Welcome to our round up of the best 4X games on PC. Ever since the term '4X' was coined for the original Master of Orion, we’ve been Exploring, Expanding, Exploiting, and Exterminating our way through fantasy, history, and the depths of space. The genre has seen something of a renaissance in the last half decade, and while it’s great to have options, there’s also a lot to sort through. 

Not every 4X game is for everyone, so we’ve taken a look at all the major players to enter the stage in recent years and why you might, or might not, want to play them.

Dominions 5

Let's start with an unusual one. Dominions 5 is a 4X game about warring gods and their fantastical armies. You start by designing your deity, which could be a raging dragon or a mystical inanimate rock. Turn by turn you muster armies, recruit wizards to research apocalyptic magic spells, and fend off the attentions of other pretender gods. 

Dominions' visuals are... old school, let's say. You need to dig into the community and get some decent user-made maps but, once you've done that and scanned the manual you'll find a detailed strategy game that generates mad stories. I'm used to controlling spaceships and cavalry in 4X games, only in Dominions can I send an alliance of satyrs, wyverns, elemental spirits and ghosts off to fight some atlanteans. The AI is easily to beat once you have played a few games but the game thrives in multiplayer about other people.

Who's it for: Players happy to get past primitive visuals to unpick a detailed magic system and command dazzling and varied factions.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

A unique blend of 4X and RTS set in space, Rebellion is more fast-paced than most of the games on this list. It’s a standalone expansion, but also the definitive version of Sins currently available—so you don’t need to worry about grabbing the original to have a good time.

Who it’s for: Existing RTS fans who want to branch out into 4X, and players who like to get to the action fast and maintain a challenging pace. This one may be a little chaotic for the turn-based armchair generals of the world.

Fallen Enchantress 

This turn-based fantasy 4X revolves heavily around Hero characters and a faction leader called a sovereign who can go on RPG-style quests and be used in many aspects of empire management, not just limited to combat.

Who it’s for: Classic RPG fans will feel right at home with the quest system, and the customizable fantasy armies are likely to appeal to tabletop miniature painters of the Warhammer and Hordes persuasions.

Endless Space

One of the most intriguing aspects of the universe in which Endless Space (and its sequel) are set is the mythology behind it. Much revolves around the ancient empire known as the Endless, and the quasi-magical Dust they left behind.Who it’s for: A good all-around entry level space 4X that will also challenge experienced players, and holds added appeal for anyone who wants to unravel facets of a mysterious, pre-written story while dominating the galaxy. It’s also available for beans now that ES2 is in Early Access.

Sid Meier’s Civilization 5 

If we could crown a king of 4X, Sid Meier’s Civilization would have little competition for that throne. Taking one of an armload of civilizations from the ancient to the modern age while competing for various victory conditions, this is the series that has championed the genre for years.

Who it’s for: Even with Civ VI out, Civilization V frequently goes on sale for absurdly low prices, so if you’re not sure you’ll like the series and just want to try it out without dropping the full $60 on the new one, by all means take advantage. It’s certainly an excellent, entertaining game in its own right, particularly with the Brave New World expansion. Plus, the mod scene is excellent.

Europa Universalis IV 

While most of the other games on this list put you in a randomly-generated world or galaxy, EU4 is built on an extremely in-depth recreation of Earth between the years of 1444 and 1821. You can lead any nation on the planet, from France to the Comanche, through centuries of colonization, exploration, and technological discovery.

Who it's for: Considering it’s the highest review score I’ve ever given out, it’s almost easier who to ask who it’s not for. The complexity of the simulation and sprawl of interlocking systems for trade, war, and diplomacy might intimidate newcomers to 4X and grand strategy, but EU4’s interface and tooltips do an excellent job of helping you wade into the shallow end and get a feel for the water.

Eador: Masters of the Broken World 

Taking the role of a demigod battling others of your ilk for control of the shards (all that’s left of the eponymous broken world), Eador is another 4X game that’s hard to categorize. It features 4X, RPG, and board game-like, tactical turn-based elements.

Who it’s for: Eador’s greatest strength might just be how different its setup is compared to most other 4X games. The breaking of the game world into shards, which each behave like a smaller version of a strategic map in a game like Total War or Crusader Kings, means you’ll enjoy it if you’re looking for something a bit different than the standard map conquest or flipping largely static planets in a vast expanse of space to your color.

Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth

Taking the Civilization formula into space, Beyond Earth casts you as the head of one of the first human colonies on an alien planet. You guide its development and compete with other colonial concerns using mechanics that will feel highly familiar if you’ve played Civ 5.Who it’s for: Beyond Earth is, in my opinion, a bit of a misstep in the Civ series, lacking elements that drive its siblings to success. While it has some cool things going for it, like a nonlinear tech system that allows you to evolve your futuristic technology in a number of distinct directions, it ultimately feels like a high budget Civ 5 mod that didn’t hold my interest for more than a couple dozen hours.

Endless Legend

Similar to its sci-fi counterpart Endless Space, the unfolding fantasy epic of Endless Legend takes place in a richly realized world with character and backstory to spare. Civilizations are highly customizable, and each presents distinct opportunities.

Who it’s for: We awarded Endless Legend a Commendation for Design in 2014. It has its foundation in the time-tested elements that make 4X what it is, but is unafraid to build on and remix them in ways that will especially interest long-time players who might be suffering from genre fatigue. Beyond that, anyone just wanting to explore a rich and interesting new fantasy setting won’t be at all disappointed.

Warlock II: The Exiled

Warlock is pretty close to what I’d imagine a well-done fantasy overhaul of Civilization might look like. It makes good use of neutral factions on the map to be more than just an early-game annoyance.

Who it’s for: Due to its relative simplicity and adherence to genre norms, this is a fairly welcoming first step for those wanting to branch out into fantasy 4X from other subgenres. It also has a sharper sense of humor than its more dour, grandiose counterparts like Endless Legend and Fallen Enchantress.

Distant Worlds: Universe

Allowing you to discover the stars in a pausable, real-time galaxy, Distant Worlds features one of the more robust models of a civilian economy (which can run on auto-pilot while you handle the political stuff) I’ve seen in a 4X game.

Who it’s for: Aside from just being an overall well-designed 4X, Distant Worlds will have a special appeal for those who like to focus on exploration. This is because it really succeeds where so many other sci-fi games have failed: it makes space feel really, really big.

Star Ruler 2

Similar to Sins of a Solar Empire, Star Ruler 2 is a bit of a 4X/RTS hybrid. It boasts quite in-depth systems for diplomacy and planetary development.

Who it’s for: This one skews toward the higher end of the complexity scale, and the sheer amount of fine control you have over its systems might be intimidating to newcomers. If you’re looking for gigantic, animated space battles, however, it may be worth your time to wrap your head around it.

Galactic Civilizations III 

Galactic Civilizations has cemented itself as the other 'blockbuster' contender in the 4X space, and GalCiv III is the most polished and extravagant entry to date.Who it’s for: If you’re sick of cookie-cutter victory conditions, one of the most positive changes GalCiv 3 made to the series’ formula was turning victory into a set of objectives you can pick and choose from. So even two different runs going for the same victory condition might look different.

Stellaris

Stellaris takes Paradox’s historical formula and blasts it to the stars where you’ll manage military, political, and economic aspects of your space empire.Who it’s for: Fans of historical grand strategy will feel at home in Stellaris, but for those used to more traditional 4X, it takes some getting used to. There’s a much heavier focus on politics, with elements like your form of government and the will of your citizens playing a large role.

Master of Orion

The most recent in the lauded Master of Orion series doesn’t do much we haven’t seen before, but it plays the old hits well and wraps them in stratospheric production value and some big name sci-fi voice talent.Who it’s for: Despite being so new, MoO is bog standard 4X. Not much has changed here since its 1996 predecessor other than the graphics. That does make it a nice starting point for total newbies, but the real draw is hearing John de Lancie lament the war that's brewing between his empire and yours.

Endless Space 2

Endless Space 2 builds on some of the best ideas of its predecessor, this time crafting more unique story content for each of the distinct interstellar empires.Who it’s for: It shouldn’t surprise you at this point in the list that connoisseurs of interactive storytelling should jump for anything that says 'Endless' on it. Endless Space 2 is also arguably a better starting point for newcomers than the first one, as it’s made lots of improvements to your ability to access important, contextual information.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

Civilization VI emerges from its chrysalis to reveal the most transformative and fresh take on the series in its storied history. Also, it has Sean Bean.

