where a full run through can take many, many hours) or slower and more player-involved. Likewise, the option to let resource management be done by the computer makes for a quicker game, but it's still an option for those who prefer a more hands-on game. The graphics are great for a turn-based RPG, but not CPU or GPU intensive. My Nvidia 4080 laptop on a 13th generation i9 handles the Ultra setting and caps at 120 FPS (it could do a lot more) without really moving the needle on either GPU or CPU usage except during cinematic sequences. As a stand-alone RPG, it's probably beat in playability and complexity by a lot of them out there right now. But as a nostalgia piece, it's a brilliant update to an old favorite and highly recommended.