This time last week, we learned of Endless Space 2 and Endless Legend's new Supremacy and Inferno expansions—both of which land today. This time this week, I'm here to tell you both games are getting a free weekend. 

From now through Sunday at 10am PST / 6pm BST, Endless Space 2 and Endless Legend are free to try (as are Amplitude's other games Dungeon of the Endless and the original Endless Space). More on that features in the trailer above. If you already own all of the developer's games, the free weekend's custom-made website and stretch goals might be of interest. 

Here's Amplitude with the skinny: 

On our free weekend website, we’ll be putting up Stretch Goals that will be unlocked based on the total number of hours played by our community, across all of our games. 

Last year, 240,000 participated in the free weekend, unlocking all six reward tiers in the process. This year, we're back with another Community Challenge!

Simply play Endless Legend, Dungeon of the Endless, or Endless Space 2 and reach 1 million hours of collective playtime to help the community unlock all the rewards, which include a Cravers Prime skin that was only available during Early Access, and as stretch goals, 6 additional fleet skins to unlock. 

Said free weekend website lives this way. 

If you fancy Endless Legend's new Inferno expansion, and Endless Space 2's new Supremacy add-on, here's some fresh in-game footage. First, Inferno: 

And second, Supremacy:

Both expansions are available on Steam, and cost £9.89/$11.69 (ten percent off till August 30) each; or £17.58/$ 20.78 (20 percent off) when purchased together.  

You wait all day for a Fire Ship and/or Dreadnought then two come along at once. Amplitude Studios has unveiled new "major" expansions for both Endless Space 2 and Endless Legend. Both are due on August 2. 

Which is one week from today. Lovely. Let's have some trailers, then we'll talk to the nuts and bolts. First, Endless Legend Inferno.

Second, Endless Space 2 Supremacy.

Working alongside NGD Studios—the folk responsible for the Master of Orion reboot—Amplitude has added the Kapaki, a Lava Biome and Dust Eclipses to Endless Legend via Inferno. Forced to leave their native volcanic homeland, the former are determined to set up shop among the ash, fire and ruin and are billed as a "crafty new faction of tinkers and inventors."

The fiery landscape isn't exactly brimming with life, but is ripe in industry, science, dust and volcanic anomalies—which is where Dust Eclipses come in. 

"In these new events, you’ll notice the skies darken and the atmosphere become thick with Dust," explains publisher Sega. "Now, in normal conditions, this would be a pain, but Auriga is special, and these Dust infusions will create short-lived 'Dust Confluxes' all over the map, bestowing a temporary boon to whichever army reaches them first."

Onto Endless Space 2, and The Hissho mark Supremacy's newest major faction. Having first featured in the original ES, the group's central feature is Keii, "or honor", that powers special abilities and can boost systems and fleets mid-battle. Keii is replenished through combat, which leads Sega to say: "space is about get a little bit rowdier." The Hissho also bring minor faction Illo to fight—machines said to be "hell-bent" on eliminating the weakest species of war.  

Supremacy also brings with it a new ship type for all factions. Here's more on The Behemoths: 

Ever wished for a gigantic ship that was customizable to your specific purposes? Wish no more! These gigantic ships are remnants of the mysterious Endless era, providing significant economic or scientific boosts, and can be customized into “Obliterator”, “Juggernaut”, and “Citadel” specializations. The Hissho start the game with one they’ve just awoken, and the rest of the players can catch up through a cooperative quest. 

Again, both Endless Space 2 Supremacy and Endless Legend Inferno land on August 2. Available on Steam, pre-orders cost £9.89/$11.69 (ten percent off) each, or £17.58/$ 20.78 (20 percent) when purchased together.   

Like the countless Humble Bundles that have come before it, the new Humble Strategy Bundle offers a selection of good games for just $1: In this case, Dungeon of the Endless, the Endless Space Collection, Planetary Annihilation: Titans, and Company of Heroes 2 – Whale and Dolphin Conservation Charity Pattern Pack. That last one requires Company of Heroes 2, but that's okay because it's a full-on charity gig anyway: "All of the associated Relic / Sega revenue will be donated to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation charity," as its Steam page states. 