Who it’s for: Just about anyone who enjoys turn-based strategy. It presents lots of new challenges and opportunities even for the most weathered series veterans, but also remains among the most inviting 4X games for first-timers.

For those of you who don't yet have enough Humble Bundles in your lives, the new one from Stardock is really quite good. For a minimum of $1, you'll get Sorcerer King: Rivals, Fallen Enchantress, The Political Machine 2016, and The Corporate Machine. That's a really good deal for a dollar. But it's only the beginning. 

Beating the average price, which for now is still well south of $6, and you'll also claim Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, Galactic Civilizations 3, and Fallen Enchantress Ultimate Edition. And for $15, Offworld Trading Company, Galactic Civilization 3: Crusade Expansion Pack, and Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation will be piled on top.

It's obviously a strategy-heavy bundle, but it's a heck of a deal if that's your cup of fun. Picking it up will also net you ten percent off of a new Humble Monthly subscription, if you're not already signed up to that program. The Humble Stardock Bundle will be available until October 24. 

Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.

Sniper Elite studio Rebellion Developments filed a lawsuit against Ironclad Games in 2012 over Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, claiming that the title infringed on Rebellion's trademark. A judge dismissed the case more than a year ago, ruling that the title qualifies as "expressive speech" and is thus protected by the First Amendment, and if you're wondering why you didn't hear anything about it until now, it's because Ironclad opted to not to publicize the victory in an effort to "let bygones be bygones." But now Rebellion has launched new legal action against the game in Canada and the U.K., and that's prompted Ironclad to speak up.

In a blog post that went up last week, Ironclad Games Director Blair Fraser spoke in detail about the studio's First Amendment victory over Rebellion, explaining what led to the legal action, the nature of its defense and the potential impact of the decision on the gaming industry as a whole. What he didn't make clear is why the studio opted not to speak about the dismissal of the suit, which actually happened in May 2013, until now.

"We don't like to talk about the business side of things in public. The focus should be on the games themselves," Fraser told us. "We never brought up the cease and desist. We never talked about being served. We never commented when the story broke in the news. We never spoke when we won the case. We kept silent for over two years. However, last week we decided to break our silence."

Fraser said Ironclad decided to speak out now for two reasons: moral and strategic. "For years now there has been a growing sense in our company that trademark issues in the gaming industry were getting out of hand and that talking about our experience might help," he explained. "Our hope is that other developers will see this and be willing to explore, maintain and defend their freedom of expression without as much worry."

On the strategic side of the coin, he said that exposing this kind of behavior to the public can be a "powerful force" in its own right. "The gaming community is not simply content with buying the next cool widget regardless of who made it or how it was made," he continued. "Negative public response increases the cost of legal action to more than just legal fees - there is a public relations bill to pay on top. When we received confirmation last week that Rebellion Developments was taking this global we decided to direct attention to the facts and publicly available documents. We ll let the public decide how to interpret them."

Despite the decisive win in U.S. courts, differences in trademark law, precedents and various other factors means that a victory in Canada, the U.K. or anywhere else is far from a sure thing. Nonetheless, he has no interest in changing the name of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion in order to suit Rebellion's demands.

"I don t know why Star Wars: Rebellion was renamed to Star Wars: Supremacy in the U.K. but I ll quit my job before I ever let there be a Sins of a Solar Empire: Supremacy or any other bastardization," he said. "Everything in Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, including the gameplay, the lore, the cinematic, the logo, the factions, the research subjects, the capital ships, the Titans, and every single asset was designed to fit into the overarching theme of 'rebellion.' No other word in the English language comes even close."

But while he's not willing to give up the title, he is hopeful that something can be worked out. "The disappointing part is that if one of the Kingsley brothers had called us up on the phone from the start and discussed the matter in a polite and reasonable manner I think this would have turned out a lot different. As a means of introduction, having a third party send a letter containing threats, demands, and accusations can set things off on the wrong foot. I can see all the business hawks rolling their eyes at what they see as an overreaction to what I assume is par for the course, 'Lawyers will be lawyers and companies have to act aggressively to defend their trademarks or else risk losing them.' Well, that isn't how we do business," he said. "Surely, there is a better way to defend a trademark. Perhaps it s not too late to get back on the right foot."

