Recent reviews by Dead Planets and Live TV

no crying until the end

It looks pretty interesting starting out, but then it starts dragging really, really badly... the late game is like wading through a bog. AI diplomacy is completely nonsensical, too...

Computer players will refuse alliances regardless of how well you're doing in comparison to them and everyone else, even with the funny "balance the offer so the CPU will like it" button, unless they're looking for your help in an active war. They'll call you, don't call them, don't ever ask them for anything, everyone is on the warpath no matter how poor their position is.

Yes, you control half the galaxy and they're about to be wiped out but no, they don't want a peace treaty, they don't want trade or science agreements, and they certainly do NOT want to ally against the planet-eating Cravers.

(Then ten turns later, *they* will ask *you* for an alliance, and immediately follow it up with the angriest "WHY aren't you HELPING me FIGHT in this specific solar system right now?" message, good times)

I think it's a real shame. There's a lot of stuff here that's conceptually pretty interesting. The playable races are really neat, for one thing! And I like the hero system a lot, and how they can double as senators for the also-pretty-cool parties (though I'll never understand why an empire is only allowed to have like, two or three laws enacted at a time. just scale up the running influence cost or something, no?). The market is a neat idea, too.

But I can't really recommend this. It starts you out with a lot of interesting decisions, but then those dry up as you repeat the same answers again and again, by hand, turn after turn and solar system after solar system. The first twenty turns are compelling, and then the next eighty are not.

DFHack has always contained indispensable quality-of-life additions, and that hasn't changed with the Steam release. Incredibly helpful to both regular players and to people interested in writing other cool interactive tools.

There's nothing like this anywhere else.

Fun game with terrible netcode, absolutely worth it for this price though

It's so good... it just feels so good to move around and shoot in.
All the weapons are so intricate and multi-layered, and they let you pull of so many awesome tricks... I don't think I've played a better thought-out shooter in my life.

There isn't much to say here. Everywhere you look, this game is just kind of undercooked.
It's not unplayable or anything, but I can't recommend this.
Apparently, this is the state that it "released" in, after spending who-knows-how-long in Early Access?
It absolutely isn't in any state to warrant that decision.

Only marginally about track layouts at all. This isn't a game about thinking out a solid track design for a railroad, it's a game about manually toggling which way trains go at intersections to prevent crashes.

Great concept, wretched execution. Pain in the ass to actually play and try to do anything interesting in.
If you're still curious at all, pick it up on sale and play it with mods, I guess.

Genuinely cool little mystery. It's really charming throughout, too, all the art is really neat! It's a good time.