There are very few developers who dare enter the depths of the 4X waters. Fewer still are the number of developers willing to brave them more than once. Yet, one relatively new studio decided they weren’t content with just making a space 4X game, but they were going to tackle the world of fantasy 4X as well. Amplitude Studios, developers of Endless Space, will soon be releasing their new turn-based 4X fantasy game, Endless Legend.

Without a doubt, a lot of people are going to have some preconceived feelings, as indeed I did, about Endless Legend based on their experiences with Endless Space, its older cousin. It seems fitting than to start this preview off with a general overview of how they are related. Endless Legend is another game set within the “Endless” setting, a setting used thus far in all of Amplitude Studios’ games. Essentially, this means it shares some of the same game elements, for example the FIDS (Food, Industry, Dust, Science) resource system from Endless Space returns, though with added complexities. Anomalies, strategic resources, and luxury resources also make a return appearance, though again with additional implications. Many of the elements originally present in Endless Space have been redefined, optimized, and made more interesting in general within Endless Legend, with items like the hero leveling and customization system, neutral threats, and the research system all receiving significant upgrades for example. While some systems such as diplomacy are still a bit dry to participate in, even it does still benefit from some additional strategic considerations. This is in fact a theme present throughout Endless Legend, a theme of refinement.

The fact is, Endless Legend is able to do things that Endless Space could never imagine doing. Exploring the beautiful fantasy map present in Endless Legend with your armies, uncovering new resources, new neutral factions to conquer or barter with, and new sites to explore invokes feelings within me that frankly didn’t exist in the “largely lifeless” galaxy of space. The beauty and peace of summer and the bitter winds and slowed progression brought on by winter make you feel like you are in a world, not a lonely galaxy, but a fantasy world. Watching the expansion of your cities and territories as you construct them right before your eyes in full vibrant colors is unlike anything you’ll witness in Endless Space. The soundtrack and sound effects are also very well orchestrated and serve to immerse you into this new world. The production values certainly feel high.

No comparison of the two would be complete though without mention of combat. Combat has not been an Amplitude strong point, at least for most, up to this point. Endless Space had rock, paper, scissors attack and defense methods. While they improved this over time with the addition of fighters, bombers, and range settings, the combat choices in Endless Space were certainly one of its bigger weaknesses. Endless Legend, while still featuring mostly automated combat, has introduced a deployment and targeting phase that allows you to adjust things a bit mid combat. In addition, the variety of units, special abilities, and in some cases even combat magic have led to an increase in player ownership. That is to say that the player now has more control over victory or defeat based upon their decisions both before and during combat. The battle cards of Endless Space are nowhere to be seen, but heroes still present passive bonuses to their army, and more interestingly, join them on the field of battle as well. Not only can you customize your heroes with new armor, weapons, and accessories you’ve unlocked, but you can also customize your unit designs as well. While life, attack, and defense are obviously important, other stats like initiative are important to consider, and beyond that some items offer new battle abilities. Heroes themselves can uncover unique items in their travels that only they can use as well.

Not quite all the races that will be added to Endless Legend are present yet, but it is already easy to see the variety each of them has to offer. I’ve played as the Ardent Mages for example, and as mages capable of bending dust to their will, they so far offer the only semblance of magic spells present in the game. A lack of magic spells is certain to be a detractor for some fantasy fans, but I can say that at least one faction I’ve played has access to strategic enchantments as well as tactical combat spells. This obviously gives them a unique feel within the context of this game, but this does not mean that other races aren’t interesting.

The Broken Lords for instance rely on dust to increase their population, literally buying new citizens rather than birthing them. They also heal with dust rather than over time. The Roving Clans can literally pick up settled cities and move them to a new, preferably better, location on the back of a giant beetle. They also can’t declare war and have control over a luxury and strategic goods market I’ve only begun trying to wrap my head around. Not to mention that they also have better access to mercenaries. Another peace loving race, the Drakken were only just added, but they are playable dragons who believe in diplomacy and assimilating many factions into their empire. The unique traits of these playable races are brought out through starting bonuses and a couple of unique research options per research era.