If you've been looking for a reason to revisit 2011's SIns of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, might I tempt you with a fresh injection of Star Trek? Galaxy-class Federation starships? Borg Cubes? Klingon Vor'cha? Romulan... whatever it is Romulans drive? The Star Trek Armada III mod completely transforms Sins into Trek, with custom models, animations, effects, and technology.

The Armada 3 mod has been under space-construction for a couple of years, and recently went into beta. While there's still some tweaking and balancing happening behind the scenes, and plans for expansions in the future, version 1.0 already feels impressively polished. It can actually be a little hard to play sometimes because it's so much fun to just zoom in on ships and structures and admire the detail. When you do start to play, it actually feels less like a mod and more like a real Star Trek game.

Not everyone can drive the Enterprise! There are tons of other types of detailed spacecraft. Like this one!

The mod lets you play as one of four races. There's the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, and the Borg Collective. Not only does each side have its own UI theme (a nice touch) but they have their own strengths and weaknesses. The Federation can dominate the markets with their economic know-how, but their construction times (presumably due to Federation red-tape) can leave you short a few ships when the space-poop hits the fan. Klingons, meanwhile, have incredibly powerful weapons, but lag a bit behind in infrastructure and economy. The Borg, obviously, are efficient and powerful, but their weakness is... well, they don't actually have one. Watch out for those Borg. They're bad news. Romulans... well, they probably have some attributes, too!

Sending the fleet into warp, you even get the blue-flashy-light-wink. I'm sure it has a technical name.

You can also summon some of the heroes from the Star Trek universe. Sisko, Picard, and Janeway can pilot your federation ships in a pinch, if you've unlocked the ability to call on them through your research tree. Klingon heroes include Kurn, whose brother was Worf, and Chancellor Gowron, who was killed by Worf. Wait. Is Star Trek implying that all Klingons know each other, or am I imagining things? I didn't play as the Borg, so I'm not sure who their heroes are, but they're probably some terrifying robot monsters. And, as is probably clear by now, I don't give a single hot toot about the Romulans.

Photon torpedoes, disruptor beams, shield effects... it all looks great and true to the fiction.

Being able to call in actual Star Trek characters is cool, but it's even cooler to hear their actual voices in the game, provided by sound snippets from the TV shows. I know it sounds cheesy, but it fits in amazingly well. Speaking of sound, the mod has a great soundtrack consisting of remastered tracks from Armada 1 and 2, as well as from Starfleet Command 3. And, the ships, the weapons, and the rest of the game's sound effects go a long way to transforming Sins into an authentic-feeling Trek universe.

Smooth head or lumpy head? The choice is yours.

The small touches are nice, too. Resources consist of credits, dilithium, and tritanium, which, as Wikipedia tells me, are things you would like to have a lot of in the Star Trek universe. The menus, the UI, even the tiniest of icons and emblems look great. As I said above, it doesn't feel like a mod as much as an actual Star Trek game. Even random pirate ships are modeled after space vessels from the show. It's pretty clear the team behind the mod are fans who really want to get the details right.

Research means more Star Trek ships, and the ability to summons Star Trek heroes.

I played a few rounds as the Federation, and a couple as the Klingons. In terms of balance, I'll just say that I lost no matter which side I was playing, so at least it's fair (I am pretty terrible at strategy). I definitely recommend it if you have Sins: Rebellion, and if you don't, it's only $40 on Steam. Wait, $40? Still? Well, wishlist it, then, and snap it up in a sale. If you're a strategy fan and Trekkie, this mod is your jam.

There's even a little custom intro movie. For you to watch once and then skip forever.

Installation: Grab the latest version (and hotfix, where applicable) here. It's self-installing. When it's done, just boot the game up and you'll be ready to make it so.

