• Shadow Empire: Screen zum Spiel Shadow Empire.
  • Shadow Empire: Screen zum Spiel Shadow Empire.
  • Shadow Empire: Screen zum Spiel Shadow Empire.
  • Shadow Empire: Screen zum Spiel Shadow Empire.
  • Shadow Empire: Screen zum Spiel Shadow Empire.
  • Shadow Empire: Screen zum Spiel Shadow Empire.
  • Shadow Empire: Screen zum Spiel Shadow Empire.
  • Shadow Empire: Screen zum Spiel Shadow Empire.
  • Shadow Empire: Screen zum Spiel Shadow Empire.
  • Shadow Empire: Screen zum Spiel Shadow Empire.

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  • Plattform: PC Veröffentlicht: 03.12.2020
38,99€
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Preis Update 15.07.24

Über das Spiel

Shadow Empire puts you in the seat of the supreme ruler of a small nation destined for greatness and reconquering a devastated Planet.

You have Leaders to help you govern your Zones, administer your Organisations and lead your armies. You’ll also have Stratagems available that you can play on various targets.

You will be engaged in a great military conquest, in diplomacy, budgets, organizational management, in building your economy, infrastructures and many more details.

The game has a very procedural design that will ensure re-playability and experimentation. Not only are the Planets procedurally generated, also the equipment with you are fighting is.

A separate system for discovery of Techs, Formation Types and Model Types and their research/development also ensures that you’ll have to work with different playing pieces each game.

The game universe is designed to evoke the feeling of being on another planet in some dark future, but at the same time to stay familiar. It is a game that does not deny it is a game, but it has a strong thematic focus on keeping things relatively realistic.

For a strategy game there is a relatively strong roleplaying angle where you’ll need to keep your leaders happy in order for them to do their jobs well and not get any ideas of rebellion.

There is a lot of potential micro management to engage in and to offset this the game has Stratagems that allow sweeping actions by just clicking the ‘play stratagem’ button. This allows a mental break from the micro stuff, for helping the player get out of a fix and enforcing the thematics as well.

This game is one of the most ambitious games VR Designs ever made.

It is a very rich experience and a truly unique game that is no cookie-cutter of something you have already seen before

With a big game, comes a big Features List
  • Most turns you'll have to make Decisions on events occuring in your Zones, with your Leaders or with third parties (for example: cults, crime syndicates)
  • Procedurally generated Planets according to the rules of Astrobiology that include Climates, Rainfall, Deserts, Snow, Glaciers, Lava streams, Deep Forests, Alien Evolution, Mountain chains, Resources, Rivers, Biohazard Level and Respiratory Hazard Level, etc.
  • Detailed Combat Resolution taking into account factors as Readiness, Morale, Supplies, Experience, Entrenchment, Landscapes, Recon, Rivers, Weapon and Armor Technologies, Concentric Attacks, Leader Skills and Posture Stratagems.
  • Discover and Operationalize over a 100 different Formation Types, each in 3 different sizes (like Infantry Armor, Heavy Assault Brigade, etc)
  • Discover and Design 30+ different Model Types (like Light Tank, Walkers, Missile Launchers, etc…)
  • The game starts at a Low Tech Level, but at the end of the Tech Tree you’ll find knowledge that allows you to build (for example): Laser Guns, Atomic Missile Launchers, Walkers, Shield-Generators and even ICBMs.
  • Discover and Research over a 100 different Tech Fields (like Assault Rifle, Algae Vats)
  • Units can pick up supplies from a road hex inside the Logistical Network in a certain operational supply range.
  • You can extend your Logistics Network capabilities by building Roads or Rails as well as constructing Truck Stations, Maglev Station and Supply Base Assets.
  • Leaders can be recruited and appointed to become Zone Governors, Council Directors, Army Commanders or Advisors.
  • Leaders can have over 40 different Skills and can receive Leader Feats to augment their Stats
  • You can play Stratagems (cards) on other Regimes, Leaders or Zones. Over 150+ available.
  • Unsatisfied Leaders could leave you, rebel or turn corrupt.
  • Leaders tend to band together in Factions.
  • Factions will put forward Demands on you, like asking you to conquer a neighbour or raise your Tech Level.
  • You either have a Parliament, Senate or Politburo in your nation, you will be able to change system during a game
  • On the Diplomacy front: Minor Regimes can be coerced to become a vassal or even join you. Major Regimes can be tied into a number of pact and deals to ensure a peaceful coexistence.
  • Realistic supply model where running out stuff always has consequences. Lack of Oil will immobilize your troops, lack of Ammo will for sure stop any offensive operations and a lack of Food might just starve and kill your Troops and Populace.
  • Different kinds of Mining operations possible: Water, Metal, Rare Metals, Oil and Radioactives.
  • Prospecting is often necessary for discovering Resources that could be mined
  • Scavenge Ruins and discover rare Artifacts.
  • Supports multi-player

Systemanforderungen

  • CPU: 1.5 GHZ
  • GFX: 8MB video memory
  • RAM: 2 GB RAM
  • Software: Windows Windows 8, Windows 10
  • HD: 500 MB verfügbarer Speicherplatz
  • SFX: DirectX Compatible 9 Sound Card
  • DX: Version 9.0c
  • LANG: Englisch
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Steam Nutzer-Reviews

455 Produkte im Account
12 Reviews
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5330 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 12.11.21 18:59
Mehr Tiefe gibt es sonst nur in sehr sehr wenigen Spielen. 100% wiederspielbar.
Und ja, Grafik wird vollkommen überbewertet.
Jetzt nur noch auf Deutsch und es ist für mich das Spiel des Jahres!!
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135 Produkte im Account
1 Reviews
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10763 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 13.08.21 06:01
Macht erst Spass bis man merkt dass jemand entschieden hat dass Truckstationen 10 Felder von der Stadt entfernt die Wirtschaft grundsätzlich in den Ruin (durch administrative strain) treiben. Warum meine komplette Landwirtschaft neben der Stadt nicht mehr funktionieren soll weil irgendwo in der Pampa eine Truckstation ist, erschliesst sich mir nicht
Dieser administrative strain ist gut versteckt und baut sich nur sehr langsam ab und es gibt auch keine Warnung, wohl aber für einen Haufen anderer unwichtiger Dinge.
Diplomatie ist ziemlich nutzlos, da so ziemlich alle Verträge irrsinnige Schwierigkeitsgrade haben
Schade eigentlich.
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114 Produkte im Account
4 Reviews
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2514 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 09.12.20 17:38
Hammer, sehr komplex, sehr unübersichtlich, sehr detailreich.
Wer so etwas mag ist hier richtig. Es ist aus meiner Sicht sehr stimmig, facettenreich und tiefgreifend, nicht für eben mal zwischendurch.
Mein einziger Wehrmutstropfen bisher, die NPC brauchen schon mal 4-5 min bis eine Runde durch ist.
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399 Produkte im Account
9 Reviews
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4018 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 11.05.22 07:54
The atmosphere is mainly sulphurous. There are little to no trees, just endless stretches of poisonous bog and marshland. A power struggle between the militias and the increasingly professionalised army has left many dead. We have toiled to tame the wastes around our home. Our forces quelled and eventually destroyed the slavers to our east. We crushed the nomads to the south. We have carved the landscape with roads and railways in order to keep our men fed and watered.

We have been engaged in dreadful trench warfare with the Tourien Commune, our northernmost neighbour, for over three years now. Thousands of our men were, and continue to be felled by the massed defensive forces of the enemy. Our siege armies have been pounding away with super-heavy artillery. Our latest hope is that our newly developed CAS planes can make a difference, but our spies have revealed flak defences behind their lines. Our armoured forces have been beaten back by ranks of anti tank guns. The closer we inch to their capital, the colder and more hostile the environment becomes.

A new crisis has emerged however, reports have been circulating of a titanic creature moving through the mists to the west of our capital, Rumhold. Some farmers have reported seeing a squid like creature, well over a hundred feet tall, steadily oozing toward the capital. It has supposedly left nothing alive in it's wake.

We have been given orders to peel back from the north to defend the capital. We will give everything to defend our homes and families - but a part of me cannot accept our retreat from the north. All we have given is for nought.

The enemy will recover and come for us once more. If we fail to fell this beast, then it at least will lay waste to the Touriens too. Then we will all be at peace.

Glory to Rumhold.


***

Amazing game. Persevere with the UI and the obtuse systems and you will not be sorry.
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87 Produkte im Account
5 Reviews
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1473 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 09.05.22 13:48
Excellent 4X game. Solid, complex, and endlessly deep wargaming experience. Think, if one of the tribes in Mad Max managed to cobble enough resources together to rebuild a proto-state, and that's your starting point. It's a real gem of a game. If you're a fan of SMAC or early Civ, you'll love this.
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54 Produkte im Account
7 Reviews
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2086 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 28.04.22 21:49
Very unique game, however the tedious beat the interesting. Turn time is way to high, there is plenty of Rng involve which actually decrease the stategic gameplay and the Ai isn't quite there.
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432 Produkte im Account
10 Reviews
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5999 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 22.04.22 23:58
Pros:
Fairly deep and complex simulation up to and including modeling your relationship with various members of your government and how its impacted by decisions.
Mad Max in Space; complete with the occasional raiders, slavers, and mutants one would expect.
Murderous Kaiju with the right planetary generation.

Cons:
Mid-90's style UI and graphics that don't always show the info you need without some digging.
Low quality and inconsistent audio in places. (Granted its also the product of a single dev).
Murderous Kaiju with the right planetary generation.
Still missing naval support but Dev is currently working on that. (Will update this review when that finally comes out.)
Multiplayer is currently limited to old school PBEM for the moment.

Summary:
If you like 4x games and are fan of retro-style games or care more about mechanical crunch then audio-visuals then I would strongly recommend this. A bit rough around the edges but with a solid foundation and active development, this might just be the obscure gem you are looking for.
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532 Produkte im Account
19 Reviews
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7577 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 21.04.22 15:38
An impenetrably complex planet-bound science fiction game about world domination through ruthless logistics and political maneuvering. The abysmal graphics make 1998's Alpha Centauri look advanced, but if you love old-school Kriegspiel, this is a rare gem--and the 100 other global players will agree.
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83 Produkte im Account
8 Reviews
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9589 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 09.04.22 04:40
Civ meets Fading Suns meets hex & counter wargames. It's great.
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415 Produkte im Account
91 Reviews
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1831 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 02.04.22 04:46
Shadow Empire is one of the best 4X War Games out there, covered by abysmal UI and very steep learning curve. I needed to learn for 8+ hours on the web (videos, manuals, guides) and 6+ hours of hands-on to even begin to comprehend what is going on in the game system.

