Amplitude Studios, developers of many a game with "Endless" in the name, have split with publisher Sega to become independent again, with ownership of the studio reverting to its original founders and "other members of the team". The developers say everyone is parting "on good terms" and that the last eight years of getting published under Sega has been "amazing". But there are other businessy reasons, of course. Namely, Sega have been trying to trim down their European studios for the past year, and Amplitude is just the latest bunch of devs affected by that.
]]>Being offered a 4X game for free is definitely one of those cursed-monkey-paw situations. Sure, you’re saving physical currency, but at what price in terms of that most treasured and least tradeable of commodities, time? In the hours it takes to properly clean out a 4X game, you could probably build an empire yourself. OK, not a huge empire. An empire the size of the Vatican or the Principality of Sealand, perhaps. Maybe an empire that only covers the distance between your desk and your fridge. But an empire nonetheless. Go on, pronounce yourself God-Tyrant of your bedroom while you download Amplitude’s Endless Legend, which is 100% off on Steam till 10am PDT, 1pm EDT and 6pm BST on May 23rd.
]]>It's impossible to determine just how long ago 2014 was. Wisdom would dictate it sits around the 9 year mark, but no one truly believes that. Endless Legend? That was no more than two years ago, and I'll throw hands if anyone suggests otherwise. But apparently enough time has passed that just about every 4X game that came out that year has now been superceded by a newer title in the series. Civilization: Beyond Earth, Galactic Civilizations 3, Age Of Wonders 3, and Endless Legend made 2014 an incredibly strong year for strategy games, but nowadays, who really still plays these older entries?
I don't mean to sound derisive. It's a sombre truth. At 233 hours, I've put more time into Endless Legend than any other 4X strategy game in my Steam library, and loved every minute of it. To this day it's still the best in the genre when it comes to sparking the imagination of my chronically fantasy-loving brain. The music, the amazing variety in terrain and units, the sheer quantity of words bringing to life every last quest, minor faction, creature, and environmental anomaly. It's a simply splendid game. The question is whether it's still worth playing today.
]]>As I entered a second hour of trying to hammer Distant Worlds Universe into a playable state on Windows 10, two thoughts occurred. The first is that I hope the upcoming Distant Worlds 2 is the 4X I want. The second was more troubling: What do I want from a modern 4X game?
I might as well put this upfront: I don't think I want the same thing most players do. Let me relate both why I admire Distant Worlds, and why I don't think its sequel will do what I want.
]]>Late one crisp Christmas Eve, four years before I joined Rock Paper Shotgun, I was overjoyed to see that the team had elected Endless Legend as the best PC game of 2014. Back then I was in the middle of what would turn out to be a period of obsession that lasted about 230 hours of time in-game. I was in love with the landscapes, the storytelling, and the new ideas that Amplitude has injected into a formula that had barely changed since I was first introduced to it as a kid with Civilization II.
]]>It's Amplitude Studios' 10th anniversary, and they're celebrating by making a bunch of their games free for the weekend. That includes fantasy 4X Endless Legend, space 4X Endless Space 2, and dungeon crawler Dungeon Of The Endless. All of their games are also deeply discounted on Steam.
]]>Strategy games is an enormous genre in PC gaming, with real-time, turn-based, 4X and tactics games all flying the same flag to stake their claim as the one true best strategy game. Our list of the best strategy games on PC covers the lot of them. We like to take a broad view here at RPS, and every game listed below is something we firmly believe that you could love and play today. You'll find 30-year-old classics nestled right up against recent favourites here, so whether you're to the genre or want to dig deep for some hidden gems, we've got you covered. Here are our 50 best strategy games for 2023.
]]>As a nostalgia trip, Sonic Mania is impeccably precise. So, naturally, you'll want to really nail those throwback kicks by, uh, playing it through an unrelated publisher's digital subscription service. The blue blur and his grossly mutated twin-tailed fox friend are now sprinting through EA's Origin Access Premiere service, with Two Point Hospital and Endless Legend set to join them in the near future.
]]>Humankind, the latest and most ambitious 4X strategy game from Endless Legend creators Amplitude Studios, looks to revitalise the historical 4X genre and nab the crown from the titanic and venerable Civilization series. And look damn pretty while it does so, too.
But it's not just looks that Amplitude are hoping to win out on with Humankind. We'll go over everything we know about Humankind below, from release date information to our first glimpses of gameplay in trailers and screenshots, and what we can glean about how everything will work when it's released.