It s been a long time since we heard from Ironclad s MOBA Sins of a Dark Age, but it s still alive and kicking and has just landed on Steam Early Access for $5. That s a steal compared to the $25 you had to pay previously for a founder edition and access to the closed beta. However, when it s ready, Sins of a Dark Age will be free-to-play.
Ironclad is known mostly for Sins of a Solar Empire, which is one of our favorite strategy games ever. When Ironclad first revealed Sins of a Dark Age it billed it as a MOBA and real-time strategy hybrid, but has since dropped the game s commander role. Last we heard, Sins of a Dark Age was leaning more in the role-playing game direction by giving players PvE quests, which can trigger special events, earn special rewards, or harm the enemy team.
Judging by the most recent trailer, it seems that Ironclad is sticking to that direction, though Dark Age is described as an action strategy game on its Steam page.
Buying the game will get you one of three bundles which contains a rare skin, uncommon piece of Hero Gear, Rare Skin Recipe, Uncommon Materials, and Common Materials. Ironclad says Sins of a Dark Age will be in Early Access for months, not years, but for now it comes with the usual warnings about missing content, bugs, and so on, so proceed with caution.

Last week, I put out a universal distress call, pleading for some PC news with which to battle the approaching armada of console minutia. This morning, I get in to find that somebody has left a howdytron on our galactic garbleblab. Translating the message, I find... an advertisement for squirdleprong enlargement pills. Stupid space spam. Oh well, that was a waste of time. In which case, we'll have to make do with these first Galactic Civilizations 3 screenshots.

Click to enlargenate.



Here we see the new diplomacy screen. As in GalCiv2, there are a number of options for trade negotiations, including tech, ships, starbases colonies and resources. That means the infamous Tom Francis "give me everything you own for 1 bc" insult tactic is still alive and well.



A Drengin Battleship. From the picture, it's impossible to tell how many guns it's carrying. My guess is: a lot.



The main map screen made its debut in our GalCiv III preview, but I'm reposting it here because it's where you'll be spending most of your time in-game. The UI has had a pretty significant overhaul, and seems to strike a pretty nice balance between depth and readability.



Finally, a Krynn Starship, likely packed full of television and mind control.

For more details, and to here from the game's developers, check out our recent Galactic Civilizations 3 preview. You can also check out some of the game's concept art from the GalCiv 3 website, and see the announcement trailer below.

Ironclad Games' Sins of a Solar Empire came out in 2008, and the space-faring real-time strategy game has since had three expansions—the last of which was Rebellion in 2012. Its newest DLC is a much smaller affair, but still adds new content for only a little bit of money.

The Stellar Phenomena pack adds six new deep space anomalies and 11 random events to the existing game. According to Ironclad's news post, the DLC lets players "exploit what resources remain in these dangerous sectors while you can," which sounds like it's priming the game's player base for a future in unsustainable oil-drilling. The anomalies include starship graveyards and antimatter fountains—a bite-sized bit of content that will only set you back $5.

Earlier in the year, Ironclad's Blair Fraser lamented the status of the RTS as a niche, going so far as to call it "done." But Ironclad still supports its five year-old RTS and Civilization IV lead designer Soren Johnson just announced a new studio dedicated to RTSs. "Niche?" Maybe. But that's not stopping developers from succeeding as RTS-only developers. Nor is it stopping them from starting fresh in 2013.

Stardock Entertainment has just announced that Fallen Enchantress producer/designer Derek Paxton, who will take over as vice president of games development and production. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell will remain with the company, shifting his focus toward the software and business side of the operation. We had a chance to chat with Derek about his time in the industry so far, what kinds of changes he'd like to see, and what's next for Stardock.

PC Gamer: How did you end up at Stardock?

Derek Paxton: I worked in business software. I worked for a company called Novell for 12 years. In my off hours, I was making video games. It’s always been a passion of mine. Playing video games, making video games. I made a mod for Civilization IV called Fall From Heaven, which was a fantasy version of Civilization. I had a lot of fun creating it, and It did very well.

