Stars in Shadow is a turn-based 4X science fiction strategy game. Explore the stars, settle distant worlds, and build an interstellar empire. Recover ancient technologies and negotiate with alien leaders. Created by a pair of passionate strategy gamers, Stars in Shadow features streamlined empire...
Stars in Shadow is a turn-based 4X science fiction strategy game. Explore the stars, settle distant worlds, and build an interstellar empire. Recover ancient technologies and negotiate with alien leaders. Created by a pair of passionate strategy gamers, Stars in Shadow features streamlined empire management, sophisticated turn-based tactical combat, and detailed world building.
“A worthy tribute to the classic Master of Orion games of times past.” 84 – CyberPower PC
“An indie game truly for the 4Xer to revel in.” 90 – Gamewatcher
Epic Scope: Starting at the dawn of interstellar travel, progress through four eras of technological advancement. Discover the science of planetary terraforming, upgrade your infantry battalions to battle mechs, and grow your fleet from a squadron of destroyers to an armada of planet-destroying Dread Stars.
Varied Factions: 7 Playable factions comprising six alien races. Each faction has different research strengths and technology options. Forming alliances, conquering neighboring species, or discovering ancient artifacts may open up additional avenues of research. Choose your race wisely as it impacts which worlds will suit you, what trades or alliances may be offered, and whether or not your neighbors are inclined to trust you.
Stylized Setting: A distinctive comic-book art style and an original, detailed universe backstory draw you into an immersive game world. Interact with a unique cast of alien characters, make friends and influence people, or crush your enemies and see them driven before you.
Focused High-Level Strategy: Build a vast and varied empire, taking advantage of the unique traits offered by different alien populations and the worlds they inhabit. Experiments on a slave population might diminish your popularity in the Galactic Council. A streamlined resource and planetary improvement model keeps the game moving even when your empire grows large.
Deep Turn-Based Tactical Combat: Face off against your opponents in complex 2D turn-based tactical battles. Counter your enemy’s missile barrage using point defense or interceptors, then close to energy weapon range! Stars in Shadow’s tactical engine includes several features rarely seen in turn based games. Multi-ship commands keep even large fleet battles fast-paced, and smart unit behaviors allow tight control with minimal micromanagement. Auto-resolve battles that are a foregone conclusion, while retaining the ability to replay any engagement to see exactly what happened.
Establish a colony on a planet with a derelict colony
common
·
53.74%
We Come in Peace
Destroy a colony with orbital bombardment
common
·
39.56%
Paradise Found
Discover Gaia
common
·
42.96%
System requirements
Minimum system requirements:
Recommended system requirements:
Stars in Shadow requires the OpenGL framebuffer extension. This extension is present on almost all graphics drivers released after 2010, but laptops made before 2010 with vendor-locked graphics drivers may not be able to run the game.
Recommended system requirements:
Stars in Shadow requires the OpenGL framebuffer extension. This extension is present on almost all graphics drivers released after 2010, but laptops made before 2010 with vendor-locked graphics drivers may not be able to run the game.
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The game is quite fun, the obvious comparisons to MOO and such are spot on. However, I have ran into a number of glitches, a couple of which have been game breaking (don't rush production on a planet that you think might get invaded EVER.) If the bugs get worked out of this game and perhaps a bit more lore get infused I can easily see this game hitting 4-5 stars.
...Is to make sure there's actually something to do every turn. This game is not good, people. It is boring, buggy and as a whole simply not very good. I'm sorry, I've really tried. I've tried to ignore the scummy DLC tactics, where they'll leave in races for you to see, but which you can only use after purchasing the DLC. I've tried to ignore the crashes which can entirely ruin a game. I've also tried to ignore the awful loading times, but this game is simply not worth your investments, be it time or money.
And the main reason for that, is because it is a dull process. If a game tells no story, that is fine, but it will need to function on its mechanics and this one simply doesn't. There is no incentive to do anything. You are a race, which has no particular influence on the game beyond the first four turns out of thousands. And you try to expand, which - if the game doesn't crash due to graphical errors (on a simple looking 2D game, very poor optimization here), or because there are events in the game that will crash your game entirely - is just an uninteresting process of pressing the spacebar until your building and research is done.
There is too often nothing for you to do except press the spacebar for several turns in a row while there are no events going on, nothing for you to read, nothing to influence or change. The reason I considered giving it 2 stars instead of 1 was because it isn't in fact bad. It is the same as watching paint dry. And I would prefer a game that is extremely bad, because then at least it could be so bad it got amusing. This game might as well not be there. There's nothing here for you, regardless of what you like in game. Just move on to something else.
Medicre but no regret buying it.
With enough funding devs could do something trully amazing
I love the no hex on planets or complementary buildings crap
enjoy the ship combat, ui is a bit strange to get used to as it has a minimalist interface and usually these kind of games go the other way.
diplomacy is somewhat limited with ai but never saw it do anything rediculous so i will call it a win
Stars in Shadow is a very solid space 4X game. The mechanics are solid (actually, some of them hearken back to the first Master of Orion), there's a good balance with micromanagement, and the races are all fairly distinct (there could be more of them, but it's also nice that each one really is quite distinct).
The art style is also nice; yes, it's a little "cartoon-y", but I think it works, and the bright colors and simple lines are a pleasant change from the normal art style for these kinds of games - as well as being playable on almost any modern-ish computer.
I didn't give the game 5 stars for two reasons:
-As of late September 2017, 9 months after the game came out, I've still had crash-to-desktop bugs in about 1/5 of games I play (usually when loading the game or trying to exit, so it's not a big deal, but...9 months guy, c'mon)
-The game is fairly...not bland, but...usual? There's nothing exciting about it. It's a competently made game that knows exactly what it is and does it. And that's fine, but it's worth 4 stars and not 5.
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“A worthy tribute to the classic Master of Orion games of times past.”