]]>Spectral space-spies and mushroom people have arrived today in Endless Space 2 and Endless Legend. The two expansions - Penumbra and Symbiosis, respectively - each add a new playable faction to the already-massive 4X strategy games, plus a major game-changing new feature that can impact everyone. Below, a developer stream taking an hours-long dive into both expansions.
Those new to the Endless universe (a sprawling sci-fi setting shared by all of Amplitude's games, including Endless Space 1 & 2, Dungeon Of The Endless and Endless Legend), all the games in the series are free to try on Steam for the weekend, along with discounts to keep. Endless Space 1 is forever if you sign up and link your Steam account over on their Games2Gether site here.
]]>The Endless universe continues to live up to its name - both Endless Legend and Endless Space 2 are expanding once more next week. On January 24th, Endless Space 2 bulks out its espionage options in Penumbra, while Endless Legend's Symbiosis expansion will let players control a race of sentient mushrooms and tussle with giant roaming crab-beasties. It's nice to see Amplitude Studios still pouring time, love and vision into these two rather lovely games, even if only the maddest of players will have the time to master both. Trailers for the expansions below.
]]>It's a busy day for 4X fans. Announced just last week, new expansions have launched today for both space-empire builder Endless Space 2 and its more gravity-bound cousin Endless Legend. They're both excellent games (Endless Legend was RPS's Game Of The Year of 2014) that have only gotten better over time due to constant expansion & patching. Now seems a good time to give them a look if you've passed on them previously, as on top of the two new expansion releases, Amplitude's entire Endless series is free to try for the weekend, and steeply discounted to boot.
]]>The endless Endless games will continue in August with new paid expansions for sci-fi 4X strategy game Endless Space 2 and its fantasy cousin Endless Legend, developers Amplitude Studios announced today. Each game's expansion will add a new faction (the Hissho spacesamurai birdmen; the cute wargolem-building Kapaku) plus new features all factions can enjoy (mahoosive Behemoth-class customisable ships; a lava biome and new events). Continuing to walk hand-in-endless-hand, the Supremacy and Inferno expansions will launch on the same day: next Thursday, August 2nd. Here, come meet the Hissho and Kapaku in new trailers.
]]>RPS Suggests is where we put forward our own ideas for new games, or changes to old games, or anything else. Think of it like backseat driving for the games industry.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a strategy game possessed of turns, tiles, and pretensions of grandeur, must be in want of an espionage system. It is a truth less often acknowledged, that said espionage systems universally suck. In this edition of RPS Suggests, I’d like to humbly describe how to completely fix this forever.
]]>Big, slow, sweeping strategy games expose their rules in a way no other game does. Call of Duty doesn’t have floating numbers above enemy heads, telling you their movement speed, for example. But in most 4X and grand strategy games, there is no attempt to hide exactly how everything works: the stats, their interactions, are all laid out and plain to see. Yet these games are utterly dependent on their ability to evoke a sense of place, scale, and history – they have to be much more than just a fancy chessboard, they have to feel alive, or they’re just not much fun. How can these games survive and thrive under such conflicting pressures? I spoke to three of the world’s top strategy game designers, from Firaxis, Paradox and Amplitude, to find out.
]]>The Steam summer sale is in full blaze. For a while it even blazed so hot that the servers went on fire and all the price stickers peeled off the games. Either that or the store just got swamped with cheapskates looking for the best bargains. Cheapskates like you! Well, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some recommendations - both general tips and some newly added staff choices.
Here are the things you should consider owning in your endless consumeristic lust for a happiness which always seems beyond reach. You're welcome.
]]>Make War Not Love [official site] - Sega's cross-game point collection event which aims to stick it to Valentine's Day while also raising awareness of their games/rewarding fans - has returned for a fourth outing. This year it technically started on Valentine's Day but the real meat of the event kicks off yesterday and involves Company of Heroes 2, Endless Legend, Dawn of War 2 and Total War: Warhammer.
]]>From the forum threads full of arguments to the constant tweaking and occasional overhauls via patches – balance has long been one of the pillars of strategy games. It means fairness, a level playing field, and in competition it means that victory comes purely from player skill. But balance, and the quest to reach it, can easily become the enemy of surprise and of the joy that comes from succeeding against the odds.
Balance’s lofty position implies that nobody wants to be the underdog, that conquest is only satisfying if you have the exact same or at least equally effective advantages as your opponents. Sure, when actual money and trophies are involved, this sort of balance is necessary, but when you’re playing for fun? When you’re playing on your own? Give me the imbalanced every time.
]]>Every Monday we jettison Brendan into the uncharted quadrants of early access and demand constant progress reports. This week, Brendan is away so Adam did the only thing he knows how to do: he spent a few hours playing a strategy game. It's Endless Space 2 [official site].