Stardock, meanwhile, has a long history of making great strategy games, and at the time they were working on Elemental: War of Magic. They finished that at about the same time I finished Fall From Heaven. I was looking around thinking what I would do next. I enjoyed what I was doing, but I liked my job too, and I’d never thought I could get into game development as a real career. There are a lot of people that want to be in game development and not nearly enough jobs for everybody.
"If I was ever going to go make games, this is the kind of place where I’d like to do it."
Stardock had just released Elemental, and it didn’t go well. They wanted to change some things. It got Brad Wardell, the CEO, to step back and take a look at, “All right, what are we doing? How are we doing it? We want to keep making games, but if we’re going to do that, let’s do it right.” So he contacted me and said, “Hey, why don’t you come up and see the studio and chat with us and see what we’re doing?” I only lived a couple of hours from there, so I came out and hung out with the guys for a little bit and was amazed at what they were doing. The thing that really impressed me was, Elemental wasn't a great game. It didn't meet Stardock’s quality bar, what they expected out of their games. And so Brad went to the community and said, “You know what? This game wasn't good enough. It isn't as good as it should be. It doesn’t meet our quality standards. We believe that if you buy a game from Stardock, you should never regret that decision. So what I’m going to do is, the next two games in the series, you’re going to get them for free. We’ll make good on this and make sure you never regret a Stardock purchase.”

I was just floored by that. I don’t know if that’s a particular brand of craziness that would lead you to do that, but I was impressed by it. I said, “If I was ever going to go make games, this is the kind of place where I’d like to do it, where the company really does stand behind its games.” He offered me a job at the time, to be a producer and designer of those two games—the next games in the Elemental series—and to come in and help them make those and get those teams running. I jumped at the opportunity to come in and take what I’d been doing in my free time and had been my passion and do it as a career.



What have been your main responsibilities on the Fallen Enchantress games?

DP: On Fallen Enchantress and Legendary Heroes, I was the producer and designer, so everything from getting the design together… At Stardock, it isn't like, “This is what one guy says, so that’s what we do.” It’s a very collaborative environment. One of our sayings is that everybody is on the design team. But we still need a lead designer who can say, “I like your ideas. Those are all great ideas. But they aren’t right for this game. We can’t choose everything. This is the way we’re going to go for this game.”

That was my responsibility. Working with Brad was fantastic, too, because he would pitch ideas, but at the end of the day he would still let me make that call. You can have two ideas and they’re both good ideas, but only one is good for the particular bullseye we’re trying to hit with that game. So I was responsible for the design side, making sure the design was good and the game was fun, and I was the producer as well, making sure that everybody understood what they were doing, why they were doing it, when they were going to do it, and what our final goal was.

With your new position, which of Brad’s former responsibilities will you be taking over?

DP: As head of the game studio, my responsibility is to manage everybody here on the team. Brad wears a lot of hats. He’s the CEO of the company. He’s my boss. There are a lot of things that Stardock does. We’ll be talking about more things we have coming down the pipe in the next few weeks. But for me it’s taking care of the Stardock Entertainment side—anything to do with gaming. Hiring people, managing the various teams we have, and making sure that they’re all taken care of so that Brad can focus on more big picture stuff.

What are the biggest changes that you would like to make with Stardock going forward?

DP: That’s a good question. We have some things that we’re going to be announcing here that I can’t talk about yet… So that’s a very sneaky way to ask the question. I think that more of a focus on process… Brad’s always loved games, so he hired a few friends and had a small team—six, seven people—and they made Galactic Civilizations together. It was a side project alongside what Stardock did. If you have a small team, you don’t have to focus that much on communication or structure. The games didn't have dedicated producers or designers. The designer, typically Brad, was also the AI programmer who was doing UI design and a million other things.

The big change that I would like to make at Stardock is really organizing those roles. Once you have as many people as we have now, and as many different teams as we have now, making sure there’s a producer devoted to that job, somebody scheduling things out and talking to all the various people and seeing what can be done to make their jobs easier, really, producers are what allow the wheels to turn at companies. And that we have dedicated designers, so the designer isn't doing that as a side job along with something else. Someone, every day, should be playing the game and focusing on, “Is this fun? Is there a better way that we can do it?” That would probably be the biggest change that I’ll be making at Stardock.



Stardock has gone through ups and downs, in terms of publicity. What do you think the studio represents to the PC gaming community right now?

DP: I think that Stardock is in a unique position. We’re bigger than you’re typical indie. We’re smaller than a triple-A. We are privately owned. We self-publish everything. We’re not on store shelves. What that allows us to do is to create games that we love and that we’re passionate about. They may be more niche-y. We see lots of games that we could make, and some of them would frankly make more money than the games that we make. But we love the kind of games that we make.