The supposedly complicated logistics of this game is still simpler than real life war logistics, but I think it's the closest we can ever get because any further than that and you will see yourself get hired by Pentagon. The path is centralized on SHQ though and I'd like to have an option for independent, decentralized logistic for other zones (please correct me if I'm wrong on the comment section).

The model system and high vs low tech model is pretty fun. You can't just spam high tech units due to resources constraint and the amount of ground that you have to cover, which will only (hopefully) become bigger and bigger. Knowledge of Recon, combat calculation, and Action Points will decide whether you will be the victor or get smashed by minor(s). The manual doesn't really explain this in enough details, despite having 365 pages. The combat screen also doesn't calculate everything and I still find myself scratching my head trying to roughly estimate my victory (hint: the ratio prediction isn't really lying, but it's not accurate, mainly due to Recon).

I recommend Shadow Empire only for gamers with a passion and enough time to learn for at least 5-20 first hours. Otherwise, I don't recommend it at all. Or do I?

This game is actually playable with only the very basic knowledge, at least for the first starting 1-3 hours. Edmon has a 30 minutes video that introduces the very basic of this game pretty clearly and I highly recommend checking his video out on YouTube.
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560 Produkte im Account
12 Reviews
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7467 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 01.04.22 23:45
The world I started in was destroyed by nuclear fire in the aftermath of the Apocalypse. Bands of crazed cultists charged in the capital and blew it up with nuclear warheads. Bandit lords got their hands on old military equipment and waged a war of extermination on each other across a continent. A huge spaceship crashed on one of the remaining big cities. Druxos IV used to be a place of learning, farming and industry. Yet know it was a dying place, overgrown with strange blue trees reaching a height of 120 metres. The remaining 4 million survivors, out of the 1.2 trillion that used to call this home, now scattered in makeshift shelters, trying to not get eaten by the gigantic 30m tall tigersnakes that fly above their heads, or get taken by the mad bandits roaming the lands around them, or let the flesh-eating fungal spores that permeate the atmosphere to contact their skin.

I was elected their leader, and I immediately set about trying to improve the situation of my flock. I set up a government that oversaw the exploitation of oil, uranium and any technology that could be salvaged from the ruins nearby. Unfortunately our neighbours thought the fruits of our labour should be handed over to them. We resisted for many months. Though our troops utilized the jungle well, their airforce was able to bombard us for months. They even herded a group of wild venomous cowfrogs straight into our lines, which wreaked havoc.

We had surrendered half our territory, but our brilliant scientists worked day and night to save us. This led to the discovery of a large cache of pre-Apocalypse supertanks. We used them as examples to make our own crude armored vehicles. We rolled them over the bodies of our envious neighbours and we bombarded their settlement to the ground.

It has been a long time since then. Our nations spans half a planet and claims 6 million souls as its brave workers, farmers, miners and soldiers. Our people lack for nothing. We even have managed to set up a Video station that broadcasts 3 hours per day. Our children now learn the proper protocol to save themselves from radiation poisoning. Our trains bring all sorts of goods from across the globe.

However, our envious neighbours have just been replaced by others. The only difference from back then, is that now we are not the only ones who have tanks, jet planes, heli-transporters and laser rifles. But we are the only ones with nukes...
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462 Produkte im Account
5 Reviews
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6175 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 21.03.22 03:18
A must-play for hardcore strategy enthusiasts, a must-avoid for people geared more towards Civilization V and most other post-2000's strat gamers.

Shadow Empire is deeply immersive and intricately detailed. You manage aspects that are usually abstractions in other games. The most noteworthy is the Logistics system. Are you a bad enough dude to manage getting truck loads of bullets and food to the front line for your soldiers? If you're not, you're going to have a bad time.

If you can manage it though you'll be rewarded with a bleak post-apocalyptic empire building game that's various shades of Mad Max, Dune, and Bladerunner, with a little World War 2 sprinkled on top.
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109 Produkte im Account
29 Reviews
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586 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 19.03.22 19:53
Its really my thing but it's just so clunky I can't do it anymore.
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182 Produkte im Account
18 Reviews
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2368 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 17.03.22 15:39
I watched about 8 hours of playthroughs and read some of the manual before giving in and buying this game. It only took a couple of hours for me to realize that I love it and will be putting a lot of hours into this one. The price was worth it. It's incredibly complex, immersive, and challenging. If you are a 4X enjoyer, buy it.
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101 Produkte im Account
15 Reviews
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4669 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 17.03.22 01:55
all its missing is a navy. a must buy!
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283 Produkte im Account
8 Reviews
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107 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 28.02.22 04:38
I have no idea whats going on
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1529 Produkte im Account
42 Reviews
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8527 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 26.02.22 03:44
This is exactly the type of game I want to like more than I actually do. The jank is extreme especially in the interface.
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86 Produkte im Account
9 Reviews
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3063 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 05.02.22 01:04
If you enjoy playing Civ but Civ is an obtuse war game with a built in logistics simulator running on windows 95 then this is the game for you.
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484 Produkte im Account
16 Reviews
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2058 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 16.01.22 14:03
Much better than any Civilization game
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76 Produkte im Account
8 Reviews
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12207 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 09.01.22 23:11
I just bought this game for its 300page manual and unique game mechanics.
Worth every dolar spent, It is really hard to learn.
I spent the whole xmas week to learn about this game.
It was the most difficult stuff that I ever learnt in this year, and I made my master degree this year.
It is really good to taste another gaming vision, it helps in your real life.
If you dont like the end turn waiting time, play on small planets.
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154 Produkte im Account
1 Reviews
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1679 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 09.01.22 13:52
Dwarf Fortress of 4X
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102 Produkte im Account
2 Reviews
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5168 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 09.01.22 00:08
One of the best strategy games out there, but its not for everyone. This game is deep, so deep that it can easily take 10-20 hours to get used to it and even longer to actually get goo. If you can bear through learning how it works then you are in for a great experience.

I hear a lot of complaints about the UI, but personally I feel that its not THAT bad. Sure it can be tough to figure out how to navigate it at first, but at the same time there is so much information to go through I can't picture a much better system.

There is a very deep and confusing logistics system at its core. you will need to take into account how resources will be delivered, not just if you have enough stored. So moving a bunch of vehicles or having a bunch of units attack in one turn can prevent you from delivering enough fuel or bullets to compensate for it. There is a feature that simplifies logistics but its one of the highlights of the game if you ask me.

Now the biggest flaw that I think might bother people is that the ai doesn't follow the same rules as the player. they don't have strategems or logistics, which while disappointing I can't say I'm surprised. The game is so complex and economies can be ruined with single mistakes at times, I don't see how a single developer could make something so complex that it fully understands the mechanics and exceeds at it. I do think it is a major flaw but it doesn't ruin the game, it does a great job in putting up a fight.

If you like spreadsheet games and logistics then its a must have, fantastic wargame and a great 4x.
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324 Produkte im Account
66 Reviews
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6300 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 08.01.22 09:56
Ive tried and tried with this game. It has a great setting and atmosphere but the systems make little sense. Its an un-intuitive mess on so many levels.

Its in no way worth anywhere near the asking price.
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167 Produkte im Account
14 Reviews
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4101 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 27.12.21 07:47
Absolutely insanely deep, you'll be drowning in information for hours and hours, but incredibly fun once you start figuring out how things work.
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518 Produkte im Account
14 Reviews
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17679 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 26.12.21 00:15
4X strategic gem that's shockingly dense and frequently surprises me with more interactions I hadn't yet recognized. A true labor of love and Vic should be well proud his game ranks as my favorite ever.
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7 Produkte im Account
1 Reviews
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26856 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 13.12.21 08:20
the learning curve on this game is very difficult. if you enjoy a barely possible challenge, that you're likely to lose because of rng spawn locations. than play this game. i personally like the challenge, but if you're not into games that have low margin of error than this is not for you.
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352 Produkte im Account
2 Reviews
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158 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 01.12.21 11:58
Didn't have so much fun since I played EA's Imperium in 1990.
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770 Produkte im Account
254 Reviews
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3273 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 01.12.21 03:44

Just one more turn, I promise...



Very interesting turn based 4X wargame with building mechanics. Old school from the gameplay to the pre rendered lowfi 3D graphics. Steep learning curve, but as the saying goes the best views come from the hardest climbs.

To anyone interested the game runs Ok in Linux via Proton and winetricks/protontricks.
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1248 Produkte im Account
24 Reviews
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1069 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 01.12.21 03:27
A simulation of so many different facets of what ultimately does boil down for a wargame - from subfaction relations to developing weapons, units, formations, managing different councils, an economy (private and state-owned), some politicking, logistics, etc etc, it feels pretty endless.

It can be really overwhelming, but if you manage to go in not worrying about fully understanding every system, you can have such a wonderfully nerdy experience that very few other games allow, playing around with different systems and consulting the manual as you go along.

I struggle a lot with losing in games, especially longer ones like 4Xs, but with this one I always felt like I was learning something new about the game. Getting stomped at the end just gave me more information about what I should do in the next playthrough :)

In some ways, it resembles games like Rimworld, where stories develop out of the underlying simulations. In other ways, it's very much a wargame, with hexes and units and encirclement and dozens of modifiers to combat. I suspect you need to like both of these things to enjoy this game, but if you're part of that group of people, and have time enough to spare, do yourself a favor and grab this, watch some tutorials, some let's plays, and toy with it.
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727 Produkte im Account
39 Reviews
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11806 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 29.11.21 14:41
Great game, keeps getting updates and love.
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421 Produkte im Account
6 Reviews
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5195 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 17.11.21 07:05
A complex, deep, and engaging experience. Lots of systems to play with and tweak. The manual isn't too much to read and helps explain the basics - more in depth stuff is there in the references section, and the Steam guides and forums contain even more information explaining some of the more obtuse and unclear systems. It's a little rough around the edges, the UI could use some work and the like, but it's a good game in its current state and has an enormous amount of potential.
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586 Produkte im Account
83 Reviews
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32 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 18.10.21 16:46
Well Done Vic! Another game from VR Designs-Ooooh lovely.
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359 Produkte im Account
5 Reviews
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9686 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 15.10.21 01:27
Really ambitions and deep. Evolves the previous operational war titles into a grand strategy operational 4X game. Nothing like it exists elsewhere.
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473 Produkte im Account
11 Reviews
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2948 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 06.10.21 23:58
Good game hard to get but once you do its so much fun
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400 Produkte im Account
11 Reviews
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3996 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 04.10.21 06:03
I so badly want to give this game a positive review because it's clear that so much love has gone into making it. I really enjoyed my time with it but the bizzare UI and extreme learning curve make it too hard to recommend. I had hoped that the release would be a platform for the developers to build upon and extend but there have only been a handful of minor updates since release. What's more, learning that the AI cheats with its logistics ruined a lot of the magic for me.

