Overseeing a vast galactic empire is, as you might imagine, a difficult business. As fun as it can be in 4X strategy games to manage your civilization’s economy and send troops into battle to expand your reach, figuring out what you’re even supposed to be doing at the beginning of one can be too much of a struggle to really be worth it for all but the most dedicated players. But one of the best space strategy games ever also happens to be one of the easiest to get into (relatively speaking), and right now is the best time to pick it up for free.
Released eight years ago, Endless Space 2 is a sibling to the Endless Legend strategy series, also by developer Amplitude. But rather than leading a fantasy kingdom to domination here, you’re leading one of several, wildly different space-faring species instead. And starting July 17, Endless Space 2: Definitive Edition, which comes packed with DLC and is currently selling on Steam for just under $100, is free to Amazon Prime subscribers.
Endless Space 2 is, by no means, a simple game. Each of its eight original factions (which is bumped up to 12 by expansions) plays completely differently, with unique goals and even mechanics governing how they establish themselves as the dominant force in the galaxy. Some want to conquer, others want to stay back and shore up their own defenses, while others want to build scientific superiority instead. What really sets each one apart, though, is how they go about achieving their ultimate ends. The Lumeris, for instance, are economic powerhouses that can buy other planets rather than taking them by force, while the Unfallen connect the systems they control with massive vines spreading through space.
None of that makes the game easy, and in fact the sheer variety of strategies can make it more difficult to know how to counter any new opponent you come across. But at the same time, it means that there’s probably a faction in Endless Space 2 that makes it the kind of game you want to play, whether you’re looking to sit back and build up your own empire or undermine opponents through espionage.
What makes Endless Space 2 even more suited for newcomers to 4X games is how well it explains all of the byzantine systems that make up the genre. A detailed tutorial is available for everything from the basic mechanics running under the hood of the game to all of the buttons and levers you have to manipulate your chosen civilization. There’s an enormous amount to keep track of in Endless Space 2, but its interface somehow manages to make room to explain all of it without devolving into a cluttered mess. Once you get into the game’s deeper systems, there’s plenty of complexity and difficulty — Endless Space 2 just makes it easier to get there.
Conflict is everywhere in Endless Space 2, as it is in all 4X games, but combat isn’t the highlight here. Many factions demand that you act aggressively or at least defend yourself in quite a few fights, but the systems that set Endless Space 2 apart mostly concern how you run things on the home front. Rather than being one monolithic civilization in the game, you play as a complex faction full of infighting and political disagreements. As a whole, your empire might be militaristic or a bunch of pacifists, interested in hoarding wealth or spreading it as far as possible. But within that, it’s made up of opposed political parties, each with their own preferences and strong opinions on how they think society should run. Keeping them in check is just as important as defending your territory, and one unexpected election result can throw your corner of the galaxy into turmoil for years.
Endless Space 2 doesn’t reinvent 4X strategy, but it does a great job of bringing character to the extremely complex genre while teaching players how it all works. For all the satisfaction of administrating a planet-spanning empire, the best parts of the game are the small touches that make each of its civilizations feel strange and different, while they deal with political rifts that feel at least somewhat familiar. If there’s ever a game that could convince 4X nonbelievers to give the genre a try, Endless Space 2 might be it.