Moving on, paying more than the average price will also unlock the Empire: Total War Collection, Endless Legend – Classic Collection and the Endless Legend – Tempest DLC, and 66 percent off of Total War: Warhammer, which drops the price to $20 until May 24.   

Finally, we get to the $12 price point, which adds Endless Space 2, Tooth and Tail, and the Tooth and Tail soundtrack to the collection. Anyone who spends at least $1 will get ten percent off their first month on a new Humble Monthly subscription, and everyone, even those who spend nothing at all, can claim an exclusive Flag and Camo, 250 Doubloons, and three days of premium account time in the free-to-play World of Warships.   

Funds raised by this Humble Strategy Bundle will go to support WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, which also kind of explains the presence of that Company of Heroes 2 DLC in a bundle that doesn't offer COH2. The bundle will be available until April 24. 

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.

As we reported last month, turn-based 4X 'em up Endless Space 2 recently launched a mod competition in collaboration with ModDB. The winners are now in, and lilyophelia's Endless Romance has secured first place. 'Tis Valentine's season after all.  

With mention of terrorist attacks and weaponised viruses—alongside some pretty unsettling imagery—this isn't your typical lovestruck affair, though. Endless Romance is a quest mod that adds romanceable heroes, 34 new events, 85 unique choices, 19 different endings, three epilogues, and eight buildable Histories. 

Speaking to that last part, the mod's creator says: "[Endless Romance] adds a large assortment of buildable histories, based on your story choices during your playthrough of Endless Romance. Histories are like mini-wonder buildings that provide a thematic bonus (flat and scaling) and make your empire feel more personalized and storied."

More information on Endless Romance, including installation instructions, can be found here. 

Other highlights from the EndlessMods contest include Redraluin's More Traits, KumaNoYuushi's Rebalanced Luxuries, and CyRob's Sandbox Mod—the latter of which grants players 9999 Trait Points. The full list of winners is found in this direction. 

For more Endless Space 2 reading, I like what Robert Zak has to say. 

Last summer, Endless Space 2 launched from its early access pod into the cold, harsh cosmos of full release. In the trademark style of Amplitude Studios, the space opera eschewed the grandness of many of its 4X peers in favour of a tighter, more story-led approach based around well-written questlines and a relatively small number of playable factions, each with distinct personalities and asymmetrical play styles.

But as with all things 4X, the launch was only the beginning of its journey. In Chris's review, he pointed out that, "Endless Space 2 is a good game, but there's no getting around the fact that it'll be a better game in six months". So eight months on, with a couple of major updates under its belt and the release of its first paid DLC, The Vaulters. last week, I’ve checked out how it's coming along.

Let’s start with the DLC. The Vaulters sees the faction of human underground dwellers from Endless Legend go spacebound, after successfully fleeing the planet of Auriga before it got snowed under by the Endless Winter. That’s a lot of proper nouns to take in, but it feels apt for a DLC that’s tailored more for the existing Endless fanbase rather than prospective newcomers.

The Vaulters faction is good fun (even if Endless veterans may notice that their main trait is copy-pasted from Endless Space 1). They’re a buccaneering bunch, with the ability to swiftly zip around space using portals that they build within their own star systems. It’s quite possibly the most powerful faction trait in the early-mid game, offset only much later upon the discovery of wormholes and improved movement speeds. For starters, it cuts down on the number of fleets you need guarding your empire, because with well-placed portals you can be almost anywhere at once. You can also use it to attack enemies using a steady stream of ships produced all over your empire, then funnelled through one portal, making it difficult for your enemy to see exactly what they’re up against.

The vaulters’ other ability disguises their fleets as privateers, which is a nice way to cause mischief on the sly. Sure, you can be best buds with the faction you (begrudgingly) share a constellation with, but if no one’s going to tell you off for plundering their supply ships or Pearl-Harbouring their fleets as they sit in their systems, why wouldn’t you? 

The DLC also packs in some new heroes, quests and other bits, but don’t expect any big mechanical changes similar to those in Endless Legend’s similarly priced content. The only notable evolution on this front is Pirate Diplomacy—the latest stage in Amplitude’s reworking of the pirate system. 

