Edit: After making this review, I learned this game support generative AI. So, while everything I said previously is how I feel about the game, I can't, in good faith, support a company that believes in replacing devs with passion, with software programs that steal info from other games to create rehashed content.
I am very disappointed to hear about this. Cause I enjoy this game a lot.
Prior review:
I really, really like this game. But it does have a steep learning curve. It also has this vibe (and I say this without meaning any shade in anyway), but it has a train sim game feel. Essentially, what I mean to say is, if you enjoy getting real deep into something, even so deep as to turn off the automated stuff in the game to make better, faster, stronger ships and more efficient planets and colonies: Then this game is for you. Probably.
It has a lot of similarities to the Civilization games too, so if you like that, but want a spacefaring motif--you're going to like this game.
General gist of things:
Graphics: Stuff looks good close up, but you'll likely just be staring at a map screen the entire game.
Difficulty: There are several different scales for changing or upping the difficulty. So if you want a hard game, it's there. If you want a super easy game to understand the UI and how things work better, you can work that too.
AI performance: Haven't seen anything game breaking recently. But in the past, the AI used to do some crazy stuff that made it real hard to enjoy the game. These days though, the AI aggression and progression seems a little more tame.
Game performance: The game seems to run pretty smooth. I imagine with the best computer out there, there's no problems with performance whatsoever. But because a lot of stuff happens late game with the Major Crises, game performance has a tendency to lag a little for older computers. But it's not immersion breaking.
Pros:
Music: Absolutely stellar.
Art: Captivating.
Multiplayer: Heck yes. Highly recommend.
Content: There's always something to do. And you have several different ways to play your empire. You could enslave other alien empires, turn your own people into robots, have a hive mind, create a peaceful federation, purge the cosmos, or subjugate everyone. There's more ways to play, but I'll leave that there. There's also DLC that enriches and makes the game even more interesting and fun. I do recommend picking DLC you think you'll enjoy--But I do NOT recommend buying the entire collection at once if this is a new genre and game style to you.
Cons:
Accessibility: If you're really new to the genre, maybe don't make this your first entry into a civ style strategy game. The game has too much UI clutter going on that might be overwhelming.
HOWEVER, having said that said, this game was my first civ sim style game (I bought it back in 2016 or 2018). And while it took me a long, LONG time to get used to things, I think this might be my favorite. So, if you're new and don't mind spending time learning and understanding things, you'll enjoy this. If you want something easy and relaxing, probably considering skipping this.
DLC: So, while the massive amounts of DLC makes this game so very rich with content and choice in what to do--this also means it's bloated with extra content that's stuck behind a paywall. Even some of the DLC's (cosmic storms for instance) doesn't have much going for them at all. So, on the one hand, I understand the company needs to be paid for the extra content they make for the game, but on the other hand, some of this content doesn't feel real deep to justify the price tag. Especially if you consider that buying every single DLC pack altogether in one purchase right now is roughly somewhere at $380-ish dollars. So, I really don't suggest buying ALL the DLC at all.
Instead, I highly recommend buying what you know you want or like. Or, buying the Subscription for a month to get a feel for what you like.
I also promise that there is already enough going on in the base game to be satisfied playing without DLCs. At least until you feel like you want a little more spice and variance for something more.
Overall:
I highly recommend this game. It's a wonderful deep-dive into the civ sim genre. I do caution buying DLCs without playing the game without them first.
In terms of price:
New players should wait for a sale just to see if they can handle the UI.
But players that are used to this kind of thing should probably buy the version of the game that includes 3 really good DLCs that make the game much more playable and fun to enjoy. The $50 price point is in a grey area of both feeling fair and feeling a bit expensive. Waiting for a sale is always good if you're feeling especially unsure about paying full price. But personally, I feel this is one of the few games out there that's worth the $50 price tag. Especially considering it's cheaper than any Nintendo game currently, and some of those games don't even have more than 10 hours of gameplay.
This definitely has stuff to do.