I've been looking forward to Endless Space 2 since around the time I played Endless Legend and fell for it hard. Actually, I've been looking forward to Endless Space 2 since I played the first Endless Space and a wonderful feeling washed over me – here, in Amplitude, was an exciting new studio making strategy games that were forward-thinking and unafraid to muck around with genre conventions.
Now that Endless Space 2 is available in Early Access, I should be soaking it up, exploring every corner of what already exists and speculating about the shape of things to come. Instead, I've been playing another 4X game and didn't find a spare minute to look at Amplitude's latest until this weekend just gone. And now, I'm not planning to go back until the Early Access period is done.
]]>“A sailor went to sea sea sea,” wrote Samuel Taylor Coleridge. “To see what he could see see see. / But all that he could see see see / was the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea.” Endless Legend [official site] is hoping to harness some of that terrifying tone in its latest expansion, Tempest, which is adding naval battles, a new watery faction and giant aquatic monsters. It has already washed up on the DLC shores today and if you come with me, you can see a short trailer for it all.
]]>Amplitude Studios may have just launched Endless Space 2 into early access, but they're still not done with Endless Legend [official site] yet. Our favourite game of 2014 will receive a new paid DLC expansion, named Tempest, next week. It'll introduce naval warfare to the 4X strategy game, along with an aquatic faction who are called the Morgawr and can raise leviathans. They sound like my kind of seapeople.
]]>Amplitude Studios has grown significantly since the Parisian developer, as a small team that you could count on one hand, first conceived Endless Space. Now they work out of two floors in a high-rise near the centre of the metropolis and are busy working on their fourth game, Endless Space 2. Recently, they announced a partnership with publisher Sega.
It’s an evolution and escalation that’s echoed in their games. Endless Space 2, then, is an opportunity to show everyone just how much they’ve grown, combining the ideas that birthed their first game with the lessons they’ve learned through the much lauded Endless Legend. I spoke to the company's two founders to discuss why they're making the game now, what the partnership with Sega means for the studio, and more.
]]>Endless Space 2 is the sequel to French studio Amplitude’s cosmic 4X game, though it feels just as much a follow-up to their exceptional fantasy strategy affair, Endless Legend. Comfortably sitting next to all the numbers, resources and planetary management are lively stories, epic quests, and fascinating space-faring species, each with distinct hooks – the ingredients that made the company’s last game something special.
I traveled to Amplitude’s offices to get my hands on the game, and thus far my goal is to try and get rich – the noblest of pursuits.
]]>Even though Sega have been publishing PC strategy and simulation games for years now, I still can't see the company logo or hear the word without thinking back to hours spent at schoolfriends' houses, trying to work out if Sonic was too fast or I was too slow. The acquisition of Amplitude was the point that I decided that I needed to ask Sega a very simple question: "Do you want to marry PC strategy games?"
At Gamescom, I sat down with Jurgen Post, COO of Sega of Europe.
]]>Sega have acquired Amplitude, creators of the Endless series of strategy games. Endless Legend was our game of the year in 2014 and its predecessor Endless Space is set to receive a direct sequel that will enter Early Access later this year. Sega will now publish that game, as well as assuming responsibility for the back catalogue of Endless games, which includes Dungeon of the Endless, a fantastic tower-defense/roguelike hybrid.
Amplitude are one of the smartest young strategy studios around and they join Creative Assembly, Relic and Sports Interactive (Football Manager is a strategy game) in Sega's stable of PC developers. That's a mighty strong line-up for a company that old men like me still associate with ancient consoles and platform games rather than PC publishing.
]]>I would like to state, for the record, that our decision to declare Endless Legend [official site] our favourite game of 2014 was not at all influenced by our mascot/benevolent jailkeeper Horace the Endless Bear and his fondness for endlessness. It's a cracking 4X turn-based strategy game, okay. You already know if you listened to us and played it, in which case you may be interested to know the latest Endless Legend expansion, named Shifters, launched today. If not, hey, the game's on sale to celebrate the launch.
]]>When Civilization II came out, I spent an entire summer playing it for several hours a day. The only check on my binging was the fact that my parents would eventually come home and force me to pretend, for a few hours at least, that I cared about things other than Civilization II.
I was a senior in college when Civilization IV arrived. I'd barely played strategy games at all for the previous four years, and "senioritis" brought with it a case of intense nostalgia. I bought it in the spring before graduation. It was still consuming my days and nights when the leaves fell later that year.
That was probably the last time my enjoyment of a 4X game was pure and uncomplicated. Lately, I've been wondering where that joy has gone, and why so few games seem to add anything essential to those old experiences.