It's a shame. Conceptually this game is incredible, a hex-based wargame with 4x elements set in a post-apocalyptic world scratches all sorts of itches for me but I just can't recommend anyone else buy it.

If it looks interesting to you, grab it on sale. Otherwise, look elsewhere for your wargame fix.
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67 Produkte im Account
5 Reviews
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1807 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 27.09.21 03:26
Is this a good war game? Maybe. Is it one I want to play? No. My time is limited and while I am sure there is a lot to reward a player that sticks with this game, fighting against a truly horrendous UI is not something I'm willing to do when there are so many other, far more playable games out there. Great concept. Piss-poor implementation that basically ignores all game design over the past 30 years.
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162 Produkte im Account
6 Reviews
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16381 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 18.09.21 15:07
At first i found this game extremely interesting and it offers an unparalled strategic depth and level of detail.

After figuring out how it works (took nearly 100 hours) i played for another 100 and finally every game slows down to a crawl of micromanaging so much stuff you can hardly keep track what you did when the round started half an hour ago. AI turns take like 5-10 minutes later in the game, so its really getting slow and cumbersome.

Its a great game for what it is, i guess, but its really not very accessible and when you are into it you can easily spent half an hour EACH TURN to figure out whats going on in your empire and on your planet...
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179 Produkte im Account
44 Reviews
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11271 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 11.09.21 00:58
Absurdly good strategy game , great for playing with music in the background or an audio book.
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504 Produkte im Account
7 Reviews
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10327 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 22.08.21 15:54
A hidden gem. Usually, I get boring fast. But now 2 weeks already passed, and I still don’t think about other games.
Game is very deep and very detailed. You should think about economy, population, unit modeling (weapon, defense, fuel capacity, etc.), logistic, science, politic, select your internal circle and manage it, army organization and army internal structure and hierarchy. And many more. Once, I lost half of my entire elite army because it was too successful and went too deep into enemy territory – logistic didn’t support it and army started to lose fuel for tanks and soon had to abandon it. Almost everyone died of starvation trying to return from enemy territory.
Only after 10 hours of play I was able to connect the dots together to see how everything works and depend on each other. And realize why interface is so ugly – basically too much of functionalities for one monitor.
For now – best wargame/strategy/president(dictator) simulator I have ever seen.
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90 Produkte im Account
12 Reviews
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355 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 15.08.21 20:37
Just have to review this game after a few hours of play. I’m loving the deep complexity and strategic depth of the game. I also really like the look of it as an almost simplistic hex style war game. Some people might be put off by the graphics, but I think they allow you to focus more on the strategy rather than the environment. For me, certain games can become too distracting with how “pretty” they look. Highly recommended!
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36 Produkte im Account
2 Reviews
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35010 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 13.08.21 22:41
Do you like deep strategy? Figuring out how to best play a game with lots of complex interacting systems, all the while trying to dominate a planet? Do you like building logistic networks to support your armies as they fight through forests, swamps or deserts? Do you like scrabbling for rare resources, trying to balance their use between building and fighting? Do you like obscure reports, confusing and frustrating interfaces with odd spellings*, and lots of micromanagement? Are you willing to spend hours, days, weeks even, in this quest?

If you said yes to everything above, this is the game for you!

If not, well.. maybe you shouldn't play it. Either you'll end up hating it or Stockholm syndrome will set in and you'll start enjoying the experience.

*It's the distant future, of course they'll have odd spellings I tell myself.
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464 Produkte im Account
15 Reviews
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8162 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 07.08.21 07:05
A hidden gem!
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323 Produkte im Account
105 Reviews
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13077 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 06.08.21 05:34
I am a gaming dad that loves 4x strategy games. I saw this one a while ago and the next thing I knew, I had put in over 200 hours. I am on a bit of a hiatus from the game, but it is still being patched and updated regularly. I will definitely put in another 100+ hours down the road, as this game is a rare gem for 4x strategy gamers that love a complex empire strategy game.

This game looks like something from the 1990's, but don't let that fool you. It's a very deep and well thought out game, and the presentation you get really sells the atmosphere the game tries to deliver. This game does a great job presenting the feeling that you are a leader of an empire in a post apocalyptic environment on an alien world.

The strategic aspects of this game are fantastic. Those familiar with Hearts of Iron 3 will feel right at home here. The combat plays very similarly to HOI3. You have the old NATO cards filled with divisions of particular units, and you form armies with special commanders. The game is turn based, and the combat calculations occur between turns. You move your armies out to hold the lines and push back the borders, and when in conflict, maneuver your tanks, specialists, artillery, and/or air forces to weaken or push back the enemy lines. Flanking and cutting off supply lines is equally important in this game. Surrounding, or being surrounded, can spell disaster for the surroundee.

The game strategies alone are very deep and complex. The research tree large, and the political and diplomatic aspects of the game are nuanced and take time to master. In fact, this is a classic game that requires a lot of learning how to play. For those that wish to jump in and wing it, be prepared to lose in glorious fashion until you figure out how to do basic things like manage your supply lines, or build up your economy. With all these nuanced details of the game, we still haven't covered how to build out the empire to play the strategem card mini-game, which is the core of how the player gets its edge over the enemy.

This will take us into the CONS:
The game is hard. It has a steep learning curve, and even on the easy mode, the RNG that fires off events can be very unforgiving and consistently put you down. Almost every event that fires off at the top of a turn is bad. Events can also increase your instability within your towns and create a death spiral of further negative events. If the AI has a great start with access to population centers and resources, you may find yourself having to take drastic expansion options just to keep up, and the random events will punish you for doing too much too quickly. Your Empire is just as liable to collapse itself than the enemy's tanks. Many of the maps also place alien enemies, rogue AI, raiders, slavers, and hostile minor factions all around you. It is quite common to be able to take on one or two opponents in a defensive war, only to be attacked by 3 or 4 more hostile powers on all sides. Using terrain and protecting your borders is paramount to survival. You will not win every game.

Despite the rough challenge a map may provide, the game, overall, is a wonderful empire and military strategy game. I absolutely love choosing my own SCIFI world and building a post apocalyptic empire to try and conquer it. My only gripe is that I can't be aliens or mutants. Mutants and aliens are in the game, though, you typically run them over with your mighty tanks. 10/10
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567 Produkte im Account
21 Reviews
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1523 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 06.08.21 01:22
looks like shit
is quite confusing at the start
there will be a moment that blows your fucking minds with how deep the game goes

then you sit back and realize this game is incredible

i do wish it looked better though but hey ive had worse
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163 Produkte im Account
2 Reviews
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3316 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 03.08.21 19:05
Elegantly executed, highly complex but accessible, procedurally generated Sci-Fi grand strategy masterpiece. THIS is what I've wanted from every 4X game I've ever played.
Loose the polymer hounds of war!
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462 Produkte im Account
269 Reviews
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5867 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 12.07.21 14:29
Here are the two most important things about this game.
Shadow Empire is a universe. But more importantly, it’s a universe that is accessible.

If you look at this game and think “There’s no way I’m ever going to approach this”, I’ll have you know that I’m not a hardcore gamer by a country mile, it’s my first real operational wargame, and it only took me two hours of test play before I could play it in more or less full force.

If you look at the game’s manual and see the number 369 in the page count and think “There’s no way I’m ever going to read this”, then don’t read it. Here’s a link to DasTactic’s tutorial series, which is helpfully divided into basic rules and in-depth analysis. Where basic rules take up about a minute each video.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGB6RkFB7ZmPoXDAaR8FbM3xujwMsDgEv

However, if you actually choose to read it, I’ll have you know that it’s actually a 110-page manual with samll pages, large font and a lot of illustrations. Because the first 25 pages is preface and lore and you don’t ever need to read past page 139. Why? Here’s why. Ever played an advanced tabletop game? Remember how they tend to make two manuals? One for the basic rules and another for all the little details, disputable situations and particularities? Same thing here. The basic rules can be swallowed up and digested in less time than many in-game tutorials last. And it’s a lot easier than anything out of Paradox catalog.

In short, learning the basics of Shadow Empire is simple.

Why is it important?

Because it’s a game that simulates climate, history, colonisation, infrastructure, internal politics, foreign politics, warfare, intrigue, technological advance, societal perturbations and [strike]sniff-sniff[/strike] ideology – all of it on an alien planet, all of it – after a global war, and all of it – captivating and believable. So much so you can extrapolate its rules back onto the real world.

It’s a game where the speed of your planes will be affected by the strength of winds and gravitational pull. It’s a game where you can create the political regime of your choosing. It’s a game where you can cripple an enemy army by simply blocking their supplying road with only a small band of shotgun-armed bikers in leather jackets a couple thousand kilometers away from the front. It’s a game where you can send linguist expeditions to establish diplomatical relations with sentient alien life. It’s a game that has a “word” score which shows how much you are trusted as a politician.

But, most importantly, it’s a game where you’re forced to adapt – no matter the hand you’re dealt. And you’ll love every second of it, because the tools for it are all there. Your economy is struggling to sustain its production due to war effort? Mothball unneccessary assets until they are truly needed. Enemy has cutting edge technology tanks and is rolling them across the border? Hole up in the mountains with grenade launchers and howitzers and go full Mujahideen. No oil deposits around your homeland? Go green and synthesize it out of excess food. A corporation is spreading its tentacles all across the country? Call Zuckerberg out before the Congress and make him explain himself. Citizens are rebelling? Well, you knew what you were getting into when you decided your political model is going to be an autocracy. At least, you have powerful military to suppress unrest. And how about increasing the funding of your secret services? Or maybe actually build some schools and hospitals for once? Or maybe it’s that other political party you’ve been neglecting to cater to? Yeah, Shadow Empire is a very politically sobering game.

