I’ve played all the races, and tried many paths to victory, and they all feel fun. it’s time to figure out who the winner is. Then it’s time to start forging alliances, developing an army, etc. Once you hit the mid-game and realize you’re starting to have more of “whatever” (ships, money, culture, planets, etc), things start breaking down or coming together right around the point your start getting bored.
You eventually hit the other civs, and by that point it becomes a diplomacy and numbers game. Exploration phase lasts long enough to feel fun but not go on forever. I always feel like I’ve got the next 4 turns planned out in my head, and then occasionally something comes by to change what I was doing. I have it another few tries, but every game of Stellaris I’ve tried to play, regardless of how I play it, turns into the same slog.Įndless Space 2 is a bit tighter. My experience with Stellaris was being impressed by the visuals, wowed by what seemed like a lot of depth, and then bored as my first game started to drag on forever and just became a lot of waiting and dialogue confirming. They’re different animals, as others have pointed out. They’re going to scratch different itches, and I know opinions vary, but I greatly prefer ES2 over Stellaris.