So I feel like we can appeal to an audience that isn't necessarily getting addressed in the marketplace, by and large. That’s not to say that there’s no other company out there like Stardock. There is. There’s a wide variety. But I like that variety. I know where the business tends to go. You see the games that have $20 million, $50 million budgets. If you’re going to make a game of that size, you have to sell 2 - 5 million copies to break even. If you’re going to sell 2 million or 5 million copies of your game, there are certain things you have to do to appeal to that wide audience.

We make games with more reasonable budgets, and because of that, we don’t have to sell millions of copies. We can sell 200,000 copies of our games, and that means that we don’t have to go for that mainstream appeal. We can create more niche-y games that have more minutiae or details, the kind of games that we love. We fully understand that not everybody loves them, but we do think that there is an audience out there that loves that and is looking for it, and it isn't necessarily being addressed by some of the bigger releases out there. I don’t think that we shouldn't have those bigger releases. I play games like that too. I just think we should have a mix. That’s the beauty of the PC community.

Would you say that you’re happy with where you stand in the PC community and how you’re perceived right now, or are there other places you’d like to be in that sense?

DP: I’m really proud of what Stardock does. One of my biggest moments at Stardock was… Because we don’t have an external publisher and because we’re not publicly traded, we don’t have quarterly revenue that we have to post and that affects our stock price. We don’t need to be on store shelves at Target on November 12 or whatever date. We’re able to take the time with our games that we feel we need in order to make a great game.
"If you do the game and you do it right, the business case will come afterward."
One of my hardest days at Stardock was when I was working on Fallen Enchantress. Brad had originally hired me to make those first two games after War of Magic, and there were a lot of things I wanted to do to make that final game. It was too big to do in one year. He’d spec’d out one year for the first game, one year for the second game, and then we were going to give this game away for free to lots of people. So I’d broken the total design into two pieces. One dealt with everything outside your empire, and then the other year, that second expansion, would be everything inside your empire—the economy changes and the faction differentiation and all that stuff.

We started working on that first piece and got it all in. We sent it out to our MVP community and they said, “Wow, we really like the new stuff, but it still feels a lot like War of Magic.” Because all the stuff inside your empire hadn't changed. I played it and realized, “You know what? Unfortunately, they’re absolutely right.” So I went to Brad and said, “Hey, you know that game we’re giving out for free, and then there’s the second game we’re giving out for free? I can’t give it to you and have it be good enough in one year. I want to take two years for the first game, and then after that we’re still going to need to make another game and give that out for free too.” And Brad said, “Go ahead and do it. That’s fine. Just make a great game.”

It’s fantastic. I love working at a place where making a great game is the goal. We've learned that lesson over and over again from GalCiv, which is a game that continues to sell incredibly well. If you do the game and you do it right, the business case will come afterward. It’ll make up for itself. But if you make a bad game, you hit your release day, and then it just disappears off the face of the earth. I’m very proud of everything Stardock’s done. Making hard decisions like that… They’re not in the public view. Most people don’t see that. They weren't in that meeting with Brad and me. But it does really impact and show in our products, I think.





Are there any other studios or studio runners out there that you admire or might want to emulate in your new position?
"I want us to be the Telltale of strategy games."
DP: I love Telltale. Telltale is an amazing company. I don’t know anybody there and I haven’t seen the way that they work inside, so I can’t speak to any of that, but the thing I really love about Telltale is that they've committed to one particular genre of game. They've been very successful at it. But it hasn't caused them to go crazy with, “We had a game that we made for $3 million and it did well, so now we’re going to make a game for $30 million. Hey, that did well. Now we’re going to make a game for $90 million,” until one of the games doesn't sell well and they go bust and shut down the studio. That’s a trend that I see happening way too much in the game industry.

knows exactly what they do. They’re constantly working to deliver better and better versions of it through their various games. They always remain true to what they are. They have a sustainable business model. They keep coming back and creating memorable games. They’re the company that I look to most frequently as a kind of model for Stardock. I want us to be the Telltale of strategy games.

What do you see as being the biggest pitfalls that a studio like Stardock has to watch out for these days?