This piece of code has an ambition as vast as its universe. And it’s made by one man. And it succeeds. No “but’s”, no “however’s”, no “of-course-sacrifices-had-to-be-made’s”, no “naturally-a-game-of-such-magnitude-was-inevitably-going-to-collapse-under-its-weight’s”. To quote a certain chess club frequenter, “It just works”.

It’s as close to Dwarf Fortress and Rimworld as you can get without the ridiculousness associated with those games.

And it’s easy to get into.

PS
And its manual has a section called “Design compromises” at the end. Vic for president.
PPS
Oh, right, did I mention there's gonna be fleets coming in future updates? Vic for president.
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279 Produkte im Account
4 Reviews
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10075 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 09.07.21 04:10
Many reviews about this game complain about the poorly designed UI, the obscurity of the rules, the overload of information, in a way, they are right. What they get wrong is that there is a great complex game underneath that makes learning to play the game rewarding in itself.
If you like games like Dwarf Fortress (losing is fun!) or hardcore turn based wargames, get this game. It's amazing.
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215 Produkte im Account
17 Reviews
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100 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 01.07.21 19:34
Desperately needs some streamlining. Or at the very least some kind of tutorial.

The enemy always has ridiculous armies numbering in the thousands of units, whereas you can't even put an extra infantry unit on the field that you didn't start off with or get randomly because they need equipment that you do not have, cannot buy, and are not informed on how to make.
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113 Produkte im Account
18 Reviews
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687 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 27.06.21 21:17
Reading the Manual is considered playing the game, so don't read it before you look at the interface and ultimately return it. I play dwarf fortress, this is 10x worse and now I can't get a refund because I decided to read how to play the game.
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132 Produkte im Account
1 Reviews
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4576 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 27.06.21 19:11
This is my first steam review ever (I have over 50 steam games with hundreds of hours). This game is absolutely excellent. I'm about 40 turns into my first game and love it so far. The developer should be very proud of his/her achievement here. I have a high tolerance for this style of game. Despite the pacing, the game keeps me engaged all the time with a ton of interesting content and decisions.

Unlike a number of other commenters, I found the learning curve was fine. I've consulted the manual a few times, but mostly figured it out as I go. For any grognard, I think it's quite self-explanatory, and for more casual gamers it's forgiving enough to just dive in and try things out by clicking and guessing. The manual is also fantastic when actually needed and clearly a labor of love.

I particularly love the mix of Fallout, Avalon Hill-style wargaming, and Civ-style game. The AI seems smart enough, and at least has minor tunability.

Cons: Obviously graphics aren't the main draw here, or modern UI practices, but overall I'm fine with the graphics and there is a ton of good content in them that is accessible. I do find that dialog boxes and mouse actions seem rather slow and sometimes lag before they take effect which is a little frustrating, and always having to click 'Ok' is a little frustrating after discussing with my leaders. Sounds are okay, rather stereotypical post-apocalyptic. Why can't future fallen civilizations listen to some smooth jazz or a little funky soul instead of eerie wind noises (eye roll emoji)? I'd rather listen to my own music. My only true complaint is that there are a lot of grammar and spelling errors. These should be easily fixable by the developer; just run them through some publicly available spell checker/grammar checker, or even borrow a copy of Microsoft Word or something. Heck, even Steam comments highlight misspellings. It is jarring to see these as well as various colloquialisms pop up during a serious military discussion with one of your commanders.

Overall, 9/10 from me, maybe even a 10 with more experience. I don't lightly spend this much time on any game and the cost was totally worth it (25% off sale).

Edit: Much farther along and my review remains unchanged. Love this game and easily worth the price.
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160 Produkte im Account
1 Reviews
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14018 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 25.06.21 05:45
I don't write reviews, but I'm writing this one because you should play this game.

The mechanics are obscure, the UI is difficult to navigate, and you can create a planet you like, load up a new game, feel like you're getting the hang of it, and die through no fault of your own...sometimes there are 100+ foot lizards just roaming and there's nothing you can do until you've developed your tech more.

Oh, do you like tech upgrades? What if you had to design all equipment from scratch? Pick any wings, fuselage, engine, and fuel tank (weapons optional), and you've got a nice plane, right? WRONG. Keep trying.

Do you think Civilization is too pretty? Do you think CK3 is too straight-forward?

Do you want to watch a bunch of youtube videos to understand why your guys keep getting wiped out despite having a numbers advantage? (It's recon, it's always recon, unless it's logistics)

I feel like I'm not selling it, but you should get this game. Then you'll understand.
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276 Produkte im Account
59 Reviews
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972 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 21.06.21 15:48
Take an old Avalon Hill game. Smoosh in Alpha Centauri. On top of that, smoosh in some early Fallout. What you have mashed together in a somewhat indi fashion is Shadow Empire.

Perhaps the most modern thing this game does is take the path that recent tabletop RPGs have taken, and allows you to build the world you're playing on. Are you on a Mad Max desert, an Avatar jungle, what's the history of your world, it's atmospheric composition - can you walk outside without a mask, or are you in a frozen, radioactive Metro wasteland? Will you get eaten by the world's primary predator, a 1m snail-analog?

Once you get to the actual game - which takes a while, because the whole planet building phase is really engaging - it's an uphill climb to figure out what the game wants you to do. I build a thing. It's not building. Why? Where's the tab for that? Ah. I need more Machines. How do I get those? And so forth. It took me two restarts to figure out you could send more than one unit into combat at a time.

But once past THAT, it becomes a reasonably interesting 4X, though it leans heavily onto the Xterminate part, which isnt really my play style. But, like the Avalon Hill games it looks like, war is sort of the point.

This game shouldnt tax anyone's system, and as far as I can tell it's bug-free.
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61 Produkte im Account
11 Reviews
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749 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 01.06.21 13:47
I read many of the reviews before buying this title. I mulled it over for a few weeks, not sure I would like this game or not. I really enjoy complicated strategy games, so the reviews saying the learning curve is steep actually drew me to it. I was concerned about the people saying that although it's common for game a/i to have built in cheats for balance (plus a/i is very difficult to program, cheats are easier for game companies).

Eventually I bought the game, read much of the rules and watched 3-4 hours of 'how to' and tips videos. I started playing, found I had picked up the basics and a few advanced concepts, took my time, and started to do well.

Here is why I have thumbs downed this game: it's boring. The combat, while intricate in it's programming and takes many factors into account, it's not 'rock paper scissors', but......your choices are 1. attack, 2. dont attack. Yawn. It's basically a more complex version of Civ. Build your cities, upgrade your tech and try to stay ahead of bots, build up an army to attack one neighbor while defending against another. Diplomacy is equally yawn-worthy, and an alliance signed means nothing to the a/i, I can see why some people love this game, it's like so many other city builders and they are popular, but I played 12+ hours and I was already bored. Once you get the basics it's just a game of plodding along, doing the thing that works until victory. Yawn.
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307 Produkte im Account
42 Reviews
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3018 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 30.05.21 10:33
Didn't like the look of it. Took the plunge after reading up a heap of stuff on the internet about how deep this was which is right up my street. NOT disappointed. This is a gem.
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544 Produkte im Account
98 Reviews
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1374 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 29.05.21 05:23
Astonishing levels of detail. My first wargame-like game but the setting really kept me going and learn.
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145 Produkte im Account
6 Reviews
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12357 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 15.05.21 22:38
A perfect mix between Hearts of Iron (but good) and Civilization, in a wonderful setting, and with endless replayability. And as deep as you want it to be.

The dev seems to be very active and adding content every few months which is a plus.

Is not perfect though, managing the leaders is a pain in the ass, very few ways of dealing with the incompetent ones and the very few good leaders you get are sometimes impossible to keep happy. The UI is sometimes confusing and in the late game turns take a lot of time to process, specially in large planets.

Still a very good game.
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108 Produkte im Account
7 Reviews
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8258 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 15.05.21 15:20
Excellent game! It reminds me of everything I love about Crusader Kings 2, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri AND Transportation Tycoon!
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364 Produkte im Account
23 Reviews
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3314 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 12.05.21 01:51
Do you recommend this game?
Yes
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75 Produkte im Account
1 Reviews
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29424 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 10.05.21 03:04
If you mixed Civilization, Alpha Centauri, Panzer General and an excellent RPG together in a test tube, this game might be the result. There are probably a dozen plus systems that all interact under the hood to make this an amazing game that will grab your attention for just one more turn.

It is very complex and deep, and even nearly 400 hours in, I continue to learn new techniques and clues that will improve my performance.

As the other reviews have stated, graphics are not amazing, learning curve is steep and the AI turns can be long, depending on the number of enemy regimes and your planet type.

Still, I would highly recommend this game for anyone who enjoys turned based, 4x gameplay.
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925 Produkte im Account
55 Reviews
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1143 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 20.04.21 20:58
1998 called and wants thier graphics back.

The future called and wants thier 4x gameplay back.
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178 Produkte im Account
14 Reviews
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14890 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 19.04.21 12:57
I'm absolutely hooked. It's like Cid Meyers Alpha Centauri got invaded by Hearts of Iron but in a post-apocalyptic space future and somehow better than all of those parts. It's one of the few games with too much micromanaging that I've really gotten into. It solves the you-should-be-fiddling-with-everything-all-the-time problem by making your ability to fiddle a scarce resource called political points and it actually works. The UI is intimidating, the graphics are minimalist, and there is a learning cliff, but it's absolutely worth it. 10/10 excited to have a unit of militia run out of supplies and be eaten by alien mega fauna again.
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197 Produkte im Account
1 Reviews
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580 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 18.04.21 20:32
This game whips. I've gotten hours of enjoyment before even launching the game from reading the manual and watching videos. It's a deep game, and you will get out of it what you put into it. Highly recommended.
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258 Produkte im Account
16 Reviews
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1044 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 18.04.21 14:15
Devs really should focus on UI. There are absent menues and there are irreversable actions that should normally be reversible. I had not encountered this bad UI for a long time. Yet I like the idea of the game. Please, dont ruin experience.
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48 Produkte im Account
2 Reviews
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1728 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 14.04.21 20:31
I'm at war with another regime on the far eastern side of my territory (literally takes a year for infantry to get there from my capital, in-game time). I notice that a few turns after our two fronts meet, my forces are beginning to run low on supplies, even though I had extended a road only a few hexes away. This is making it so that the enemy regime's forces - mostly battalions of infantry - are able to withstand a full armored onslaught, all because my tanks aren't getting the fuel they need every turn.

