Sins of a Solar Empire II

2 Years in, and this game has nothing to show for it. Not only did they pull a fast one with modding this game where you have to go to their own SANCTIONED AREA to get mods for this game, this game is STILL using AI generated Imagery. Ironclad is dead. Want to enjoy Sins of Solar Empire, get SOSE: Rebellion. Many great mods that work and the game has content and NO AI imagery. I have no hope of any games coming out in the future from this company, being good...

The Gameplay is nice, as an oldschool SOS Rebellion player im quite enjoying myself. Except one thing. The AI Art is attrocious. I hoped it would only be placeholder Art until a later state of the game but no. Youre loading into the game? Enjoy the pseudo smooth Ai Main Screen. Picking a Race? here have some AI Pictures for your Commander. It devalues a, in my opinion, good game sooo much. If youre annoyed by the AI BS dont buy.

Yeah so, this is probably one of the best real-time space strategy games out there, and I'd totally recommend it to basically *anyone* who enjoys RTS games. For those who haven't played the originals, Sins 2 is essentially a stripped down 4X game that mainly focuses on the military aspect of the genre, yet still includes some small spinkles of the three remaining Xs (exploration/expansion/exploitation). If you're looking for a Stellaris-like experience then this probably isn't the game you're after, but if you want a space battle RTS - then this is exactly it. Basically, imagine Age of Empires, but in space, and with individual planets rather than one large map. Each player spawns in their corner, everyone slowly expands, player A finds player B, then the territorial tug-of-war begins. It is worth noting though, that every game is it's own isolated skirmish - there is no overall campaign or long-term progression. You win/lose the match and that's it. For returning players, Sins 2 is actually more like a remake of Rebellion than a sequel itself. The factions, their units, the game's mechanics, it's all pretty much the same as it's predecessor - bar a few new changes and additions. Key mentions include a new plantery orbit system (mixed opinions on this one), changes to minor factions (they're a lot better now but also more RNG-dependant), and an overhauled capital ship/planetary upgrade system (this one is REALLY good), as well as number of other minor things. The engine is also FAR more capable, with full multi-threading support, meaning late game battles on large sized maps no longer drags the FPS down to a crawl - woohoo! Whilst, for the most part, I am satisfied with all the new additions, I do feel somewhat disappointed that there isn't.... well, more. For such a long time gap between entries, I'd have thought we'd atleast see a singleplayer campaign (which players have been asking for for well over a decade now) or even just a new faction. Funnily enough though, it turns out that these things are in fact on their way... but as DLC (am I surprised? not really lol). There is also a high amount of AI artwork, mainly for things like portraits, techologies, icons, and so on. It's actually quite a shame considering how awesome all the real art was in Rebellion. The devs are supposedly 'upgrading' it over time, but as of now the artwork is FAR more boring and generic than prior entries. I digress though, since I'm just happy to see this series brought back, especially now in line with modern hardware capabilities. Without a doubt, it's worth every penny spent. Should you buy this game? Hells yea, absolutely.

