I have been absolutely captivated by this game for the past 6 months. At this point I played it so much I've experienced every possible piece of content there is to see. And I still crave more. If you are still unconvinced about trying this game or not, I will outline my thoughts about it in the following sections.

---

Let's start with the visuals, absolutely stellar, pun intended. Jokes aside, this game has really good art, and every faction is visually different AND interesting in design. This also ties in to one of the greatest strengths this game has, faction variety and asymmetrical design. Every faction is not just visually different, but also plays different, some outliers being harder to understand at first. Take for example the Vodyani, unlike most factions they don't colonise planets, they live aboard their ships they can 'dock' into a system, and they can move as they please. Another example being the Cravers, with whom you will notice at the start of the game, have a depletion counter on their home planet. Their whole gameplay is about stripping systems clear of resources and moving on, also makes sense why the concept of 'peace' does not resonate with them. These two are only a glimpse to what kind of gameplay you're in for, and it's really fun.

Sound design is also amazing. Besides the sounds of space you may hear ambiently and the sound cues when you explore and probe planets, you will also hear some of the best tracks I've ever heard accompanying the action. Tracks feel different, appropriate to the setting, and some are simply beautiful. From the intimidating metallic sounds of the craver theme, to the soviet chorus of the United Empire, or even the jazzy Lumeris who you can just picture rubbing their hands together as they make you a deal you can't refuse. The Endless series always had amazing soundtracks and this game is no different. I highly recommend you at least give the soundtrack a try if the game is not your cup of tea.

As for the gameplay itself, yield porn son, so much yield porn. 4X games at their core are games about numbers going up, and in this game the numbers can get very HIGH. Which feels amazing to play, and gives you so much satisfaction seeing the fruit of your labours. Other elements like fleet combat might seem too hands off at first, but they have their intricacies if you look deeper. For example, in fleet combat you can arrange each and every ship in each flotilla, maximising damage output and sometimes getting a win in an otherwise bad situation. It's an aspect of the game many people complain about and get put off by, in my opinion, the system has decent depth if you take your time learning it. There are many other systems that make the experience fun, trading, the stock market, yes there is a working stock market, influence conversion, land battles and so much more.

For me gameplay has always been first in any game, and I'm proud to announce the gameplay in ES2 is good.

There are also story elements unlike other strategy games. The universe and each race has their lore, and you get missions during gameplay, which also contain choices that can fine tune your empire to your own playstyle. A minor spoiler, but as the United Empire you have to make a certain choice that shapes the future of your nation, do you support the militaristic Sheredyn? or look to the future with the Mezari? or should the empire stay its course and become an economic powerhouse? These choices change the visual appearance of your ruler and add so much flavour and replay value. Besides that, you also have a LARGE selection of quests you can stumble upon during gameplay, they add more rewards you can get and give more goals to a playthrough than straight up going for the win. Highly recommend that you at least watch the faction intros on youtube, they are pretty good even as standalone watches.

---

This game has a LOT of DLC, I advise you to wait for a sale if you want to grab them. I'd say they are absolutely necessary if you want to have a complete experience with this game. But still, even on its own, the game is a solid experience. Much of the drama surrounding the DLC is related to older versions of the game. Some of them really broke balance or introduced bugs which made the game worse. But thanks to the work put into the game over the years, every DLC works perfectly well and the game is very polished now. Some content may take you on the amplitude website in order to get it, most of it is very optional and their website still works as intended, but I still feel like all the content should be in the game itself and not on third party apps.

---

Let me start by saying the new player experience is a complete mess, at least when I started playing the game. If you can get the game to even launch in the first place. I had to do some weird shenanigans with Intel stuff and ♥♥♥♥ to get the game to run, thankfully the information is easy enough to find and you can reasonably easily find a fix for your game if it doesn't work. Main point is this, if you sell the game then make sure it runs, it's a very bad look for a company to buy a new game and wade through forums and steam discussions in order to find out why their product which YOU PAID FOR doesn't work. Besides that, you can also occasionally encounter minor bugs during gameplay, but most of them are now fixed or don't detract much from the main experience.

Technical difficulties aside, I don't have much else to say here, the game has a learning curve, but I'm the kind of guy who enjoys figuring things out on his own.

---

This game is absolutely worth buying and a really fun experience you shouldn't deprive yourself of. Grab all the DLCs on sale and go ham, there is a LOT of content waiting for you. Only thing I can hope for is that you have as much fun as I have with this game. Overall solid experience and a big thumbs up from me.