I make sure I am producing enough fuel. I check to make sure none of my road network has been disrupted by marauders. All good there. Scratching my head, I toggle on the logistics overlay and look around. That's when I realize that my Strategic HQ, stationed in my capital and responsible for sending out supplies for all my armies, has used up every single logistic point available to try to send out the supplies that the front needs. In less abstract terms, the army has taken every truck within my borders to try to ship the fuel and food to the boys fighting out in the east... and its still not enough! I take a moment to be amazed by this, then I get to work fixing it. Not only is this affecting my armies, but its also hampering my industry, since those same logistical resources transport things to and from factories and mines and scavenging centers.

Instead of just building more trucks (in the game: building or upgrading truck stations), I decide that I want a better way of getting things to the front than on my country's mostly dirt, post-apocalyptic roads. I decide that my army needs a post-apocalyptic railway system. So, over the next few turns and as my army gets weaker and weaker from lack of supplies, I layout this railway system over mountains and rivers and deserts until it reaches the city closest to the eastern front (by this point I also have a western front). This takes about a year and a half of game-time. The turn after it's done, I look at my eastern-most units, barely hanging on, and see that they are fully supplied for the first time in years.

Most people that talk about Shadow Empire talk about its complexity. This is fair; it is a deep game that makes you read the manual and watch a few videos to learn it. However, that complexity doesn't exist for its own sake. Its there so that problems require planning and juggling of priorities to solve, and are that much more rewarding when you do solve them. It also makes it so that any problem can be solved in lots of ways. For what happened to me, I could have created a new Strategic HQ and stationed it in a city closer to the front, diverting resources from my capital and splitting my army in half, but making the logistics cleaner. I could also have set up an air transport system instead of a railway, which would have required me to design a transport plane model and build airbases.

This game gives you a simple goal in a complex environment and makes you feel like a genius when you make a plan, execute it, and end up with borders that cover half of the planet.
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376 Produkte im Account
2 Reviews
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4339 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 11.04.21 00:25
Get in your time machine and set it to 1994.

You're at K-Mart after seeing Ace Venture: Pet Detective, and you just bought this game. Giant Box and all.

You go home and your parents tell you that you can't play your new game because its a school night. So you open the box, and dive into the 300 page manual--pouring over the pages of lore, doing your best to wrap your head around councils, taxes, and logistics.

Saturday hits, you dive in with the instruction manual at your side and spend the day trying to deal with your governors consistent mistakes, and starving troops on the front lines.

This is my way of saying to read the instruction manual--its essential to enjoyment (especially the lore!). Anything that you can't make sense of is explained in some fashion in the provided manual. Invest a little bit of time in trying to learn the complex mechanics, and you couldn't ask for a more satisfying game. You may even end up loving the art style.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go wage war on slavers that I offended because I had the gall to NOT purchase human life.

10/10.
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553 Produkte im Account
31 Reviews
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1425 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 07.04.21 20:16
Shadow Empire has very thoroughly sucked me in for the past week or so, and I'm extremely pleased and surprised by it. The game looks overwhelmingly complex at first glance, but a variety of good design choices makes it unexpectedly easy to pick up and learn. In particular, the game does a good job of letting you decide how deeply you want to engage with its complex systems for most parts of the game. You can be quite successful while only paying cursory attention to whole subsystems of the game, letting you learn them at your own pace, but it's also rewarding to develop a deeper understanding of those mechanics and get a stronger edge.

In particular I want to highlight the city building and logistics mechanics of Shadow Empire, because while the military aspects of the game are everything you would expect from a game with this look and from this kind of developer, the enjoyability of peacefully building cities and roads was a welcome surprise. There's a lot of moving parts in keeping populations and industries productive across a wide empire, and the need to physically transport resources to construct or supply buildings makes the city building feel very unique compared to other 4X games. And all of that goes back into making the military aspects more enjoyable, because your effectiveness in managing your cities and logistics feels like the biggest factor in having an effective military.

I don't think I'll look at the 4X genre the same way after playing Shadow Empire. It seems to come from a very different lineage of games from most 4X games, and brings with it unique and fresh mechanics that I've come to love. If you like the feeling of building up a complex system and are willing to put a little bit of effort into figuring out this game, I highly recommend it.
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162 Produkte im Account
7 Reviews
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548 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 03.04.21 17:33
There might be a good game here, but there is no way to find it. It's not just that the UI is ugly or clunky - it's actually not that bad aesthetically, and I'm fine with clunky UIs where the action you want to take is hard to find. Endless Legend's UI was far from smooth, but that was fine and almost endearing.

The issue is that the game doesn't clearly tell you *what* happened or *why* it happened, so there's no way to learn what you should be looking for or trying to do. The 400 page manual is not much help here, it's more of a lookup reference for how the systems work once you know what you want to do.

I had a very similar experience with this game as with Dominions: everyone who enjoys games similar to the games I enjoy claims its positively amazing, but when I give it a try, it seems like I'm playing a totally different game from the one they all reviewed. Based on what everyone else says, it sounds quite likely that the game itself is good. But it needs a tutorial and a UX overhaul before new players can be able to play that good game underneath, rather than a hieroglyphics puzzle to figure out what is happening.
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177 Produkte im Account
6 Reviews
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7275 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 02.04.21 16:39
Oh boy. Almost impossible to leave a full depth review.
Hearts of Iron meets Railroad Tycoon
Civilization meets MadMax
The best most original war game I have ever played. The planet customization, the alien life possibilities. The rpg aspect is incredibly well done. Everything about it is a joy, once you understand what you are doing, which might take a while tbh.
The UI is a beast. If you don't want to spend hours just learning how to do basic things, I'm sorry, get going you filthy casual. Personally I find the learning curve is rewarding in the end. Especially so given the extreme depth of available choices.
10/10 if you like em complex and rewarding.
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123 Produkte im Account
1 Reviews
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77067 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 11.03.21 01:45
Dear god, what can I say? I've spent almost 1300 hours on this game. It's a mash up of Hearts of Iron, Civilization and Crusader Kings...what else do you need to hear?
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1401 Produkte im Account
39 Reviews
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812 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 02.03.21 21:57
Staggering strategic depth from a solo dev.

What struck me most was just how interconnected every decision can be. Every move you make has a cascading affect into other game systems.

Amazing sense of possibilities. A true gem.
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264 Produkte im Account
19 Reviews
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3128 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 28.02.21 15:47
Interesting game with good themes, but overly complicated in needlessly confusing ways.
I think the developer wanted to create something detailed and semi-realistic, but it comes across too eclectic, the game would be better if the bloat and non-fun parts were cut. There's so much content, but a lot of it is completely unnecessary and actually makes the game less fun.

Pros:
+Sci-fi themed grand strategy (fairly unique).
+Fair amount of replayability.
+Basic multiplayer (no matchmaking)
+Alien worlds, with varying terrain

Cons:
Non customizable unit forms, inadequate OHQ form makeup (most OHQ use infantry, if you have limited population infantry should never be built).
-World randomization makes it hard to get a world that you want. You want a livable atmosphere, smaller/bigger map, resources, alien life, reroll 30 times. (This could be so easily fixed, by allowing a custom world choice).
-Leader management is a waste of time (leaders should be cut completely in my opinion) it makes the game feel like a beaurocratic chore, really unrealistically bizarre when you can't find any employees with a suitability score higher than zero. (should just be a set character, that either doesn't level up, or levels up slowly).
-Lots of waste of time events, Leaders causing scenes basically every turn, boring stuff that isn't worth reading after the 200th time in a game.
-Impossible events, often the liklihood of success on a roll is impossible, frequently for all the choices.
-Events don't allow you to shape your empire as you want, unless you want all your leaders to hate you and quit.
-Randomized tech discovery is a nightmare given that resources are rarely plentiful. I just won a game on turn 284, despite funding my Applied Science and Economic council at 25% of funding each for the entire game i have still not discovered any form of energy production, including the first two in the basic tier 1 tech.
-Resource production is up to luck, metal mine spawns are incredibly rare so you normally have to rely on recycling which runs out, which means unless i manage to research metal filtration and build it, i'm screwed).
-Strategms, really not a fun part of the game, if you're lucky they can be incredibly great, maybe you get a nation to join you and give you all of its units. Most of the time they are pointless.
-many of the administration blocks shouldn't be in a game. The idea that you need to discover and the research OHQ form makeups so that you can have an army that isn't just infantry, but infantry and trucks is ridiculous. I'd like to play with OHQ's, but they are garbage, it's frequently better to go with large independent units instead despite the lack of commander..

I feel like the dev needs to take a step back, play the game a little, and see what's fun and whats not. It's clear the dev did a lot of hard work, and if it were cleaned up it could be fun. While I enjoy playing this myself, there are much better strategy games out there, so unless you really want this theme, i would look elsewhere.
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314 Produkte im Account
51 Reviews
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131 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 26.02.21 18:09
I think this could be a deep and interesting game. There seem to be layers of depth, and lots of thought put into it.

Sadly, the UI needs to be completely redesigned to organize and fragment the information better, because it currently is a wall of mixed up text, icons, and graphics.

Even more sadly, there is no tutorial or introductory game, so the player is hit with all the complexity at once, and no guidance what is going on or what is most important.

Complexity and depth aren't a problem, but bad presentation is fatal. I loved me some Civ IV in its day, and even the original Mac Pax Imperia (with which the dumbed down RTS of that name on PC had nothihng but the name in common). If the game were presented clearly and cleanly, I might find I loved it. But as it is, I hit this game and bounced.

I might try it again if they announce a major UI rework and/or a real tutorial. I might even try it again some day when my gaming time is less interrupted and my life less stressful. But for now, it's too much work to even get to the point where I could see if it was fun.
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182 Produkte im Account
2 Reviews
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3774 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 13.02.21 22:02
This game could be a great game but there is one ENORMOUS HUGE RIDICULOUS SUPER FRUSTRATING PROBLEM with it. There's a lot of quirky things but the biggest problem is THE UNBELIEVABLY COMPLEX COMPLETELY NOT UNDERSTANDABLE LOGISTICS model. Once you start to expand your empire by just a little bit, you need to make sure your units are supplied. But the supply model and the logistics model don't make any logical sense! No matter how many depots you build or rail lines or roads you still get ridiculous amounts of bottlenecks and supply issues. PLEASE TRASH THE LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CODE in this game. Put in a super simple to understand and implement supply process. I love the game but I can't stand to play it anymore because logistics bottlenecks make it impossible to play. Its just unplayable. And there is no good explanation of how to make logistics work anywhere on the internet. C'mon - just kill the logistics code and re-release this game or at least give us an option to turn off logistics. There's enough complexity without it. Can't recommend it to anyone until this is fixed.
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324 Produkte im Account
15 Reviews
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5635 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 08.02.21 09:34
Shadow Empire is a once a generation gem of a game.