]]>Fine 4X strategy game Endless Legend [official] has another expansion coming, developers Amplitude Studios announced last night. More of the official RPS Bestest Best Game of 2014? Fab! Named Shifters, you say? It'll add a new faction who "will be able to 'shift' during long winters", you say? Aye, a bit of shifting will help pass a long winter all right. Warms you up nicely, getting the shift does.
]]>Perhaps Amplitude's award-winning strategy game really is endless. A large free update for Endless Legend [official site] is due to land sometime today and there will be two cash-money chunks of DLC arriving alongside. The free stuff comes under the heading Forges of Creation and brings AI improvements, new modding tools, including compatibility with free map editor Tiled and the ability to reskin 3D units. There will also be Steam Workshop integration. The two purchasable packs contain new music, items and minor faction quests. More details below.
]]>Adding a new faction to Endless Legend [official site] must have been a daunting task. Amplitude's 4x masterpiece is built around the concept of highly individual playstyles and rulesets for each of its factions and if the newcomers didn't live up to what had come before, they'd look terribly out of place. That's why the just-released Shadows expansion doesn't stop at adding a new faction, going by the name The Forgotten, it also adds a whole new layer of systems to flesh them out. Espionage, counterspying and stealth trickery. Early word is positive.
]]>Endless Space was a fine 4X strategy game with interesting, distinct races and a best-in-class interface. Then Amplitude Studios' follow-up was Endless Legend, a fantasy 4X game set within the same universe which was best-in-class in general. In fact, we named it the best game of 2014.
So pardon my excitement for the news that Amplitude are now making Endless Space 2 [official site] and have released the first CG trailer.
]]>Every faction in Endless Legend [official site] feels like it required as much playtesting and balancing as some entire strategy games. There are eight major factions in all, from the Necrophages, who devour those they meet rather than engaging in diplomacy, to the Cultists of the Eternal End who cannot create new settlements of their own but can convert those that they conquer.
Amplitude have just announced an expansion, Endless Legend: Shadows, that adds a new faction - The Forgotten. They're experts in espionage but the new spying and stealth features will be available to other factions as well.
]]>What are the best Steam Summer Sale deals? Each day for the duration of the sale, we'll be offering our picks - based on price, what we like, and what we think more people should play. Read on for the five best deals from day 4 of the sale.
]]>Endless Legend's [official site] Guardian's DLC is a giant expansion in that it's an expansion that adds giants, although that's not to say there isn't a large bundle of new things to play with. The first major expansion to our Game of 2014 adds new global events, cooperative and competitive quests, legendary deeds and buildings, unique structures, and the titular Guardians. That's one of the blighters in the image at the top of the post, Skoros the Dust Guardian. He can fully heal allied armies and control enemy minds. Handy chap to have around in a pinch.
]]>Endless Legend [official site] is the Bestest Best Game Of 2014 says we, but it's possible that you still haven't found time or money to sink yourself into the clever, fantasy, 4X strategy game. Good news, then! The game is free this weekend on Steam, from now until the end of Sunday. That seems like long enough to see whether its hexagons are for you.
Alternatively, its cousin Dungeon of the Endless [official site] is also free for the same period.
]]>Given how spoilt for choice we are for fantasy strategy/roleplaying games, opting for Worlds of Magic [official site] over an Age of Wonders III or Endless Legend feels a bit like choosing to take home the one-eyed, geriatric dog with bladder problems instead of one of the cute puppies at the pound.
]]>The third free mini-expansion for Endless Legend [official site] adds a new minor faction, an extended endgame and enhanced modding tools. There's more, and I'll list everything below, but those are the three stand-out features. I'm always glad to see fresh content in the form of factions and the modding tools include an AI debugger, which could lead to some interesting experimentation.
It's the new victory quest that really grabbed my attention though. The title of the update is Look To The Stars, in reference to a faction-wide final quest that allows the victor to repair a spaceship and leave the doomed planet behind. The Endless trilogy just pulled all of its threads a little tighter.
]]>And you thought it had to be a game that hadn't featured previously on the list.
Adam: Cor. It's a strategy game!
]]>This year has been unusual for me, gaming-wise, because I haven't had That One Game. You know the one - the game that keeps you up at night while also managing to occupy your coffee breaks. The one that you can play while you're listening to the new Flying Lotus album just as easily as you can play while Corrie's on. It can take up all of your attention or the slightest part, filling whatever part of your mind you commit to it at any one time. I miss That Game.
