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.
]]>Earlier this month, we asked you to vote for your favourite strategy games of all time to celebrate the launch (and glorious return) of several strategy classics this month, including Relic's WW2 RTS Company Of Heroes 3, Blue Byte's The Settlers: New Allies and Cyanide's fantasy Warhamball Blood Bowl 3. And cor, I've never seen such love for individual expansions and total conversion mods among mainline RTS games and 4Xs. As with all strategy games, however, there can only be one victor - and you can find out what that single strategy game to rule them all is right here. Here are your 50 favourite strategy games of all time, as voted for by you, the RPS readership.
]]>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.
]]>Amplitude Studios may be working on a new Civ-ish 4X strategy game retelling human history, the recently-announced Humankind, but they're not out of wild and fanciful sci-fi histories either. Today they released a new Endless Space 2 expansion adding an interesting new faction named the Nakalim. They're a once-great empire who went dormant after their gods were killed and are now trying to secure their galactic position in anticipation of their gods returning. I do appreciate how Amplitude create factions who are more than your usual "they're Klingons - but bugs!" or "they're Borg - but less 90s!" Come meet the Nakalim.
]]>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.
]]>Valve are joining all those great internet thought-leaders and telling you to clean your room, or at the very least to play the games that you've bought on Steam. Running this weekend until May 28th, 6pm GMT, the Steam Spring Cleaning Event provides a front-page checklist of games to try or return to, and rewarding the diligent with goodies to decorate their account page with.
All fluff, really, but as good an excuse as any to dust off something you might have picked up a few sales back. Of course, undermining this push, there's also a bunch of free weekend trials open on discounted games which also count towards your total. The list includes action RPG Grim Dawn, four-on-one competitive horror game Dead By Daylight and stylish 4X sci-fi strategy game Endless Space 2.
]]>I've always liked how Amplitude set their games in the same universe. From Endless Space to Endless Legend, whether their games are flavoured sci-fi or fantasy, each one forms an act in a space opera that spans millennia.
Surprise! The latest act came out yesterday. It's a free visual novel where you play as a fresh clone in the Horatio empire, a people born from an eccentric trillionaire determined to reforge the galaxy in His image. You fancy Him, obviously.
]]>A calamitous crossing of worlds has occurred in Two Point Hospital, the spiritual successor to Bullfrog's Theme Hospital, with Half-Life headcrabs glomping onto heads and all manner of decorative doodads from Sega PC games scattering around hospitals. If you've not yet played the wacky hospital management sim, hey, you're invited to try the whole thing for free this weekend on Steam. The trial weekend has just started, so hop to it. Well, don't hop if you're suffering from Hurty Leg, Premature Mummification, Night Fever, Lazy Bones, or Mucky Feet, in which case the doctor will see you now.
]]>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.
]]>Look, I know putting 'space' in front of something atypically space-ey might not be the most subtle way of getting people's attention, but I can't deny that it works. If the idea of playing as space Vikings while listening to a kick-ass space violin in 4X strategy game Endless Space 2 appeals as much to you as it does to me, then good news! The Vaulters expansion came out yesterday, throwing the science and military focused nomads into the cosmic fray. A launch trailer awaits below.
]]>Xcess, xplain, xcacerbate, xpire. Those are my 4 Xs. What are yours? Oh, it’s the boring ones. The kind you’d find in grand strategy sci-fi game Endless Space 2. Well, it might xcite you to learn that the space race between space races is getting an xpansion featuring the Vaulters, a crowd of godly ne’er-do-wells who’ve feature in previous Endless games, such as Endless Legend. This is the first proper expansion and it’s coming out on January 25. Here’s a cinematic about a sad robot.
]]>Another year over, a new one just begun, which means, impossibly, even more games. But what about last year? Which were the games that most people were buying and, more importantly, playing? As is now something of a tradition, Valve have let slip a big ol' breakdown of the most successful titles released on Steam over the past twelve months.
Below is the full, hundred-strong roster, complete with links to our coverage if you want to find out more about any of the games, or simply to marvel at how much seemed to happen in the space of 52 short weeks.
