When I was a senior in high school, I had a group of friends who met every Friday and usually played halo Multiplayer or Age of EmpiresBut in 2008 there was a game called Sins of a Solar Empire was released and consumed the next year and a half of our lives. A great strategy game on a universal level, Sins of a Solar Empire is one of the most engaging tactical experiences of all time, and now developer Ironclad Games is back with the even bigger Sins of a Solar Empire 2available today on Steam. Sixteen years later, the universe is even bigger and more majestic, ready to be conquered by players who love extremely complex strategies.
Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is essentially a hybrid of two strategy subgenres, real-time strategy and 4X strategy. RTS games typically focus on building and leading units and directly controlling the battlefield, while 4X, or “Grand Strategy,” is on a much larger scale and generally involves building an empire through economics and technology, sometimes conquering a huge map, and defeating several other opponents.
Sins of a Solar Empire takes place on a large scale, but gives you complete control over every facet of your galactic empire.
Stardock Entertainment
This mix of genres makes Sins of a Solar Empire so unique that you can control both the details of individual battles and manage the vast web of an empire you are building. Each game of Sins takes place in a vast web of galaxies and planets, almost like a game board. You play as one of three races, each with their own unique technologies and strengths: the human Trader Emergency Coalition, the psychic Advent, or the alien Vasari.
What is fascinating about Sins 2is that absolutely everything happens in real time. As you gather resources and build your star fleets, you expand and control more planets and galaxies, opening up new resources and options. While you can view everything from this big-picture strategic view like a game board, you can also zoom in on each individual planet and manually command your forces, upgrade your defenses, and more. Don’t be fooled, this is an incredibly strategy-heavy game that demands a lot from the player – you’ll constantly be juggling multiple fronts of your ongoing galactic conflict, researching new upgrades and technologies, and looking for weak points to expand your empire.
Battles with dozens, sometimes hundreds of units can quickly become hectic affairs.
Stardock Entertainment
This enormous variety of strategies immediately made my group of high school friends Sins of a Solar Empire. We’ve built massive games where five of us compete for a universe, playing for ten, sometimes fifteen hours at a time in repulsively epic space conflicts. It’s the kind of game you can lose yourself in for hours, but more than that, every time you play Sins it feels significantly different. Whether you’re playing against other players or the AI, no two games are exactly the same – you’re constantly adjusting your strategy and adapting.
Actually, Sins of a Solar Empire 2 puts even more emphasis on this aspect, allowing for a wealth of new strategy options. You could place a squadron of fighter planes on an asteroid orbiting a planet, then wait while the asteroid orbits an enemy fleet to launch a flank attack. Or you can deploy a massive warship to fend off a planetary bombardment, giving you extra time to ramp up defenses.
The strategy of Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is incredibly deep and full of options and seriously satisfies the urge for space tactics like little else can.