But first, some context. When Endless Space 2 launched, pirates were roaming fleets with a random minor faction name slapped onto them. Given how much effort had gone into giving each minor faction their own history, quests and ideological traits, it felt a little perfunctory to have them randomly assigned as pirates. This changed with the free Galactic Statecraft update last November. Pirates became their own entity, residing on star systems reappropriated as pirate lairs, where their fleets and power steadily grow if left unchecked.

Pirate Diplomacy, introduced in The Vaulters, builds on this, letting you interact with the stumpy, Watto-like leader of these pirate lairs. You can sabotage their lair to stunt their levelling, or offer them ‘Support’, which will make them stronger but also more loyal to you, and more effective should you hire them to launch attacks on an enemy’s system. It’s a neat addition, but still in need of tweaking, as currently the inflated costs of liaising with pirates outweigh the benefits by mid-game.

Looked at in isolation, the Vaulters DLC doesn’t amount to that much if its faction means nothing to you, but in the context of how much work Amplitude have put into the game since release, a little cash injection feels well deserved (especially when you look at the proliferation of content in its cosmic rival Stellaris, where Paradox has, true to form, left the DLC tap dripping).

Along with the pirate revamp, the most notable improvement Amplitude has made over these past eight months is diplomacy. At launch, one of my biggest problems was that for a game priding itself on unique factions, their personalities never shone through on the diplomacy screen. You could go half a game without the AI approaching you, and there were not enough options to evoke the feeling that you’re constantly spinning the plates of interstellar relations.

Since the Galactic Statecraft update, factions can exert pressure on each other via bureaucratic imbroglios and diplomatic requests, such as asking you to get your ships off their territory, or to stop attacking their fleets. How these situations are resolved then has short-term knock-on effects for your empires; do you denounce a trespasser who refuses to leave, or create a cover-up so no one finds out that you’re a galactic doormat? Either way, there will be statistical consequences.

Alliances, meanwhile, are no longer a case of just announcing to the galaxy that you’re BFFs, signing the odd trade agreement and embarking on the odd intergalactic war. They’re now more complex affairs that embrace this more confrontational approach to diplomacy. You and your allies can set co-ordination points for each other if you need help in battle (expect them to throw a huff if you don’t heed the call), and if one alliance member enters a war that another deems unjust, you can renounce the alliance on the spot.

It’s become a fine repertoire of options. Crucially, the AI actually utilises them, making each game feel much more rowdy than before. The silence of space is now filled with the din of different peoples pleading and bitching and threatening each other; it really feels like a gloriously concentrated space soap opera.

Comparisons between Endless Space 2 and Stellaris are inevitable, given how more time-constrained players might only be able to pick one game in the ‘Space-based Strategy Timesink’ genre (that I may I have just made up). But their co-existence also highlights their distinct qualities. Stellaris is outward-looking, like an astronomical telescope, embracing the daunting vastness of space with its randomised races and systemic oddities. To that end, it has been expanding apace, adding layers upon layers of systems to capture some of that infinite complexity.

Endless Space 2 is doing the opposite, quietly tightening up the web of galactic relations binding its motley factions together. It’s not expanding as such, but rather deepening the intrigue and interactions in its corner of the universe. The game’s progress and DLC may not be as eye-catching as, say, an expansion pack about blowing up planets, but there’s a refreshing humility about Amplitude’s work, with much of it being based on a close relationship with its community. 

A more comprehensive expansion that shakes up the mechanics is surely forthcoming, but Amplitude isn’t in a rush, focusing on content that puts its existing player base first.

In preparation for its self-assigned 'Endless Day' later this month, Endless Space 2 has revealed its first expansion. 

Named The Vaulters, the stars of the sci-fi strategy game's new DLC are, yup, the Vaulters—a roving civilization that have featured in every Endless game to date. 

"Did you know that in Dungeon of the Endless you play the crew that will ultimately become the Vaulters in Endless Legend?" asks publisher Sega in a statement. "Auriga is a small world."

Whether you knew that or not, the Vaulters expansion brings with it a population that can teleport using the Argosy coloniser ship. That beast features briefly in the following trailer:

Of course, the Vaulters also boast their own heroes, tech, buildings, a new starting special node, and, as you might expect, a new main quest. Playing to their space buccaneer expertise, Vaulters can also claim ships as their own and new Pirate Diplomacy features enable leader negotiations.    

