Stars in Shadow

Did you love Master of Orion 2? So did the devs, and this game is a love letter to it. I even dare say it's better, with a simplified and improved planet development system that hits the just right balance.

I'm sure I had no problems with SiS a few years ago when I played it, and really enjoyed it. But coming back to it here in 2026, it's IMPOSSIBLE even on "easy". Enemy ships are just, well, invulnerable. Missiles, fighters and bombers are useless, they all get destroyed on turn 1 - so half the game's weapon options are rendered tactically useless from the git go. It wasn't like this first time I tried it. It just sucks right now! The devs have obviously ruined it since!

A low learning curve for some races and a made sense battle. some races have higher learning curve, and those are quite challenging. The ruthless method was an easy way out.(Killing the entire planet) Very re-playable. I am learning how to play with other races. (using a more humane method of ruling them)

Nice streamlined 4X game with reasonable replayability - the limitation being the optimum ways of setting up planets and going through the tech tree is fairly static, so once you have the hang of it, most of each game becomes very similar, with only moderate variation for a couple of the more unique races you can play. Building your empire, sending out scouts and colonists, are all fairly straightforward and standard for the genre, with the exception that most planets have different biomes which encourage you capture (or allow to immigrate in at least once case) alien races into your empire in order to get the most out of each planet, for example grabbing some aquatic Phidi colonists for your ocean/island planets, etc. The tech tree while wide is effectively somewhat linear because of how much the tech costs ramp up, which means you generally fill out most of the lower levels of each scientific area (at least all the useful stuff for your race/play style), and only beeline a handful of expensive technologies (such as the ones that increase your ships speed/range, double the effectiveness of each building type). Conversely this only happens because a large fraction of the technolo…

I haven't found a better 4X space strategy game yet which has exciting combat and I have looked at many 4x's by now. The focus is on exploration of the diverse factions and many ship models, the expansive tech tree and ship design and tactical space combat. There are some holes in the design which require going the same path more or less in the beginning of every game but overall the universe will generate impactful stories if you keep on playing into the late game. Fully recommended.

Fun retro spaceship combat