It's quite the claim and what, you wonder, regarding this glorified map-simulator featuring creature icons resurrected from the fossilized remains recovered from an ancient SimEarth floppy could warrant it!? Only the fact that it is an homage to an era in game design that does not exist today.

For a generation now, industry has presided over the slow dilution of gameplay with simplification for mass market accessibility while the PC master race decayed into decadence, toting the banner of “grafix über alles” for the sake of their $1000s worth of GPU teraflops used to draw anatomically true 10 inch RTX cyberdongs. Well, I’m here to tell you the overripe theory of superior visuals providing superior gaming is finally dead! Long live the Empire!

Back to basics; Game Design 101-Building of the Back Story.

SE is no slouch in lore but I suggest reading it from the manual; the intro is steeply abridged. Your theatre of war is a drama to rival the best in the genre; a sweeping space-opera that spans epochs of history from the launch of the space age to the collapse of a sprawling galactic empire. And of course the constant conflict therewithin. This pregame saga ends in self-inflicted cataclysm which swings humanity–quite violently–full circle back to the dawn of city-states akin to those of earthly antiquity ascending from the darkness of prehistorical turmoil, into the dazzling light of historical turmoil.

To Turn 1 in this great game. I’ll be honest, the “dazzling light” bit was for dramatic effect. Thanks to impenetrable Fog of War, your phoenix-like rise will be more akin to a dimmer switch turned with excruciating sluggishness. The F of FoW is simulated to a high degree of authenticity. I’ve never seen such a totally enshrouding FoW system like this before. And! I! Love! It!

Map info is doled piecemeal like rations during The Blitz. Knowing anything depends upon Recon Points without which, you know nothing Jon Snow. Without Recon, you don’t know there's a unit hiding in the forest beside your farm, then you don’t know what type of unit, then you don’t know how many, then you don’t know if you killed any with the artillery strike, then you don't what happened during the battle when your infantry routed. Then after 15 minutes of playing you realise you don’t even know what you don’t know. Time to read the damned 350 page manual!

Let’s be clear about the unclear: if your spies Recon regimes, it's a tossup if the national borders are accurate. Those borders happen change while you have low Recon? You don’t get the memo. Those farmers your map assures you are still on your western frontier? They've been dead for years. News can’t travel far, you see, when mutant raiders have excised the tongues from every man, woman and child.

Speaking of raiders. Combat is highly detailed at the strategic level, and is not simply a game of numbers. Instead it's a game of many numbers; namely combat modifiers, a staggering amount of them. These influence battles in surprising ways. Using bonuses wisely, it's possible for 100s to hold out against 1000s. You just have to man up and invoke your inner Spartan, by studying spreadsheets of modifiers.

Combat seems weird, until you understand the totality of the simulation. Then it becomes second nature; you’re a grizzled war vet after a few hours of shalackings. By then, you know that the war on the western front won’t be won by Christmas, unlike green recruit Jim Jackson, who naïvely reassures mom it'll be over in six months.

This is a good point to discuss the uniquely challenging logistics of SE. Best summed up memestyle:

Combat Report: We lost 2900 infantry. We made 0 kills.
Me, hand wave: When Steiner attacks everything will be okay.
Secretary: Mein Fuhrer, Steiner-
General: Steiner didn’t receive his reinforcements. Not enough Logistical Truck Points reached his hex!
Me: Shakily remove and place glasses on desk.

Sorry Mrs. Jackson, Jimmy ain’t coming home. His militia unit will spend the next 7 years entrenched in the western mountains as part of an 800 mile front to prevent the national borders from collapsing under the weight of savage assaults. You won't know the Jimmy who does return. You’ll never know what caused his scars or what happened to the freefolk lass who conceived his bastard child on the front one dark night that Jimmy wasn’t sure he would see the dawn of. Some stories aren't meant to be told, Mrs. Jackson. The UI never articulates such details, but you’ll find enough context to craft compelling stories to partake of the PTSD of your people.

Speaking of people. A welcome phenomenon happens in SE: the immense data crunching going on under the hood result in life-like responses to stimuli on the part of population of your empire. The complex layers of abstraction guiding NPC behaviors combine to endow your people distinct lives of their own. As leader of these people, you have goals! They also have goals. Good luck with that!

The empire management conveys what it must feel like to be President of the US: The Most Powerful Man with Both Hands Tied Behind His Back. There is a refreshing disconnect between your goals and what actually results from your blundering due to all the pandering to and lobbying from special interests and Recon requirements—my kingdom for a Recon Point! Political power is wielded like the double edge sword it is. Newtonian reactions abound; NOTHING without consequence. You thought you were going to run this civ like you were Sid Meier. Cute.

Administrative actions require various “little” points, produced by Assets and Councils, to be converted after adjustment by yet more modifiers into “big” Points. Of particular import to you will be the production of Political Points: diplo capital known as PP. These are obtained via political points, or pp, a raw yield which is modified and converted to PP. An important source of these modifiers are your Cabinet Members.

You will grow fond of your favourite councillor’s special skills that pump your little pp into your big PP. Hey, we've come full circle remember? #MeToo reverted back to Pound MeToo! Your PP is in fact your most precious resource. If it's exhausted pushing some policy through the senate, you’ll be left without the ability to attend to even simple tasks. You could find yourself so broke politically that you can’t even afford a whisper into your advisor’s ear about whose ear he should whisper into! You feel less like an overlord with tyrannical control of a tax slider, more like a man slouched before a stack of demoralising reports who’s desperately trying to keep campaign promises as underlings submit stratagems in attempt to turn the tide of the nation’s floundering fortunes. Fun? Very!

Political manoeuvring is modelled via the Stratagem system. It's quite fun to manipulate it to your favor, and has an impact on how you build your empire. Since resources are sparse, you have to follow focused plays akin to StarCraft build orders. Say RNJesus blessed you with a strong unit roster, you’ll go for the early Economy Council and the Bureaucratic Office Asset instead of the Unit Design Council in order to get the strong econ Strats early. If scouting reveals Major Regimes on several flanks, you want to go with the Foreign Relations Council as an early choice to generate diplo Strats to secure peace and trade with these powerful neighbors. If a starting leader has a high Invention Skill, you might just go for the Turn 1 Military Research Council. Give me deathrays yesterday! SE offers interesting choices tailored to different situations. This combined with the world generator's capacity of a galaxy of different starts grants high replayability.

There is much more cover, but this review will also be 350 pages if I tried.

TLDR this is a lake a mile wide and a mile deep as observed from orbit by Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Wolters’ personal NATO spy satellite.
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224 Produkte im Account
18 Reviews
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2541 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 02.02.21 18:59
This is a tough one to review ... game could be great ... but ... it needs a lot of work in quality of life issues.

The good:
1. It is a very deep 4x game (like the better CIV games, CIV 1, 3 and 4) with many interesting and new mechanics.

The Bad:
1. The manual: It is 350 pages and looks nice, but it does not explain any game mechanic clearly. Too many acronyms: IP, PP, BP, etc. etc. I gave up on trying to remember what is what, very confusing. Also very important game mechanics are not explained at all, like F.Ex. what the different councils actually do.
2. Nothing is explained: the hundreds of potentially good game mechanics are a confusing mess that it will take the player hundreds of hours of tiring searching on YouTube and the Web to try and figure out what is going on. And at the end of it even the streamers and content creators admit that they don't really know what is going on and where the numbers come from. Here are two examples: A: Units have recon, I have 4 units surrounding an enemy, my unit recons adds up 36 points but the recon on the enemy square is 70, why??? No one knows, I attack the square with 74 to 1 odds in my favor and lose??? What??? .. rage quit. B: I build an industry on a hex and game says it costs 40 metal and 25 IP and takes two turns, ok good I have the resources. NOPE, It actually costs 40 metal and 25 IP every turn, and I don't have that, end game because this was a critical asset at a critical time, result ... rage quit. Frustrating.
3. That was just two examples and I could give you many more like that.
4. AI: I don't think there is any ... AI seems to play by completely different rules ... magically spawning enemies that were not there a turn before ... Ai has no road costs while your costs will ruin your empire. Enemies spawn everywhere with no rhyme or reason .. the combat odds make no sense ... 74:1 you lose ... 264:1 you lose ... 1:2 you win!! ... what??? ...
5. Empire Borders. Minor regimes can just walk all over your territories claiming it all. ... F.Ex. a giant squid will invade your territory because it does not know anything about borders, okay, I can buy that, but now the enemy AI can just piggy back on that squid and take all of your territory because the damn squid erased all your borders ... you can not attack the AI empire because the new territory is now magically theirs ...yeah okay ... rage quit!!
6. Road logistics ... whatever ... impossible to figure out how the logistics work ...
7. FP: Fate points, they are supposed to be powerful events that you can use to move your empire forward ... but they are awarded by ridiculous negative cards that will destroy your empire, ... F.Ex. If you irradiate you whole empire with toxic crap you can get 2 Fate Points ... really? ... why the hell would I want to do that?
8. The language in the game: Many errors and the grammar is bad ... minor quip ... but it just adds to the unbalance and the general unfinished feeling of the game.
9. The user interface: It's passable at best ...
10. AI turn length .. on turn 30, which is not very far into the game the AI already took 4 min on a medium PC ... this is not really necessarily a negative, you can take your turn and them go do something else for a while ... but still can be annoying ...
11. Difficulty levels: Beginner should be hard and normal should be impossible, not to even mention the others .. I am not the greatest player but to make the player feel like an idiot right off the bat is not a good policy. Some other games do this also and I don't like it ... no one needs to be made to feel like a moron after spending hard earned cash on entertainment. Here's looking at you Battle Brothers

I tried to like the game .. and there are some great things about it. But when the player does not know the rules by which the game and the AI operate it really makes the game frustrating. Games are supposed to be fun, but the fun to aggravation ration for this game is just not good ... somewhere around 264 to 1 against it ...

