Watch Endless Space 2's impressive, cinematic combat
Hands-on with the next game from Amplitude Studios.
Endless Space is where it all began for Amplitude Studios and now, four years later, it's time for the sequel. This team's quadrupled in size since that first Endless game and it seems they're eager to show what they can do with all that extra manpower.
"When we first started Endless Space, we had no idea how to make a 4X [game]," explains Amplitude co-founder, Romain de Waubert de Genlis, as we go hands-on in the video below. "It's why when we finished Endless Legend, especially looking at 4X from a different point of view, [we thought] it'd be really nice to go back and take some of these learnings to Endless Space."
Okay, well, what does that mean? What's different this time around?
As the game's design document explains (you can actually read the entire thing online), there are changes being made to almost all of the game's core systems. Population management, internal politics, diplomacy, trade, galaxy generation: they're all being reworked. However, the big thing that stood out for me was the space battles themselves. They're different.
Unlike most 4X strategy games, which rely primarily on number breakdowns when conveying the outcome of their battles, Endless Space 2 is promising to add some real spectacle. You won't see what I mean until the end of the video (around the 30 minute mark), but it's worth the wait. We're talking real-time, cinematic battles with every single encounter.
Endless Space 2 will release in Steam Early Access at some point this month, says Amplitude. No word on the exact date just yet.