I'd probably call this game a cult classic, but I don't even think the following it has would extend that far. Which is a shame, considering how epic this game is. Honestly I can say if you want a 4X space strategy game, get this, and ignore the sequel.

Why? You might ask, surely the sequel is better! Wrong, it had a terrible, terrible launch, released in a bad unfinished state, to the point where even clicking the new game button would crash it. Which isn't the developers fault, i'd like to add, they suffered the same problem that plague's most games today, the publisher forced them to push it out the door.

But back to the original topic. SotS is addictive and more importantly, fun. Six races to choose from, each with their own quirks and style of play. You can set up a galaxy with a number of options, ranging from amount of stars, to the galaxy shape, the size of the stars themselves, the distance between them... basicaly you can create any game you like and choose who you want to play and play against.

It has a randomised research tree, every game. So don't get comfortable with those awesome beam weapons, come the next game, you might be unlucky and not get that tech. There are some essential techs that every race gets, every game, like the very basic laser or mass driver tree. But each race has different probabilities of getting access to the much more advanced technologies that are in the various trees.

The empire management is... basic, you colonise planets and they develop on their own, terraforming till they are suitable for your race, and building infrastructure. Some planets are so hostile that you can't even colonise them, although there are technologies that you might get access to that can improve the hazard they impose.

Ship design is another interesting and fun part of the experience, as you pick different sections and weapons to put on your ships. Maybe you'd like a ship fully loaded with missles? Sure, go ahead, just be mindful that if the AI has a lot of point defense, that ship will be nearly pointless. So a lot of designing can revolve around what gets thrown against you, or what you come up against.

Then, theres the random encounters... which is an option you can fiddle with in the game settings when you make the galaxy. Basically, it is what it says on the tin, a random encounter can range from a asteroid shower, which can wipe out a new colony, to getting attacked by slavers. But there are special types of encounters, which often turn out to be dangerous and can take massive fleets to stop. I'll give you an example of a grand menace I encountered in a game I played, The Peacekeeper. This dude comes into the map and travels to the center of the galaxy and makes a speech, telling you to stop all hostilities with each other and stop prodcution of war ships. Break these rules while he's on the map, and he attacks you. Sounds reasonable, right? Wrong, this guy is... holy mother of god frightening, he will literally tear your fleets to shreds, no matter what tech you have. Luckily, he doesn't discriminate and will love wailing on the AI as much as you if they step out of line.

All in all, Sword of the Stars is an impressive, and addictive game, that is starting to show it's age graphically, but the fun factor and replayability keeps me coming back to it. I deffinitely reccommend this title to any 4X fans, and especially to space strategy fans. It's an easy to pick up game, thats difficult to master.

Truly an amazing game. It is really interesting, you never run out of things to do. The only problem I had with the game is that it takes a bit to master... The tutorial is not very detailed, but with a few guides, you should have no problem.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone that wants to play a good strategy game.

Cheap price and complex mechanics with a high degree of match customisation options. This is a game that fans of Masters of Orion should enjoy.

I had more fun learning how to play the game and optimising my strategies than acutally managing an empire. Here's a tip: read up on the begginner's guide/wiki (http://sots.rorschach.net/Beginner%27s_Guide) before you start playing. It will teach you more than the tutorial ever will.

I recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of turn based 4x games with real-time combat.

+/+ Unique take on research.
+/+ Simple ship building UI.
+/+ First encounters with alien species is handled very well.
+/+ All six species have unique play styles and lore as well as provide unique opponents to fight.
+/+ Micromanagement decreases with game length.
+/+ full 3 dimensional star maps (with many choices included a ‘2D’ star map for those who prefer 2D).
+/+ Games are very customizable.

+/- Turn-based star map with real-time battles (kind of like Total War in space).
+/- Economy management is relatively simple.
+/- Graphics are nothing to write home about (not that important for a 4x strategy game IMO).

-/- SotS lacks a sufficient tutorial and the UI fails to present all relevant information.
-/- Sound effects range from average to bad. Some may even find them offensive.
-/- Lacks steam features.

Verdict: 8.8/10. SotS is a very impressive and unique take on the 4x genre. The developer managed to create a game design that scales the micromanagement with empire size. The ship design is one of the best I’ve seen in a 4x game (Star Ruler would be my only contender). The game has a steep learning curve and requires some forum reading/let’s plays to gain a moderate understanding of the underlying mechanics. If you are willing to invest the time, you will find a lot to love in Sword of the Stars.

A galactic civilization sim with fleet combat and multi system resource management. For an older game it holds up amazingly well in its detail and the gravity of the battles. I especially recommend the complete collection for the variety of races and the ships relative to their race. Various scenarios and challenge levels and even third party gallactic threats loom when enough time passes.
Internet multiplayer is down so hamachi or another LAN program will be needed. Oh, there's also simultaneous turns where the rounds progress when everyone concludes their turn as opposed to waiting for other players to finish before ever starting.

There's even a wiki for the races if you're into that kinda additional info.

So my friend introduced me to this game as he wanted more friends to play with. It was an old game (relatively) and I expected a few laughs and not much else. I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask for Civilization in space. I didn't ask for all the lore and all the different races and ships. I didn't ask for interesting space combat and with ship by ship construction and pretty high level strategy. They even forced multiple maps down my throat with a tech tree that is randomly generated from game to game! It was horrible. Terrible. I didn't want this.

On a more serious note. The game is fun, as usual especially with friends. Has a pretty good learning curve, interesting races with tons of lore to read. Every race plays different and is interesting in what they are good and not good at. Good mechanics and has actual space battle where you control the ships in 3d space. It can be a bit daunting at times and for some people it might get boring if things get slow. However I very much liked this game. Certainly gave me some sleepless nights staying up to play it. Graphics are solid. No real complaints, though games do tend to go very long.