Declaring war is rarely as simple as pressing a big red ＷＡＲ button. You’ll want your citizens on your side, ideally, though of course propagating a few choice lies can build and exploit prejudice. Space 4X strategy Galactic Inheritors [official site] makes the media an important part of warfare. It’s made by Crispon Games, a studio founded by Chris King, a designer on games including Crusader Kings II and Hearts of Iron III, and fellow former Paradox chap Pontus Åberg. While the only 4X I’ve spent real time with is Castlemaine, I like the sound of some of its ideas.

That media stuff, right? You can get folks to support war by bending a media angle to make them hate or fear another culture, is the idea, and can get a sense of what other cultures are up to by observing their media. Or do the opposite. Make peace. Or fake people out. Or follow some other dastardly plan. Just think: what would (or could) Malcolm Tucker do?

That’s only one part of the game, mind, along with the usual 4X shenanigans of building out and teching up. It’s also a little clever with army-building. It’s outsourced it to a military industrial complex where companies will design ships to your spec and follow feedback, levelling up and producing better designs, but limited production facilities mean it’s risky to become over-reliant on one company.

Anyway! Galactic Inheritors is out for £10.99 right now on Steam Early Access, where Crispon intend to be for about 6 months gathering and acting on feedback before launching. Yes, yes, I know “Early Access this”, “Early Access that”, but as we haven’t covered Galactic Inheritors at all before, you can consider this an announcement post if you’d rather. Have a trailer:



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