The default races all offer very different experiences tailored to particular play styles, while the various routes to victory require you to master different skills and, of course, every new game offers a completely different galaxy. Tipping that balance one way or another will be the choices you make as you play, choices about who you are and what you want to do next. But the clever thing, no, the genius thing about this game is that it isn't simply a mess of chaotic, formless content, but it's actually very, very cleverly balanced. Or maybe what I just described will be nothing like the game you play, because Endless Space is a stellar sandbox entirely at your disposal.
Is there enough room to plaster on another layer of armour? You might need it, because your new neighbours are a particularly warlike bunch, but hopefully you can buy them off by generously trading those rare minerals that are only found in your corner of the galaxy. “Or perhaps they're not, because you wisely chose a race that can withstand the rigours of colonial life, so instead you get back to designing your latest battleship, carefully choosing from the dozens of different components you've developed.
How many do I mean by “scores”? About ninety. Want to alter the win conditions? To change the age, shape or make-up of your galaxy? Don't fancy any of the game's eight very distinct races and want to build a custom faction of your own? Sure, why not – there are scores of different race traits on offer. Even before you begin you're presented with a plethora of possibilities, a dozen different ways to tweak the game you're about to play. Just like a black hole, Endless Space sucks you in by being so incredibly dense: by being absolutely packed with content, options and choices, all of which it offers up in fresh combinations with every new game. I've given up making hot drinks while I play, since they either grow cold beside me or I forget to even pour the kettle and I find I have to boil the blasted thing again. I swear that my hair was noticeably shorter when I started reviewing this game. Amplitude Studios might as well have called their game Black Hole, because it has the most incredible ability to suck you in, to trap you and to somehow warp spacetime around you so that, on the rare occasions you're able to tear your eyes from the screen, entire hours have been lost. I know that I should be telling strategy fans that Endless Space is a great new take on a classic genre, but I'm worried that if people buy this game they'll all but disappear of the face of the earth, their friends reporting them as missing persons.
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