]]>Endless Space 2, the 4X game about achieving galactic supremacy with unique and interesting factions, is having a free weekend. Just to confirm: your space will end on Sunday at 9pm GMT unless you buy the game. There's a new update too, which expands the diplomatic options and adds a bunch of other new stuff.
If you only accept your space in truly infinite form, it's half-price now too.
The devs have also launched the 'Galactic Statecraft' update, which adds more options to the diplomatic side of the game. In theory, you'll be able to solve your conflicts via chatting rather than combating. It also pirate lairs to worry about, plot-related end-game bonuses, orbital stations, constellation control bonuses, weapon balancing and new events. It's all detailed in the patch notes, as well as this here video.
]]>Splendid sci-fi strategy game Endless Space 2 [official site] today launched a big update adding fighters and bombers. These spaceship classes were added to the first game in an expansion then promised as freebies for the sequel after launch, and here we are. Arriving alongside them are a new quest revolving around fighters and bombers, as well as returning Pirate hero Jennifer Rach. The game's picked up a tidy little discount to celebrate the launch too.
]]>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.
]]>I don't wish to sound callous but: if you find someone imprisoned inside a neutron star, leave them there. They're probably in there for a very good reason. And apparently they're powerful enough to survive being inside a neutron star. Leave well enough alone. But a spacefool like you will charge right in, I know, eager to complete the new quest which has arrived in Endless Space 2 [official site] with the launch of its 'Stellar Prisoner' update. Yup, Amplitude's space strategy game left early access in May (it's great, by the way) but updates are still rolling.
]]>Endless Space 2’s races are a fascinating bunch who wouldn’t seem out of place in a Mos Eisley cantina, but maybe you’ve had enough of them. Or perhaps you want your next galaxy to be full of new aliens to pal around with. Good news, then, because buried in the game setup menu is an option to create new factions. In an effort to get to grips with the editor and put together this guide, I’ve been working on my own: the Oak Blokes.
]]>The RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, was recently brought out of retirement for one last job. But it turns out that job takes place on a weekly basis. That's why the third episode is out now, in which Pip, Adam and I talk about sunny platformer RiME, alien-smashing grand strategy Endless Space 2, and walking simulator-with-bullets OrbLands.
This week also features Quickfire Questions with one of the developers from Night in the Woods, and some chat about our recent bestest best games of 2017 so far feature, where we talk about some reader suggestions to decide if they are worthy of the list or not. Also: some board game chat! We'll try not to make a habit of it.
]]>Update: The year is finished, which means you can now read the final list of our favourite games of 2017.
2017 has already been an extraordinary year for PC games, from both big-name AAA successes to no-name surprise indie smashes. Keeping up with so much that's worth playing is a tough job, but we've got your back. Here is a collection of the games that have rocked the RPS Treehouse so far this year.
We've all picked our favourites, and present them here in alphabetical order so as not to start any fights. You're bound to have a game you'd have wanted to see on the list, so please do add it to the comments below.
]]>For thirty-eight long years, you people have looked to me to inform you which ten games sold best on Steam over the past week. That time is now at an end.
But evil never dies.
]]>Fraser gave Endless Space 2 [official site] a hearty recommendation in his review yesterday, praising the scifi 4X for its quirky races, its economic systems, and its efforts to breathe life into the musty corners of the genre. Now we've got ten copies to giveaway, and you can enter for a chance to win one below.
]]>It's cruel that Endless Space 2 [official site] doesn't launch until tomorrow when the review embargo has already lifted and Fraser Brown has gushingly told us Wot He Thinks of the spacey 4X strategy. It's a great game and we can't play it yet because we're not fancy-fancy like him. I guess we're sitting on our hands for another day an- hold on! It's out! Endless Space 2 is out! A day ahead of schedule, developers Amplitude Studios have launched the big update which frees the game from the orbit of early access and blasts it off into the great unknown.
]]>I can imagine the intervention now, family and friends sitting around me in a circle. “Fraser, we all care about you. You’re in a safe space. But you’ve got to stop falling in love with 4X games. It’s bad for your health.” I’d walk straight out of the room, of course. My new beau is Endless Space 2 [official site], and its got its hooks in me deep. Like its predecessor – definitely Endless Legend and not the first Endless Space – it’s a bold attack on the more staid elements of the 4X multiverse, full of character, weirdness and ambition.