]]>One of the year's Bestest Best Games is currently discounted by 50% on Steam. The game is Endless Legend, Amplitude's superb 4X fantasy game, and it's currently £13.49, but only until 6pm GMT. The discounts extend to all three of the studio's releases, so you can also grab debut title Endless Space and this year's brilliantly inventive roguelike door defense thing Dungeon of the Endless for £4.99 each. There's also a bundle with all three plus DLC for £30.49. If you need to know more, our reviews of Dungeon and Legend are here to help, and Jim and I wrote about Endless Legend as part of our December festivities.
]]>Amplitude have released two games this year and either one would be deserving of a place in this bestest best December round-up. Dungeon of the Endless can slumber on in cryosleep for now though because it's time to sing the praises of Endless Legend, the finest 4X game of recent times.
Adam: Science fiction, fantastic factions.
]]>Adam reported on Endless Legend's free add-on Visions of the Unseen last week, but now it's out, we know the details of what it contains, and it comes alongside a smaller but similarly free add-on for Amplitudes previous 4X strategy game, Endless Space. Visions of the Unseen? More like posts of the seen, right?
Right.
]]>Amplitude are having a very good year. The studio's debut release, Endless Space, was a good 4X game but the follow-up, Endless Legend, is a great 4X game. I'm fairly sure there hasn't been a better release in the genre this year. Along with that, there's Dungeon of the Endless, a smart cocktail that contains a dash of roguelike, a splash of tower defence and several fingers of cunning twists.
Endless Legend, as you might expect given the name, isn't quite done yet. A second free add-on has just been announced. It's called Visions of the Unseen and the first details are below.
]]>Endless Legend isn't quite as big a misnomer as the Neverending Story, but it still seemed likely that you'd eventually grow tired of playing campaigns in the inventive 4X strategy game. Today's announcement may yet stave of the cartoon lawyers, as modding tools are coming which will let you create and tweak factions, skills, items and damn near everything else.
]]>A cursory glance might lead you to believe that Endless Legend is a duck. In this instance, Civilization V is the Platonic ideal of the duck and that brief glimpse of Endless Legend shaking its tailfeather might be enough to convince you that it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck. Closer investigation reveals something altogether different though. Sure, it has feathers and you're likely to find it paddling around and flashing its bum at the world while it grabs something to eat, but Endless Legend might be best thought of as a swan in a pond full of ducks.
Either that or it's Howard the Duck. Here's wot I think.
]]>The three-game Endless universe and its interconnecting lore is one of my favourite games-related tidbits right now. Amplitude Studios' two in-development games, Endless Legend--a fantastical grand strategy--and Dungeon of the Endless--a roguelike dungeon crawling/tower defense--are both prequels to Endless Space. It all ties together wonderfully, with monsters from Dungeon being minor races in Legend, some of whom have become playable factions by Space. While Dungeon is still wandering the halls of Early Access, Legend is launching onto Steam proper on September 18th.
]]>Each Monday, Chris Livingston visits an early access game and reports back with stories about whatever he finds inside. This week, monster-based monster strategy with monsters in Endless Legend.
Crystalline giants march from the east, painted ogres advance from the south, and slithering snake-monsters, a two-headed jackal tribe, and hovering spectral warriors in tattered cloaks appear regularly outside my city. I've been battling monsters for hours, now, and I'm frustrated. Not by the combat itself, but by the nature of the enemy. I don't want to kill monsters. I want to kill humans, because I'm a monster myself.
]]>The endless endlessness, it never ends! In the beginning, there was Endless Space, and it was endlessly space-y. Recently, we also told you of Endless Legend, which is another 4X strategy set in the same universe, only all fantasy-fied. But let's not forget about Dungeon of the Endless, which Amplitude teased shortly before getting sucked into the time-distorting, endlessly cacophonous Gamescom hypehole. At that point, all we had to go on was a rather painfully un-endless trailer, which cut off right before we found out what was HASHTAG BEHIND THE DOOR WOOOOOOO. But now... oh, now we know. And I can guarantee that you will be shocked and surprised probably.
]]>Welcome. Welcome to the beginning of endless endlessness. Well, OK, I suppose the endless nature of this endlessness technically started with Endless Space, Amplitude's rock-solid, ox-strong 4X space strategy. Now, however, the developer with Xs for eyes (they're not unconscious; their eyes are literally the letter X) is headed in a markedly different direction with Endless Legend, a 4X fantasy about magic, discovery, and an impending, inexplicable apocalypse. It takes place in the "Endless universe," so I guess that makes it a prequel? Or maybe a bunch of space ships will crash into your bustling metropolis at the last possible second, revealing that the two games were coexisting the entire time.
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