In celebration of Endless Day, developer Amplitude has also launched a free community challenge add-on that introduces new events, ship models and skins. More on that be read here or seen here:

Endless Space 2's The Vaulters expansion is due on January 25, 2018. More on Endless Day can found this-a-way. 

Around this time last year, Superhot Team partnered with ModDB on #MAKEITSUPERHOT—a five-week design competition that encouraged entrants to craft mods and artwork tied to the time-manipulating shooter in a bid to win prizes. 

Towards the end of last year, ModDB joined forces with Sega and Amplitude to bring us the Endless Space 2 Modding Contest. It wraps up next Sunday, January 14, which means there's still time for the creative folk among us to hand something in. 

"The challenge should you choose to accept, is to make a mod for Endless Space 2," so says ModDB. "It can be a ship skin, a new game mode, or a quest, all will be judged on the merits of innovation, complexity and fun factor. The top ten entries win a digital gaming pack from SEGA, so chances are all good submissions will walk away with something."

Check out some of the contest's latest entries here, which so far include the likes of lava reform, planet size improvements, and android fabrication. The overall winner will walk away with an Nvidia 1080 GPU, a signed and framed Endless Space 2 print and a Sega digital game bundle; while those places second to fourth claim all of the above minus the graphics card.   

Again, the Endless Space 2 Modding Contest is live now through Sunday, January 14. Full details including the rules can be found in this direction. And since we're talking Endless Space 2, I really enjoyed Robert Zak's recent conversation with Amplitude which discussed how the Endless series reimagined the 4X strategy genre.

This article was originally published in PC Gamer issue 312. For more quality articles about all things PC gaming, you can subscribe now in the UK and the US.  

The arrival of a new 4X game is a special event in the PC gaming calendar, like a solar eclipse passing across a world split up into tiny hexes. It’s rare enough to feel monumental, yet comforting in its cyclicality; a sporadic dose of complexity reminding us PC gamers that, despite our growing propensity for couch gaming, there are some pleasures that remain unique to us. One year there’ll be a Civ game, another year there’ll be a Gal Civ and then an Age of Wonders. Fill any gaps with meaty DLC, and repeat the cycle. 

But between 2012 and 2017, a trifecta of games from an upstart French developer shook up this 4X hegemony. Amplitude Studios’ Endless Space (2012), Endless Legend (2014) and Endless Space 2 (2017) reinterpreted the 4X playbook, working within its strict rulesets to push the genre further than it had ever gone before. Two of the leading figures in this 4X supernova are Romain de Waubert, cofounder of Amplitude Studios, and Jeff Spock, narrative director on the series. The Endless games have a strong narrative thrust, interconnected by a story about an extinct, advanced civilisation—the titular Endless—that destroyed itself through infighting. There is no expository intro in any of the games. Instead, you learn about the lore by finding artefacts, carrying out quests and exploring planets and the vestiges of lost civilisations. Even something as fundamental as researching technologies is a pithy lesson, as most techs in the game originate from the Endless. 

Spock believes that the 4X genre lends itself naturally to a subtle brand of worldbuilding, which still affords the player the agency they’ve come to expect from a 4X game. It was important to maintain that Civ ethos of enabling the player to create their own narratives, all the while offering compelling stories. “Because it’s a procedurally generated game, you don’t need a traditional storyline. It’s the player’s story, not the designer’s story,” he says. To that end, there are no cinematics. Instead, the Endless series relies on hand-drawn pictures and evocative prose. Quests are tales of monsters that you can hunt in haunting, misty oceans, or of species that worship mysterious beings that predate even the Endless. “I think it’s more interesting to use text and 2D images, and allow the player to come up with the rest of the imagery. All we want to do is keep throwing coal into the engine so whatever they’re imagining is rich and meaningful,” Spock tells us. “We definitely shouldn’t take over the imagination of the player,” adds de Waubert, “because then it wouldn’t be 4X anymore.”

