Every species will have a unique combination of preferred government style, industry, and religious beliefs which will affect how they interact with other races – a devout race will likely not get along with an atheist one, Pacifists will not get along with Warmongers etc. The unique traits and play styles of each race quite drastically shape your gameplay experience, so it’s best to try out a few different races and find the one that suits you.
Who reference, and the game expresses its difficulty settings with a wit that will make any history buff smile – describing Easy mode, the game says “If this was Wellington, we’d all be speaking French.“The unique traits and play styles of each race quite drastically shape your gameplay experience” Sci-fi fans will spot the occasional Kurt Vonnegut or Dr. It’s synthy and soothing, but upbeat enough to keep you alert. Getting back to the planetarium aesthetic we discussed, the soundtrack would go perfectly with an electric light show. Still, audio is definitely a strong suit for Endless Space. While the game features some nice voice-over introducing each species, not making the player read so much “how-to” should have been a higher priority, especially since the species backstories are ultimately just window dressing, due to the lack of a campaign.
Simply walking the player through a few turns would’ve been much more effective, and far less painful. First-time players are treated to long-winded, text-only explanations of the game’s every facet. Still, Endless Space is a game you’ll only like if you’re really into strategy games, and its woefully dry tutorial isn’t going to produce any converts.