I was a massive fan of the original games, the games were massive in depth and the dlcs had plenty to offer in new ships, mechanics and features, while i was majorly hyped for this game for such a long time and was excited when it was announced. im not really satisfied with it at all, im deeply disappointed. First, i was expecting major improvements and advancements, the developers are not new by any means to developing a variety of games and have over a decade of experience ONTOP of having employed many of the series biggest modding teams such as the team behind Sins of the Prophets Halo mod. Obviously there is no excuse for any downgrade interms of model design, game mechanics, features or quality, the models are really well textured, the factions have very indepth and intune aesthetics with their respective empires that makes them really pop and immerse the world very much like the ships from Homeworld. weapons and turrets r both animated nicely and most of the particle effects and textures are well done, planets look really nice and the background of space too. i enjoyed much of the new mechanics and features such as population management and planetary modules, really allows the players to build their planets to be science asteroids, industrial forge worlds or even frontier fortress worlds inspired by Cadia from 40k. Now, beyond that i have plenty of issues. WAY too much laziness and overuse of AI generated content on even basic things like image cards, much of the game is just remade using AI to such an eyesore degree it looks massively lazy and unnecessary as they couldve just reused old art from the original games as a placeholder if they needed to and it wouldve worked no problem since they are well made. the main menu is really suffocating in its layout and design, an entire screen of UI but only a small tiny spot in the top like im trying to find a needle in a hay stack, settings for basic things like resolution, texture quality and so forth were main stay in the original but were not an option here. Many of the ships from the prior game carry over with significant changes, some very much so and others not as much, they look great but this game is set after several decades after the war has progressed, i wouldve expected the designs to develop and centralize. For those unaware, the Human factions {TEC} had no military vessels as they were an economic empire in peace and each world was unified in trade to prosper, when the war brokeout, they converted many civilian vessels into makeshift warships with only a few actual Warships being made such as the KOL Battlecruiser in the few years after the war started. This was an amazing design philosophy as you can see on most of their ships where the Trade and Civil sections end and where the Militaristic sections begin and where they the TEC just slapped weapons where they could fit it. In this game those designs are mostly unchanged other then armament {which ill get into later below} now with some of the military vessels like the KOL i understand they wouldnt need much changes in structure since they were already dedicated Warships by design, however the majority of their naval compliment originally were Cargo haulers and Mining vessels retrofit for war. In this game if anything those vessels were mostly copy and pasted and even downgraded interms of armament, abilites or changed in purpose in contrast to their roles initially in the prior game. all the factions in this game have this complication, i wouldve expected the designs of the TEC to become predominately Warships with the initial prior game designs being further upgraded for that purpose after 30 or so years of nonstop war for example. Armament, its garbage and changed needlessly in this game, if its not broken dont fix it. The TEC, Advent and Vasari have very specific and unique compliments of weaponry they each use, TEC uses a mix of missiles, auto cannons and laser cannons with some special weapons like the KOL's beam and Gauss cannons on their orbital defenses, Advent uses mainly plasma cannons and beam weapons and the Vasari specialize on their tech advantage of pulse and wave energy weapons and phase missiles which bypass shields. in this game it is like all 3 have regressed in technology, the TEC no longer use laser weaponry at all and have diminished use of missiles and fighter craft, focusing on more gauss and auto cannons, the other 2 factions also have technology and armament just gone, with many ship designs being ruined and pointless in their new forms. the Marza dreadnaught for the TEC is a siege cruiser, lots of missile launchers with auto and laser cannons, it was one of the best before, now its garbage, a literal glass cannon. I tried to enjoy this game i really did, but it isnt fun to play any of the factions, the ships looking great just is not enough to continue playing it, the dlc have added plenty of new ships and designs but that isnt going to cover up the sore thumbs in the room, how they could ruin already perfect ships is beyond me, theres no strategy to be had in the game since all the ships r glass cannons and are fodder to throw away even if ships r specialized for certain roles they dont perform in them well. i could go on plenty but id be here forever, game needs much much changed and improved so until then im giving it a 3/10

They sell Sins of a Solar Empire II: Harbinger for 30 euro's without the discount which is more than half the price of the main game. The faction doens't contain subfactions, nor does it have a dreadnought. Do developers not feel shame anymore? Even if the new faction is cool and adds new ways to play, it is a complete rip-off from a value perspective.