Even in the short time span between the games, Amplitude has made iterations to abide by de Waubert’s sandbox paradigm. It’s why between Endless Legend and Endless Space 2, the faction quests evolved from linear to choice-driven. At a story juncture for the tree-loving Unfallen faction, for example, you need to pick between showing the galaxy that the faction won’t be swayed from its pacifist principles, or—in a flourish of doublespeak—that it’s prepared to defend those principles with force. The quest goals force you to channel production either into influence or military power, but you can take the path best suited to your unique circumstances in a given game. The faction quests become integrated into the game’s systems, rather than layered over the top of them.

Balancing is a major preoccupation for 4X devs, and the megapatches that tend to follow most releases spend much of their time tweaking units, movement, faction bonuses and buildings to make sure the game feels just right. But Amplitude has embraced the joys of misbalance, making each faction drastically different. “With every other faction [apart from humans], we try to break at least one major rule,” says de Waubert. “And by breaking this rule, we accept that our game will probably not be very well balanced in the end. But that’s fine, because once the player’s aware of that, it lets them go crazy.” 

So where an expansionist empire in Civilization may get a unique building with extra productivity and a couple of passive traits to help you spread your borders, an Endless game takes the idea to its extreme. “We’d be in a meeting with designers and say, ‘We need a faction that’s expansion-oriented—they need to keep growing and conquering,’” says Spock. “So maybe it’s uncontrollable population—rabbits in space, you know?” The end result of this thought process was the Craver faction of Endless Space (though the only cunicular thing about them is their invasiveness). These insectoid creatures were created by the Endless for war, and their voracious consumption makes them the only faction to fully deplete planets of all their natural resources, forcing them to move onto the next star system, enslave whoever lives there, bleed it dry, then move on again. The Cravers are incapable of signing peace treaties, so you play in a perpetual cycle of consumption and war. Balance be damned. 

These kinds of idiosyncrasies exist across most Endless factions. The Cultists can only build the one city but amass armies by indoctrinating minor factions around the world. The Riftborn from Endless Space need to spend industry to reproduce (they’re manufactured rather than conceived). The Roving Clans can’t declare war, and instead exert control through the Marketplace: a global market with a dynamic economy that they can shut other factions out of.

In a sci-fi or sci-fantasy world, de Waubert believes that the “alien-ness of aliens” needs to be captured, praising the variety and weirdness of interstellar species in the TV series Babylon 5 and Iain Banks’ Culture novels. “If we were to say, ‘Here come these amazing mushroom men that reproduce through spores, but they have +2 Growth and -2 Industry, it just doesn’t work,” says de Waubert. “They have to break the game, otherwise the whole imagination of the sci-fi universe is broken.” 

A similar approach has since been seen in the Total War: Warhammer series, from Creative Assembly. The fantasy premise has allowed it to let loose with systems that weren’t possible in the historical settings. In Warhammer II, Skaven cities only appear as ruins to other players, while High Elves can manipulate and spy on their opponents via diplomacy. De Waubert reveals that the two fellow Sega developers have been exchanging ideas, but stops short of claiming credit for Total War’s innovations. “We try to learn from their experience, and share everything we can with them,” he reveals. 

All these asymmetries and imbalances may sound intimidating to the 4X outsider. But where the blockbuster Civilization series is, to an extent, fettered to its own legacy, and inhibited from making drastic changes to make it more accessible, Amplitude got to approach the genre afresh, with a new generation of potential 4X gamers in mind. “When you’re starting on a blank page, you can do things differently,” de Waubert says. 

“Half the effort with traditional 4X games was trying to figure out the interfaces,” says Spock. “You’d have to click through three menus then find a slider bar and under that you’d find another few options. We wanted to put an end to that.” Take the ‘Citizen Management’ screen in Civilization, where you assign population to gathering science, food and industry. For years, it’s remained largely similar—a system where you assign citizens to specific tiles surrounding the city, counting the amount of each resource on each tile. The Endless series simplifies this by not even having a separate screen for managing city production, but a small table overlay where you can drag and drop citizens between the resources you want them to generate. All the info you need is right there in the table, and the effects are immediately obvious.