Can it become good? Maybe ... but I don't think it will .. it is a big undertaking and the developer does acknowledge this .. my hats off for trying ... I am afraid that the concerns I have are so basic to the game that they will not be addressed ... because the game is so complex I think that without an enormous commitment of time to streamlining and explaining all game mechanics clearly is just too much work ... I hope that VIC can accomplish this because if he can then this game could be a classic.

Right now this games title should be Shadow Rules. The manual is pure fluff. If you are going to make a deep strategy game (like Advanced Squad Leader) then you need to give the player a deep understanding and clarity of the game and its rules ... otherwise all of the hard work (FUN) the gamer does when playing is rewarded by some unexplained shadow mechanic coming from the dark and ending a run .. NOT FUN!

Postscript:

If the developer made enough money from the Steam release he should do the following:

1. Hire a professional writer to rewrite the game manual and the dialogue.
2. Hire someone to redo the art work, especially the map, it is very difficult to see borders and land features. Game features should stand out and make clear what is what. Let the right artist bring out the true potential of this game.
3. Hire a musician.
4. Hire a top programmer to redo the AI and the game engine so game turns don't take so long.
5. Hire a UI expert to clean up the presentation.

The developers vision is great and grand, but it is too much for one person. If he does the above and does not water the game down but keeps to his original vision I believe this game can make him a lot of money and fame. As is ... well I give him a lot of credit for putting the game out, but one has to know how much one man can accomplish and not let the vision suffer from not taking the leap into hiring professional staff to complete it. Good Luck.

Regards Lynx
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193 Produkte im Account
13 Reviews
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8852 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 01.02.21 21:41
The concept is excellent which is why i clocked up 110 hrs but the system is extremely slow ( I did a workout each time it plays the other side) and found resource allocation and combat, the core of any such game, to be barely manageable and totally unpredictable.
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167 Produkte im Account
6 Reviews
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7753 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 31.01.21 03:19
6/10 So I like this game, and will play it more, but just can't quite recommend it to the masses. I like it because it was built in a garage by non-native-English-speaking super-nerds, but if you're comfortable with ambiguity, learning something without a manual, or use Linux, definitely buy this game (Not sure its on Linux, but someone should get the code and pop the top).

I'm a sucker for procedurally-generated content with an RPG component. This game puts it to a Civ-like hex board, with some diverse events and narratives giving a Rimworld flavor at times. This is a LONGER empire-builder than Civ, though it demands MORE of a strategy for controlled growth that seasoned gamers will remember from Civ I & II - (I remember if for Amiga, so if you read this you can come to my funeral tomorrow)

There's a post-apocalyptic context to the additional challenge of political intrigue. Relationship management with the leaders of ever-present paramilitary factions is focal--as you'll employ these roustabouts, treat, beguile, bribe, coerce, spy on, assassinate, force into early retirement, or sometimes fire them. These Machiavellian exploits are in cards drawn randomly each turn based on your faction leaders' subjugation, and cost 'political' and 'fate' points.

The Tech Tree is extensive, and impacts unit model design options which are EXTREMELY extensive and customizable--Literally, more unique designs than days in a lifetime--not just mine.

This game had at least one architect with vision, but not sure about the developers. This games is cool, but only for a certain nerd-core consumer.
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107 Produkte im Account
1 Reviews
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4460 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 28.01.21 23:08
Fantastic game, if you're a lover of Sci-Fi Grand Strategies with a lot of depth, this is your game.

Cannot recommend it enough, my Discord and I have several 4 Player PBEM games going on. My only question to the developer is: Is there anyway to mod the game to allow more than 4 Players via PBEM? I don't see why not, but I wouldn't know how to go about it.
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140 Produkte im Account
9 Reviews
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1522 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 24.01.21 18:55
I just finished my first game, the unification wars are over, the God Emperor has assumed control. This is not a game for everyone, but if you have the levels of autism required to manage your cabinet, your strategic command, and your cities, then by all means this is a must buy. The UI is not intuitive and will not hold your hand, the AI can be unforgiving, especially by the mid game, reading the 300 some odd page manual is recommended.
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662 Produkte im Account
19 Reviews
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2535 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 24.01.21 02:49
honestly, I'm going to say this game is worth it, but it's garbage at the same time. tl;dr: game's got a load of jank, feels like it's straight out of 90s, and runs about as well, but it's fun.
Like Hearts of Iron or Stellaris? If you can bear the presentation's jankiness, this game's for you.

Let's start with the jank:
Let's run through creation of a new unit. Every time a new model of unit finishes development, you're prompted to select a new one.
Say you want a new medium tank. You're unsure if you've researched new technology, though, so you decide to check that - and that means you quit out of the decision, then switch from main map to the management mode, then the model viewer, where you can see your current designs. You look up Armour to see your current Medium Tank, the All-rounder. It's got main parts visible in the quality screen, and you can see you have some field testing, so the tank's going to improve on a new model. You jump to the techs tab of this view to see the current tech bonuses. However, the tech bonuses screen doesn't tell you which tech bonuses would be available for it - for that, you'll need to hit up the tech tab of the management mode instead. Here, on 'applied engineering' box, you can see you have some numbers in the Applied Engineering tab that you didn't see in your tank mode. So you've now found out that there's some upgrades available for your tank, so you hop back over to the main map mode.
However, because you quit the prompt initially, this time you get to hit the reports view to see various overviews, where you can hop over to cabinet overview to call up your director of the model design council. You hit that, then hit model design. This brings you back up to the view of units you can design a new or upgraded model for. You hit through your vehicle parts and OK the development of a new vehicle model.

This is obtuse as fuck. This should be in one screen. Instead it's spread over And it's just one example of the dozen other systems that work in a similar fashion. That's not all - the obtuse UI also pans over to how the logistics system is presented, how promises are tracked and more - I'm not terribly keen on reading a dozen reports to find out information that could be presented in an easier manner. And to top it off, the AI takes a literal age with its movements - even though the processor utilization remains low. It's likely that the game's basically looking up convoluted spreadsheets in the background and doing way too much IO, or it's limited by some other factor that makes the AI take way too long to handle its turn.

I'm mad cos the game is good but bad at the same time. Systems are deep, the game's annoyingly **fun** for an idiot like me. The presentation of the game just fails it.

Vic, the developer of this game, has definitely worked hard to make this. The presentation of the game is just too archaic. I'd suggest either hire an UX/UI guy to overhaul the stuff, or to spend 6-12 months on learning modern games programming on Unity or Unreal Engine, and then redo the game on a base that doesn't feel like Visual Basic.

Call it Shadow Empire 2 or something.
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371 Produkte im Account
2 Reviews
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6205 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 11.01.21 08:16
The game is great. Except I can't deal with how long the turns take. Upwards of 5 minutes depending on how many regimes are present and what they are doing. You can play a scenario that has fewer regimes and the turns are somewhat tolerable until they start expanding; if they expand because the AI won't create new zones (which are basically cities) which means most of the time the AI just turns into a push over. So for the AI to play optimally you need to take the scenario where many regimes are present so they can conquer zones instead of making them, but then the turns are even slower because there are more regimes and the AI empires get even larger.
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125 Produkte im Account
1 Reviews
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9278 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 02.01.21 08:58
This game is sooooo close to being great, but suffers from 4 fatal flaws:

- It's not clear how any of the 7 billion game mechanics actually work. You could go looking through the 350-page PDF manual for info, but when the PDF STILL doesn't have the information you need, it's just bad game design. I could spend an hour providing examples, but just trust me on this one.
- The AI is hell-bent on destroying you, which is good. But when there are 8 different major & minor factions attacking you at once, not to mention random squid creatures moving strategically to cut off every supply line you own, it goes from challenging to tedious. The AI has no instinct for self-preservation, meaning it will continue to attack you even at teh expense of being annihilated by another neighbor. If diplomacy worked you might have a chance, but it doesn't, and you won't.
- In the early game, the AI turns take seconds. In the later game, you can safely take a shower, go to the gym, hit the bar with friends, and be back to your PC just in time to see the AI finish its turn. This is likely an outgrowth of the 7 billion game mechanics that it is trying to calculate for each regime. I've never actually finished a game of Shadow Empire for this reason, as it's accounted for a significant portion of the 154 hours that Steam says I've been playing the game.

- I've saved the worst for last. It's just not fun. There's a time early in the game when you are exploring the map and searching for resources when the game feels good. It remains reasonably satisfying when you start getting cities going, managing supply lines, trying to get candidates to fill government roles, and trying to work through the tech tree to build new units. But every game I've played has ended with me getting irritated. Whether it's searching the manual or Reddit for poorly-described mechanics, or watching the same supply line be broken for the 4,000th time, or my zone governor triggering the same unrest event for the 8th time, or waiting 10+ minutes for an AI turn to complete, or watching multiple enemies start carving up my lands without ever having to declare war, I get pissed off. And then I wish I hadn't wasted several large chunks of gaming time playing this game.

When you find yourself regretting the time you spent playing a game, no matter how close the game comes to checking all the boxes you'd want in a perfect game, you have to move on. And in my case, I feel compelled to warn others. Don't waste your time or money here.
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383 Produkte im Account
25 Reviews
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129 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 31.12.20 14:46
A game with a lot of potential, but there are many core issues that made me unable to enjoy the product. Some of these include:
No Tutorial. Tool tips that barely cover anything and a manual are not a tutorial. There really needs to be one to help you understand how to do stuff like assign leaders, how to get each resource, what they each are used for, etc. The lack of one makes me have to guess how stuff works.

Other AI Nations can just steal your territory and that isn't considered an act of war. I've had multiple armies encircled because some AI thought to just steal territory but I can't kill them for taking my territory?! That was my breaking point and why I refunded the game.

I want to enjoy this game, but until the price drops and a proper tutorial is added I sadly won't be buying it.
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193 Produkte im Account
6 Reviews
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2569 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 28.12.20 20:44
It's complicated.
It's ugly.
The manual is 365 pages long.
it takes a long time to play.

It's also the best game I've played this year. It's a lot like Distant Worlds. It makes no sense for awhile and then all of a sudden, it clicks in for you.

So be afraid of it, but dive in anyway. You won't regret it.
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317 Produkte im Account
10 Reviews
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3020 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 25.12.20 14:38
An excellent game hampered by poor UI design and clutter. It simultaneously manages to fascinate and frustrate by having all the bells and whistles a 4X game should have and then some. After which it manages to sour the experience entirely by hiding relevant data from the player in a multitude of unnecessary tabs. Which unfortunately makes the player spend more time looking up said information rather than running a nation.

