by Amplitude Studio’s $35 Endless Space is cast in the grand tradition of 4X turn-based strategy games. They’re so-called for their emphasis on four key gameplay elements: explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate. Endless Space is aptly named, because you’re responsible for shepherding a spacefaring civilization into the stars.
Besides expanding the borders of your civilization (with several unique races to choose from), you need to learn how to adapt to new planetary environments, manage relationships with other races, and handle the continued development of your own species. A four-branch tree of very different technologies, each focal point of which helps you direct your race’s development, either into exploration, applied sciences, warfare, or diplomacy and trade.
As your technology improves, so will your adaptability to the environments of different worlds you discover. You’ll also need to assimilate resources to grow. The four basic resources managed in Endless Space are Food, Industry, Dust, and Science (FIDS for short, an acronym you see pop up from time to time), and you can direct your civilization’s management of those resources on a colony-by-colony basis.
Dust is the “currency” of Endless Space, the gold bullion that greases the wheels of commerce, simplifies the development of technology, facilitates trade and commerce with your neighbors, and more. The uses for Dust are a bit of a wildcard, unlocked as you get further and further into the game.
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