]]>It's T minus ten days to the full launch of Endless Space 2 [official site] and we finally have a look at the eighth and final playable faction of Amplitude's space strategy game. The Unfallen are a species of treants who've taken to the stars in driftwood-y ships to spread peace and harmony. They sound a pretty neat bunch, slowly branching out into nearby systems while making friends and boosting allies. Bless the little darlings. Here, watch their introduction:
]]>"I'm not planning to go back until the Early Access period is done," our Adam said after playing the initial release of Endless Space 2 [official site]. It's not that Amplitude's 4X space strategy sequel was bad, more he'd much rather wait then get to know the full, complete game. Sounds sensible! Adam, and all y'all who held back, get out your pens, glue, glitter, and sticky stars and decorate Friday, May 19th something cosmic on your calendar. That's when Sega have announced Endless Space 2 will launch, see. You can also decorate other days, if you'd like.
]]>In its early access mission to seek out new features and new civilizations, Endless Space 2 [official site] today encountered some corkers. Multiplayer is now in, supporting up to eight players, and a new faction has entered the 4X scrap too. The Riftborn are a lifeform from another dimension forced into ours, packing mighty time-manipulation powers and some ↑ natty threads. Here, meet 'em in this video:
]]>Look, I trust you're a sensible sort who'd sooner pluck out thine eye than read video game loreblasts but... check out this backstory for the latest faction added to strategy 'em Endless Space 2 [official site] on its journey through early access.
"Incredibly wealthy and only slightly less deranged, Horatio was a trillionaire who left to discover his own star cluster. Finding a planet sprinkled with labs of ancient cloning technology left by the Endless, the boredom soon drove Horatio to create a race of allies, servants, and slaves who were every bit as gorgeous as the most beautiful person in the universe--Horatio. Once the planet was repopulated, Horatio the First had only to look up, regard the stars, and realise how much beautiful they, too, would be if they were filled with... Horatios. The rest, as they say, is history."
Amazing. And with an egg head like that! Let's crack on with the rest of the update.
]]>Heavens to Murgatroyd, it's only the weekly Steam charts! That is to say, the ten games which sold best on Steam last week.
After a string of backwards-looking weeks, it's beginning to look a lot like 2017 at last.
]]>"I'm not planning to go back until the Early Access period is done," our Adam said after playing the still-in-development Endless Space 2 [official site], preferring to wait to enjoy the finished game. Fair enough! But if you've been playing Amplitude's space strategy game or simply want to know how development is coming along, here's word of the first big update. It's expanding and extending the game, adding another major faction, the United Empire, along with three more minor factions, while extending the turn limit and adding the fourth tier of technologies.
]]>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.
]]>Endless Space 2 [official site] is not out. If you want the full and fancy 4X space strategy experience, you might need to wait another six or so months. However! If you want to play something of it, any of it, and you want to be a teacher's pet and maybe help shape the game, you can now have a crack at a chunk on Steam Early Access. We've played a bit ourselves and it's... clearly not finished, but you knew that because it's not finished yet, yeah?
]]>Endless Space 2 is warping into Steam Early Access next week, but since I’m not a particularly patient intergalactic conqueror, I got my hands on it a wee bit early. Already, I’ve gobbled up countless star systems and found myself in plenty of scraps with space-faring ne'er-do-wells. Last night, I gave my entire empire pets. This morning, I harvested the life-force of a planet full of peaceful aliens.
In the 100 turns on offer, there are already a lot of diversions and meaty choices to chew your lip over, and it makes for a compelling glimpse of the bigger picture.
]]>Interstellar 4X strategy game Endless Space 2 [official site] will launch onto Steam Early Access on Thursday next week, October 6th, developers Amplitude Studios announced today - narrowly missing its planned September launch. The initial release will only come with half of its factions, but that's early access for you - it's not finished, yeah? Fraser Brown dug a preview version he played, so it sounds like it'll have a good heart. Spacefingers crossed, anyway.
]]>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.
]]>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.
]]>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.
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