Long ago, the galaxy was inhabited by a race known as the Endless. Presumably this is the milky way galaxy considering it is inhabited at least in part by humans, but nobody is certain. The “Endless Space” universe takes place in a galaxy.

Instead, I’m going to explain why it's fun by talking about all the fun stuff, with only as much context as is necessary. Play it, learn its complexities for yourself, that way you’ll enjoy yourself far more than reading it all in an article that you’ll skip to see the 9/10 score at the end. I feel as though paragraphs upon paragraphs of explanation would do little to convey my ultimate point. But 'ES2' encompasses far too many features for me to reasonably summate within this article. Usually when I review a game, I try and give at least basic context with how the game plays. Let me preface this entire review by saying that 'ES2' is complex. It’s one of the cornerstones of 4X games, a genre of games encompassing anything that resembles “Civilization.” What that means for 'ES2' is that I will be endlessly comparing it to Civ, the 4X game I have by far the most time in. And unfortunately, “Endless Space 2,” Which I will take to calling “ES2” for sake of brevity, does little to curtail this blatant oversight.Ĭompeting for what space is left available on the map is an essential part of the challenge in 'ES2,' in spite of its name. What’s with all these sci-fi games with terrible titles? “Starcraft” has absolutely nothing to constructing celestial bodies of plasma, “Halo” has nothing to do with angels or the Christian faith in general, there is no massive effect in “Mass Effect,” and much of the conflict in “Endless Space” arises from the strictly limited amount of space in space.

Cravers endless space 2