DP: We ride between the indie games and the triple-A games. I think the biggest temptation I see for studios like us is that you see success from your game, and you have the budget to go ahead and make a $20 million or $30 million game, and you think, “Wow, imagine what we could do with a game like that,” and you go for it. That’s not what Stardock is interested in doing. We don’t want to put all of our eggs in one basket. We have a lot of games that are in the pipeline right now, and we’d much rather do many games that we’re passionate about. We don’t believe that you need $30 million to make a game great.

We want to focus on the gameplay side. So resisting that temptation is a big thing for companies like Stardock. I think that’s something we have under control. Things that we do have to keep an eye out for on a day to day basis… Indies have certain advantages. They’re very mobile. They can try all kinds of crazy stuff.

I was at PAX last week, and I spent almost all my time in the indie sections—both the iOS side, looking at all those little games, and the PC side. Just seeing the creative things that they can do once they’re unshackled from, “Well, we gotta sell 5 million copies, so let’s make sure we have a design and a model that we know will work and we know players will buy en masse.” They don’t care about that. They’re going to make games that they love. We try to draw on that for our games.

But we always have to keep an eye on it. Indies can do that better than us. They’re more flexible than we are. What we have that indies don’t is some real marketing muscle. We have a player base that knows us. We have some name recognition. We try to leverage all the things that the triple-As have, where they have community and PR and information about them in the media. When they put a game out, you’re going to take notice because of who they are. We try to draw on that from the triple-A side, to get those benefits.

In competing with the triple-A games, it’s the amazing polish—the millions of dollars worth of graphics and trailers that often cost a lot more than our entire games do. We aren't going to be able to compete at that level. When you’re making a game for a more reasonable budget, you can’t spend millions of dollars on CGI stuff. We believe that doesn't make the game any better. All those millions of dollars don’t necessarily add up to more fun. We’re hoping that our players believe that as well.



If all of your dreams come true, and you meet all of your goals and then some, what does Stardock look like five years from now?

DP: Stardock isn't a huge company. We do a lot of things here to make sure we stay under 50 people. I don’t have any desire for the company to be a 400-person operation. I would much rather stay small and keep creating great games. I’d like our back catalog to support our burn rate. We’re able to hire the people we want to hire and have our back catalog sales cover all of our costs, so that we can then just take all the time we need with our games. If it takes another six months, that’s an easy decision, because we’re making a profit every month as it is. We can do that.

Thanks to Derek for taking the time to talk to us. For more, check out Stardock's official site.

On August 16 - this Friday - Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes will emerge from the magic interpipes of the World Wide Web and sit on store shelves in a fancy-pants box. In celebration, Stardock have put out a new video showing off Fallen Enchantress' fantasy-flavoured turn based battles, empire-building, dragons and giant evil glowing Python fiends. I hate those guys.

Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes is a standalone expansion for Elemental: Fallen Enchantress, itself a re-worked and polished version of Elemental: War of Magic, which came out back in 2010. It adds two extra factions, reworks the way you hire heroes (formerly they'd loiter on the map like super-powerful hobos), adds more magic, more maps, more monsters. Anything beginning with "M" has received attention. They've even put in a new mevelling mystem!

As the trailer mentions, there's a reversible poster in the box that you can flip according to mood. It's the first time that Legendary Heroes will be available to buy in physical form in Europe, so if you do pick up a copy, be sure to hold it close to make it feel all warm and appreciated. You'll find the trailer below after the gong.

GONG.

Who would've thought you could buy entire new planets for $5? Ah, video games. Today you can do just that with Forbidden Worlds, the first expansion pack to Sins of a Solar Empire's excellent expandalone addition to the franchise, Rebellion.

This time around, that war between loyalists and rebels is still waging—but who has time for drama when there are four new planet types to ruthlessly exploit for resources? There's also a new planet specialization system, giving you the option to expand your planets' social or industrial output. Would you rather a cultured planet, or one that basically exists as a production line for new ships? Additionally, 15 new research subjects and 40 discoverable planet bonuses are added to Rebellion's already-sprawling galaxy.

Forbidden Planets is available through Sins of a Solar Empire's own website, as well as via Steam—because the galaxy can only go without a fresh supply of sin for so long.