Loved the original of this game. Love this game too. But, in 2026 this game is not enough. A few minor mechanic changes to the original title are interesting but the game massively lacks the depth and variety you get in other 4X space titles. In terms of depth it's nearest competitors are the likes of empire at war, gal civ 3, and of course SoaSE I. That level of depth for a 4X was great over a decade ago, but compared with the likes of Stellaris which has a similar play time it's just not in competition at all. A couple of specific strengths (+) and weaknesses (-) + Modelling and art work is great + Ship combat balance is also excellent, much better than the rock-paper-scissors most games use + Ship losses are genuinely meaningful early on + Trade system should be fun but in large games everything is constantly discounted and in small games (1v1) no one needs to trade + Ship diversity is well balanced, the penetration system works well to balance lots of small ships vs few large ones. I tested both and could not find a big difference in meta between them. No stellaris-style corvette spam! + fighters and bombers are well balanced - TEC are incredibly overpowered, heavy cruisers protecting trade fleets is overkill and wipes out star bases on their own (not to mention garrison fleets). Rarely have to actually attack an opponent (unless they are also TEC) - non-fighter based fighter defence (e.g. flak) is very weak and difficult to micro - repair ships are difficult to micro and they don't seem to automatically heal at all - fleet cohesion settings are not good, need to be able to tell specific ship types to move to front lines / back lines etc. Very annoying watching weak ships take the full front of enemy attacks - please base AI logic on more than just weapon range! - Super weapons are either entirely meaningless (due to planetary shields), or ridiculously OP (no planetary shields) - Ship losses are meaningless later on, you can just pump out star bases and titans with the (literally) millions of resources stockpiled - Game becomes stagnant very quickly - Planets are pretty meaningless other than the slots they give. It would be nice if planets were meaningfully different in play style to asteroids, other than just more slots. e.g. make it so culture doesn't spread from asteroids, asteroid pops are much much lower (minerals much higher), planets can have anti-ship weapons Some suggestions to improve: * introduce strategic resources to fight over (more than just ship artefacts) to drive narrative gameplay, e.g. shipyards with unique ships, unique tech options, passive bonuses, phase lane manipulation * make the role of minor factions more meaningful rather than everyone trades with them or destroys them (think Civ 6 city states - one controller only, grants win conditions) * Make super weapons, star bases, and titans a staggered progression which encourages surgical deep strikes to remove threats (at a balanced level of attack and defence, attack should do a LOT of harm but should never completely wipe out a planet, when attack is better than defence go ahead and blow up the planet or whatever) * Introduce galactic threats such as severe space weather that can devastate fleets, supernovas that change space lanes, asteroids which if not stopped can wipe out planet populations and buildings * Please please introduce deeper research trees and require some research lab maintenance, for example: (1) add specialisations to key techs which create branching, no return research trees (e.g. go for better missile tech or better lasers?), (2) add a maintenance burden such that if tech drops due to destroyed labs, any unlocks from the higher tier(s) are disabled until rebuilt, (3) remove the stupid +4 labs on planets that's insanely overpowered, (4) make the migration between tech levels more eventful, such as requiring a long wind-up period and a global event that enemies can respond and focus on to stop you levelling up * fix AI so you can't just send one ship to their home planet to get them to stop attacking you, also fix AI so they make use of opportunities to attack whilst other enemies are fighting * perhaps give some early, mid, and late game objectives out randomly to unlock progression, based on faction (e.g. TEC doesn't unlock specific ships / upgrades until it has x amount of trade throughput) * give relationship quests to minor factions, instead of just buying access with influence Overall good game, enjoyed playing it, but absolutely no reason to ever play it again now.

People are out here complaining that it's not different enough from sins of a solar empire 1- This is a straight improvement and evolution of the things that game did. It's streamlined a lot of features, it's tightened up a lot of the balance, it's unified a bunch of disparate mechanics. I'm not sure why "It's more sins of a solar empire" is ever a downside for someone who liked the first game! This is exactly what I wanted, not a dramatic overhaul or reimagining of the concept, I wanted the same super fun game refined into excellence, and this delivers and builds on it.

What's unfortunate is that I did enjoy this game, even if I didn't play a whole bunch of it. However the use of AI Generated art which frankly looks like ♥♥♥♥, is still in the game 2 years after it's release date which is frankly disappointing. So I can't recommend this even if I love these kind of games.

There's no campaign, it's basically the same thing as the first games version of random battles galactic conquest. The graphics are a bit better, there's some different ships. Buy the first one instead, this one has nothing new to really add.