Posted on: February 3, 2021

Joshua_Jacobsen

Games: 84 Reviews: 4

Solid Update for MOO2, Not Complete

The best game in the genre is often cited as Masters of Orion 2 -- A game that's now 25 years old and has noticeably aged. Stars in Shadows makes a strong effort to dethrone MOO2 by being everything MOO2 was, but better. I would argue that it succeeds in many ways, but has serious deficits and feels incomplete. The good: * The game is gorgeous. All of the graphics are modern, well crafted, and immersive. * A ton of the game is pretty much a straight-up ripoff of MOO2 (a game well worth ripping off!) * The UI is generally pretty good. Doesn't present dense information well, though. The bad: * The tech tree skews toward conflict. Almost no production improvements. Feels incomplete. * Diplomacy is broken. Aliens constantly beg you for money and resources, and if you don't give it to them (which is sometimes risky) they hold a grudge literally forever. If you give them free stuff nearly half the time they ask, you'll still have net-negative reputation. If you try to steer clear of their disagreements, it's as bad as declaring war on them. Permanent. It's impossible to be in anyone's good graces long term. * Diplomacy so incomplete, it's broken. You can clearly see aliens using diplomacy tools early in the game that you never get. Spying? Ask for Help? Almost nothing to spend influence on. * Buggy. Game crashes a lot. Refitting older ships and stations is nearly guaranteed to crash you. And corrupt your saved games. * Overly difficult. Even on the easy settings, mobs eat your lunch until almost the end game. Unless you set raiders to low, they'll wipe you out every game. * Incomplete. There seem to be parts of the game that are undeveloped. Like the subspace nodes. * Metal sucks as a resource. Forces you to maintain a standing fleet, basically. And refit a lot. Which crashes the game. The rest: * A lot of the micromanagement of MOO2 is remediated. Simplified improvements and automatic upgrades are nice in some ways, shallow in others.

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Posted on: July 19, 2017

OTPaC241

Verified owner

Games: 659 Reviews: 3

Not an AAA Title - In All the Good Sense

At first I was very sceptical about this game, as I have grown to be with any space 4X game that has an MOO hue since MOO3 and GalCiv2/3 (both not too bad games in their own right - after heavy modding/dlcing). But I must say - it's great and it's captivating. Maybe the greatest feature setting this game apart from other titles that strived to be MOO in recent time is that it has atmosphere. There are these neat little things like space monsters, ruins, minor factions and natives for example. Sure other games have these features as well, but here they are varied enough to make it interesting to explore the galaxy. And the graphics though not fancy, are pretty in their love for detail and feeling for style - think e.g. Banner Saga. The art style and UI have been critized by some of my co-reviewers and though I must agree it is a matter of taste, I personally percieve it in no way as a hindrance to immersion. Maybe the graphics is a good example of something that can be set about most enjoyable games - they instill a desire for more. All in all this game has so many good parts: the music, the love to detail and the graphics work great together to generate atmosphere. The ship customization and ship combat - finally a 4X MOO-ish that has any tactical appeal at all. If you are like me, bored to death by letting the AI rock-paper-scissor it out in automated, eye-candy, boom-and-awe - this is the space 4X strategy game you have been waiting for since MOO2 and Space Empires 4. I would love to see and am looking forward to what they still have planned to add to the game. If you are into the 4X genre and do neither look for fast-paced action, nor awe-inspiring graphics - and of course if you are still looking for a game that is true to MOO2 in spirit - Stars in Shadow is a definitive recommend.

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Posted on: August 8, 2017

masterfrio

Verified owner

Games: 152 Reviews: 3

Master of Orion 2017

Let's start: I fell in love with MOO1 and 2 20 years ago.... and I kept waiting a real sequel. This gem is the most similar and satisfying "successor" I've found until now. It's not perfect, I miss leaders and the ability to forge my own race BUT it's very enjoyable and even hard to beat. I would prefer more options about planets and or starting planet, but it's a question of personal taste. In the end it's worth the price and I reccomend it to every 4x player.

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Posted on: May 9, 2018

darodrigues

Verified owner

Games: 1059 Reviews: 1

4X Hidden Gem

Stars in Shadow is a game with consistent, hand-drawn graphics which will tend to age much more gracefully than that eager, early 3-D aesthetics of the seminal classics of the genre. Like most of its kind, it attempts to pull off "Master of Orion II with a twist"; in the case of this one, the main twist is the assymetric races, each of which pushes the player towards a certain play style. Following the obvious route towards victory with each species already gives a ton of replayability, and going against grain allows even more challenges for those looking for something harder. The AI tends to be pretty consistent with the stated species' goals, rather than cheating like a Mofo and piling on the player, which is always refreshing. All in all, an easy buy.

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Posted on: February 11, 2021

Lightjolly

Verified owner

Games: 83 Reviews: 10

Good for beginners in the 4X genre

It's a great beginners first 4X game, the art style is absolutely gorgeous and the soundtrack is such a good boop. But for veterans of the series, best look elsewhere, the games depth is pretty shallow and the lack of diversity of victory conditions means this game focuses too much on war and less on empire development/diplomacy

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