Playing as the Unfallen, for instance, I started with a strong trade-oriented Pacifist party who tussled frequently with the comparatively like-minded Ecologist party. Go along with the leading faction's goals and you'll see additional buffs that can also serve to jolt you out of a rut and grow your empire in a different direction. Its greatest strength, though, is the dynamic political system with up to six political parties and elections within each faction. That can be a very effective incentive to lure you out of the path of least resistance. There's a danger of predictability when you specialize each race to the point where they have a вЂњcorrectвЂќ path, but Endless Space 2 keeps playthroughs interesting with elements such as RPG-like quests that grant tempting rewards for quashing rebellions or colonizing a set number of planets. The Unfallen, meanwhile, extend their vines out to other systems, allowing them to colonize with relative freedom as long as those tendrils aren't cut off. The business of transporting citizens to colonies, for instance, is much simpler for the robotic Riftborn than it is for other races since they can just build new citizens on site. (The titular 'Endless' refers to an extinct race who've left nothing behind but their mysterious 'Dust,' which acts as a primary currency.) A healthy stable of factions isn't uncommon among 4X games, but Endless Space 2 considerably improves its replay possibilities by making each race play differently from one another in significant ways. For one, you can take the helm of one of eight races, which include everything from my beloved tree people to a race of clones based on an egg-headed man named Horatio who thinks entirely too highly of himself. You'll win through a wide range of victory conditions, including everything from economic to military dominance.Д®ach race plays differently in significant ways.But it's remarkable for the many options it allows for going about this business. You'll find wildly different star systems with livable and resource-rich planets to colonize, and you'll occasionally have to deal with pirates and raiders in addition to aggressions from your neighboring space empires. You'll gather various resources, research various technologies, and expand from a home planet to possible dominance of the entire galaxy. Underneath those colorful factions, though, are only a few notable features that set it apart from the familiar design of rest of the genre, as Endless Space 2 shows little interest in boldly going where no one has gone before.

That's but a taste of what makes Endless Space 2 one of the most aesthetically appealing 4X games to come out during the recent revival.

Other turn-based 4X games might leave establishing faction personality at that, but Endless Space 2 goes even deeper, setting the Unfallen apart from their competition by giving them their own expansion technique that relies on spreading vines from system to system and connecting the whole endeavor to a central heart. It's essentially the March of the Ents on a galactic scale, complete with featherweight philosophical talk in quest popups about fire being a force that both creates and destroys. They approach the grand 4X strategy adventure of exploring, expanding, exploiting, and exterminating by spreading peace and harmony throughout the galaxy. I first realized Endless Space 2 would be a game I'd enjoy upon discovering that one of its main factions is a race of treants called the Unfallen.

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