Endless Space 2

A solid and beautifully slick game from Amplitude, if largely paint-by-numbers including a lot of the standard 4X cliches. Note this was reviewed with no DLC (they don't appear to have a good reputation online anyways)

Positives:

- The different races are good for being quite distinct, both in presentation and in actual gameplay - with some playing the game dramatically differently (e.g. Riftborn, Vod'yani, Unfallen).
- Games are by default relatively short (standard 300 turn limit) and starts at a good pace, setting the tone well.
- Some neat twists here and there on the standard 4X mechanics, such as the Politics and Laws system and the Tech Tree expanding outwards and being only semi-linear with distinct rungs.
- A perfectly acceptable and complete game out of the box (cough Paradox Interactive)

Negatives:

- The lack of innovation on the 4X front holds it back, as a lot of the weak points in a standard 4X game are unfortunately still present, namely Diplomacy, AI Performance, and the tedium of finishing games off. The Galactic Market, while a cool idea, also warps the game balance quite severely.
- There are also a few areas such as Exploration and Trade that are more involved and time-consuming than they really should be.
- Combat looks beautiful but is annoyingly hard to understand despite there being very little to do with the automated battle system. A very bad combination.

There's a scarcity of good 4X games, let alone good space-themed 4X games, so I would recommend at least picking this up and checking it out.