Speaking of research, research in Endless Legend follows a nice progression system. Starting in Era I, you must research a set number of technologies before you can move into Era II technologies. At that time you can continue researching Era I techs if you’d like, or you can start in on Era II. This same progression system is used to move from Era to Era as you proceed into Era III, Era IV, and so on. At this time an Era V and Era VI are shown, but empty. This may be because the game is still in beta. The other interesting thing with Endless Legend’s research is that nothing has a prerequisite. If you’ve unlocked the era, you can immediately grab whatever juicy technology you want. The downside is every technology you research makes the next technology you research cost a bit more in the way of research points. This makes prioritizing what you need important, yet doesn’t punish you if you’ve missed some earlier technologies. In addition, advancing into a new era offers additional bonuses automatically to your empire, for instance by unlocking some new weapons and armor, new luxury and strategic resources, and new empire plans. Advancing and watching new resources appear on the map can be a little jarring at first, but seeing how many resources you had hidden and can now take advantage of is a lovely sight.

Influence points are a new currency that is quite important and goes hand in hand with diplomacy and the new empire plan system. Influence is obtained like any other resource, through the careful use of buildings, city population assignment, and even quests. Influence is important because without it you will miss out on numerous empire wide bonuses, lack the ability to communicate effectively with other major empires, and find yourself unable to assimilate conquered neutral factions into your empire. This resource perhaps more than any other must be carefully spent and managed or else you may find yourself unable to even declare war against an opponent. Empire plans allow you to spend influence, at set specific times only, in order to provide your empire with benefits that last until the next time empire planning is set to occur. When that time comes, they lapse and you can setup a new empire plan using whatever points you then have available. The empire plan branches out in 4 directions, with each direction offering increasing bonuses as well as increasing costs. You can mix and match as you please, with all points in one direction or a few points in each if you like. These bonuses are significant, but spending all of your points on them can be unwise. If you need to compliment a rival, you may not be able to if you’ve spent them all. If you conquered a neutral faction and want to assimilate them, in order to obtain extra bonuses and to be able to recruit their unique unit type, you’ll once again need to have these points.

I’ve mentioned quests a few times now, and here lies perhaps one of the biggest differences from Endless Space. Quests in Endless Legend offer unique challenges and rewards and provide a sense of direction right from the start. Each faction has a unique faction quest chain that encompasses activities that will take you until far into the game to complete. The stories I’ve seen so far have been worth reading, and the rewards feel worthwhile. With numerous quests sometimes on your plate at once, the presence of a quest menu offers a welcome way to pin the one that is most important to you directly on the main UI screen for easy access. Quests are what I was really looking for when Endless Space introduced their rather dull random events, and I’m glad to see Amplitude taking advantage of the fantasy setting to introduce them this time around.

Endless Legend already in my opinion offers a far superior experience to its older brother, Endless Space. You shouldn’t take this to mean I’m endorsing an immediate purchase of this title no questions asked. There are still a lot of things I need to really evaluate and judge once it releases, for example the effectiveness of the empire AI, which for the record I completely trounced on normal mode without any difficulty whatsoever. Normally I’d be quite concerned with poor empire AI play at this stage of development, but normal difficulty is in fact 4 levels below the hardest “Endless” difficulty. I will certainly be extensively testing the release version before presenting my review.

In addition, certain unit abilities and faction abilities, like the Ardent Mages’ tactical stun spell, felt a bit overpowered and may be better balanced by release. Endless Legend also lacks a finished tutorial and either has hidden or failed to offer a way to track how close you are to achieving certain victory conditions like you could in Endless Space. The good news is the game has multiple victory conditions to begin with, so now they just need to get them into an accessible location.

The combat system is also bound to be a deal breaker for some, and I’ll be going more in-depth on how it all works in the review. Endless Legend should be releasing by the end of summer. I’m excited to see the finished product.

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