Benjamin D. Halford

Still one of the best games ever made

Studio 4°C can't do no wrong in my eyes. Superb game!

Stars in Shadow is by far the best designed "Master of Orion inspired" 4x out there right now: iteration on mechanics from the original Simtex classics here have really brought something new and interesting. It's not accurate to call it a MoO-clone, as much has changed and the design aesthetic was original built around the excellent tactical combat and to reduce resource/system micromanagement. The latest versions of this game haven't necessarily stuck to that: tight population management is essential to survival at even the "Normal" game setting and you'll struggle if you don't shuttle your pops around, but fortunately the system is easy to learn, engaging and simple enough to not become a chore: instead, like everything else in this game, it offers you choices as how to best proceed. The tactical combat is indeed excellent: the mechanics are simple and simply presented, but there are enough combinations of ship components and weapons that the game never falls into one of the old 4x tropes where you must optimally "get this, then that, then so on..." in order to win. Each faction you face not only has it's own strengths and weaknesses, but will develop separately dependent on their own starting conditions and their own reactions to their neighbors, meaning you'll need to refit your fleets to face each threat as it comes. Planet management is simple and avoids the "build everything everywhere" problem that plagued Master of Orion 2. You're limited to a set amount of building slots for each planet, meaning specialisation is a must through the midgame. At the start, it's usually not possible, or even desirable to do so, but this again is situational. The overall theme of Stars in Shadow is it's excellent design favouring choice in the face of your environmental situation. Games rarely play out the same, and there are enough map generation options that significantly alter the game experience. The graphics, sound and music are stand out in this game. Whilst possibly not to everybody's taste, the visuals are strongly cohesive and clear. The UI is great and most information is just a click away. My one complaint is that the game currently doesn't have a way to quickly search your planets for ground combat units. A special shout-out to the music in the game: I play a lot of these and have heard enough "generic synthesiser space opera music" to last me a lifetime. The music in Stars in Shadow however is just really of a very high quality: the composer has a strong and unique style and really knows his gear! The AI is strong: it's so strong that beginner players are often to be seen complaining that "Easy isn't easy" and "Hard is too hard". That's not quite right in recent patches, as the developer has addressed some of the more glaring issues with AI faction dog-piling behaviour. But don't expect to pick this straight up and win on "Hard" like you might with some 4x games. "Hard" will kick your ♥♥♥♥ until you really learn the ins and outs of the game mechanics. This has become a superb game, and in my opinion beats the other games in this sub-genre to the crown as the best MoO-inspired space 4x out there.