Spock says that the goal of this “beautiful, streamlined interface is that the player could get anywhere in two, three clicks”, but that doesn’t capture the omniscient feel of managing your empire in Endless Space 2, where you can seamlessly zoom from a galaxy-wide view to a star system to a planet in a couple of seconds by scrolling. Press the spacebar on a planet or star system, and you ‘scan’ whatever is highlighted. The interface posits you as an emperor, interacting with your hologram terminal, using graceful hand gestures; it feels like a modern, less intrusive answer to those clunky metallic interfaces of ’90s titles, like Fallout and Alpha Centauri, which aims to immerse players by allowing them to look at the game world diegetically.

This is a series of decluttered design elements, and both Endless Legend and Space follow the same principles to keep things looking clean. There are only a handful of unit types per faction, and you’re best off keeping them stacked in dedicated hero-led armies. Instead of inundating the player with increasingly advanced units through the tech tree, the games let you upgrade existing unit types through new weaponry and equipment—a system that’s instantly familiar to a playerbase more attuned to roleplaying game elements than it was even ten years ago. “Today, RPG elements are a reflex for the player, and a reflex for the creator,” says de Waubert. “But you need to not get lost in it. You have to keep in mind that the player is still an emperor, not a bunch of heroes.”

Citybuilding in Endless Legend borrows from its cosmic counterpart, where you’re confined to colonising existing planets and star systems. In Legend, the rule is that you can only build one city per region. “Having to handle 20 cities in the late game isn’t so much fun, and we didn’t want to bog players down with micromanagement,” de Waubert tells me. Some of the greatest moments in Civilization come in those first 100 turns, when the world is uncharted and uncovering it is fraught with danger and excitement. By preventing overdevelopment of an empire, de Waubert says, “You get to keep these wild places in the world where mystery always exists.” 

“It’s more interesting if you have five or six important cities, where each of them matter and develop a character,” adds Spock. “The science one on the river, the military seaport city—this change from traditional design adds a layer of immersion that we feel improves the experience.” One of the big introductions in Endless Legend was districts, letting players spread cities across multiple tiles, bringing in more resources as well as building a distinct visual character for each city. When Civilization VI was announced in 2016, a similar districts system was its most touted feature, offering players ‘de-stacked’ cities for the first time in the series. Amplitude is proud to have fed back into the series without which it acknowledges that its own venture wouldn’t have been possible. “We know guys at Firaxis. It’s a collegial competition,” says Spock. “If we always get jealous guarding our things and spiteful when people use them, the ultimate loser will be the player.”

The design philosophy of the series can be partly attributed to Amplitude swearing by the Early Access model, building up a community of backers that’s been offering nonstop feedback since 2012. It’s helped the studio understand what players want from a 4X game, especially in the early days when, de Waubert admits, “We had a bunch of ideas, but didn’t know how to make 4X.”

Five years on, and Amplitude has created the first great 4X series of the Early Access generation and a distinctly modern classic of the genre, offering a fresh perspective that the stalwarts are already learning from. They’ve overcome longstanding 4X problems, combating mid-game lulls with compelling narratives and creating interfaces that aren’t tied down by a lineage dating back 15 or more years. De Waubert assures us that “this is only the beginning” for the Endless saga—the first intrepid turns in a new instance of the 4X game, where rules are being broken and balance has been thrown out of the airlock for the better. 

Endless Space 2, Amplitude Studio's turn-based sci-fi 4X strategy game that landed earlier this year, is free to try on Steam this weekend. A new update, named Galactic Statecraft, is live now too. 

The game Chris described as a "gorgeous grand strategy with atmosphere, depth and replayability" is free to try now through November 20 at 10am PT/6pm GMT. Assuming it's your cup of tea, it's also subject to a 50 percent discount during this time.

In his review, Chris also noted that, like most 4X games, Endless Space 2 needs time to realise its full potential. To this end, the game's Galactic Statecraft update introduces a revamped diplomacy system, pirate lairs, orbital stations, new game events and a hall of fame that lets players "keep track of [their] campaign performances", among other things. Full patch notes can be found via this Steam Community update. 

Speaking to existing players, Amplitude says: "Here at Amplitude, a Free Weekend always comes with a play-to-win Community Challenge. The more players try the game during the Steam Free Weekend, the bigger an upcoming free DLC gets."   

More information on that can be found in this direction, while Endless Space 2's Steam page is this-a-way. Chris' review of the base game can also be read here.