Suffice to say I have seen EXCEL spreadsheets that were designed better and where I work there is a lot of them.

My suggestion to the developers if they read any of these would be to PROMPT the player more often. There is a lot happening in Shadow Empire and all of it is hidden and because it is hidden the player loses sight what is happening in their empire.

Work on more visual representation of data, no one's asking for new art or elaborate 3D combat systems or anything similar. Text that can be styled differently for the purposes of presentation, should be styled differently. Say SOLDIER MORALE IS REALLY LOW, colour it red, bold it, put it in all caps and then provide a short explanation why that is below. Instead of melding in with the rest of the screen. I don't know about the others, but I spent more time trying to find the right thing in the reports section than playing the game. Which is really the wrong way to go about this. Macro, not micro. Grand, not spreadsheet. This is starting to remind me of Stellaris in some way.

And finally fix the typos, they're really easy and give the wrong impression about the game.

Good luck to the devs and I look forward to seeing what they come up with in the time to come.
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198 Produkte im Account
3 Reviews
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12712 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 24.12.20 12:36
This game is incredible. Its the 4X strategy game I've always wanted, and its finally here. Its so good, its meme worthy: https://youtu.be/7DsNZk1Kpno
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392 Produkte im Account
27 Reviews
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3642 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 24.12.20 00:25
This game is a instant classic for me. Very deep and emersive with an excellent manual. I just played 30 h and start to grasp whats going on, slightly. Absolute recommend this. My game of the year 2020.
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309 Produkte im Account
9 Reviews
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8704 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 21.12.20 13:03
This game is completely broken. At first it is fun and engaging, if you play on a small map with only one or 2 enemy it works rather well. But if you want to make an epic game on a larger map with many other major AI, well you just cant win. Completely impossible even on the easiest difficulty. The AI cheat like many other strategy game, but in this game the AI doesn't even play the same game as you, they build so many armies and so many roads like they cost nothing. Multiple different game I had an opposing AI with relatively the same population and size as me, but they would build 10 times the amount of armies than I have. Overall good game with potentials they must fix the AI because right now its unplayable.
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295 Produkte im Account
23 Reviews
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164 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 14.12.20 20:56
One of the best strategy games I've played in years.
It's a combination of a traditional hex & counter wargame with some light 4x elements in the form of empire management,

The game is really deep and its systems interconnected in a meaningful way. Your start is also highly configurable and offers almost infinite replayability. Shadow Empire is just a great game for creating interesting stories.

Sadly, the game lacks modern UI and QoL features. Turn processing times are also quite long, which brings the SP experience down a bit.
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496 Produkte im Account
8 Reviews
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11 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 13.12.20 18:55
I put in over fifty hours in to this game before it came out on Steam. If you are into science fiction and have a good imagination this game becomes a story generator. The game play is deep, tense, and will challenge your ability to think tactically on multiple levels. Here is the thing, you will need to invest a few hours into learning the game divided between the manual and YouTube videos. This is not a chill game, it demands concentration. But, if you are into books like Starship Troopers, Dune, Old Man's War, mixed in with the world building of the Mad Max franchise and the Fallout series then this is probably for you.

The downside for me is that, as an older gamer, I find it exhausting to keep up with the extensive amount of decisions that need to be made in order to keep the machinery of state moving forward because not only is this a detailed wargame, but a colony simulation, a lite RPG, and a 4x. Still, this is the game of the year for me.
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7915 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 13.12.20 11:15
This breaks my heart but I cannot recommend this game in good conscience. There is a gold mine of gameplay in there, quite unlike anything I personally played before, with deep gameplay and mechanics interlinked. I wanted to love this game, but I can't. I have many hours solely because I am a masochist at this point.
As many said before, the UI is very bad, but you'll get used to it, especially if you come from games like dwarf fortress or Aurora 4x. The graphics are outdated, but once again you'll probably get used to it.
No, my main gripe with the game is the fundamentaly broken AI. The first rule of a strategy game is that you can have an AI that cheats to keep up with humans, especially on higher difficulties, as long as it isn't too obvious. Every other game i've played gets that, not this one. The game cheats on game breaking levels. But examples are easier to describe. The AI will get free roads, and it will use it constantly, allowing it to expand at rates impossible to keep up for a human player, gobbling up local assets and giving it an extra edge. It will never run out of logistical points, allowing it to maintain any army with basic roads. It can also recruit more recruits every turn that you'll ever be able without crippling its economy. It also has unlimited resource storage without needing to build assets for it, making it nearly impossible to smother it by ravaging its city with bombardment. It will also spam armies supported by OHQs, local leaders if you want, giving them sometimes silly bonuses, as it only has to focus on its military. This is all on normal difficulty by the way.
The excuse given by the developer is that humans are smarter, yet it is impossible to outsmart an ennemy army you can't outgun or outman, with silly bonuses (I had a +400% to ennemy hitpoints once).
Look, it hope it might be fixed in the future, but I doubt it. The forums mentioning such fundamental issue is rapidly shut down by a few early fans saying that everything it great, and you should just get good. But for a relatively expensive game costing 27 euros here, it is a deeply frustrating and infuriating experience right now, even when you understand the mechanics.
If this somehow changes and the AI becomes fun to play, I'll be happy to change my review, but as it stands right now, stay away from this game.
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2895 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 12.12.20 03:14
The game is brilliant. And I'm saying this as someone who doesn't like wargames.

1. The economy matters, in so many 4x games buildings and improvements are just there to advance troop trees or produce units, this game has quality of life values, keeps track of private trading rates between regimes, cities have population and worker values, their contentment and a whole range of other factors are tracked which effects efficiency and production rates and create events and decisions to respond to, every building has an effect and aren't for service of the military machine alone. It's almost an holistic take on the genre with how much is modelled. Climate and seasons play into it, resources deplete and every turn, and after transactions the prices for goods all change.
If you play on a world with an open farming compatible environment, you even see the world slowly turn from ruins and forests to farmland too as a consequence of your agricultural workforce.

2. It's kind of a roleplaying game, by which I don't mean you're running around doing quests but, each character has a pen and paper style sheet, you draw cards (strategems) that represent events, bills, investors, even peace treaties as well as a whole range of things, and when you use them, the relevant character ROLLS A d100 skill check against the cards DC, with different results for different results, with crits and fails and everything inbetween. It has fantasy depth but at the same time, it's transparent and you can easily see through the hover tooltips and result logs in popups exactly why everything is happening.
Without a doubt, I am sure there is alot more like this going on under the hood that I just haven't noticed yet. Especially as I've mostly ignored the majority of the reports tab.
Just, this is a 4x game that uses pen and paper roleplaying mechanics for luck roles and social, economic and diplomatic interactions! It most likely uses them for combat too but, see above how I don't like wargames so I don't care about that enough to check.

3. The leader system is brilliant, you have to balance factions, happiness and loyalty. Characters get old and retire, you take a great many of the actions, setting policies and budget sliders, researching, developing new units and equipment to workers wages through interactions which the characters within your government responsible for them. All which costs the political points currency and has effects on the relationships between those characters and the state. It's another system that is both incredibly simple to use but fantastically complex and it's just fun.

4. For the military side of the game, which is alot of it as it's a war game. You do pretty much everything manually, moving each division by hand, designing the equipment they use, forming divisions and making sure they stay within supply (as there's a great logisitics system.). It can be a slog and grind the whole game to stop, atleast for me who is really only here for the economic and character side of the game.
There is a fantastic diversity in this games units, almost every division you see if different, the nomads on their alien cavalry attacking you will have different stats than the nomad nation you run into across their border. Each minors set up will be different and that's reflected in it's units. Probably all the other reviews will talk about that so read them. It's cool seeing them.
The RNG of world generation can lead to games which seem impossible to survive, my first run I got overrun within a few turns, but I'm putting this game in the losing in fun category so no worries, however it's worth warning as if you run into it alot you could think that's the game. Until you have peace treaties with your borders, it can be a bit of a struggle as the AI will take any exposed hexagons and if multiple declare war you can be quickly overwhelmed, once you have acouple safe borders and can get building your economy and stablising the game becomes alot of fun and you get alot of options.
And just, wars can take a really long time, especially if you've got multiple fronts and alot of divisions to move.

I would recommend this game, to people who like wargames. But also to anyone who have been put off the 4x genre by lack of depth, especially in city management, economy and politics as for me this is where Shadow Empire outshines.
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1764 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 12.12.20 00:54
This is a very complex game. I can't add much to both the negative and positive reviews - they are all pretty accurate. To try and keep it simple for those that don't want to read through too may paragraphs, this is my take.

This is an old school style hex game where you have to use a lot of imagination but the depth is incredible and the complexity behind the generation of each planet means there is huge replayabiliy potential. I've rarely seen a game provide so much feedback on every little decision made but at the same time never known a game where it is so hard to find that information. It means that it has the real feeling of running a government with the same frustrations. On one hand it's tough finding out the full implications of your actions sometimes but creates a learning curve of real satisfaction and good long term strategical involvement. So basically are you the kind of person who loves a game where you constantly learn things and there is infinite ways of playing together with a strong imagination this is definitely for you. Anybody who played the early hex games from the 80s and 90s.....this is heaven.
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907 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 11.12.20 21:49
Don´t mind my steam time... i have 100s of hours off steam.

If you are a member of the target group: oldschool 4x/wargame player who don´t mind reading a manual ( or even love good old manuals, like i do - hello dominions ) then just buy it.
It´s complexity is on par with Distant Worlds - Universe.

This is one of the best 4x games ever made.
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312 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 09.12.20 15:19
First off, game is good, beyond good. It is definelty a gem among sand of modern games.

Going to quickly give very short tl:dr version this game deserves(game that comes with 360 page manual to learn basics)

Game has a terrible UI, has no in-game tutorial, has no tool-tips that you actualy need and no acceptable way for you to understand mechanics involved.

Now that this negative feedback is out of the way, here is the list of things that are not only good but amazing.

Atmosphere, Soundtrack, planet history and biosphere generator, a complex and satisfying logistics system, unit upkeep, deep government control, unit designer, amazing story, basicly everything else not listed in negative feedback part.

I gave a NO but in truth this is game I have been searching for MANY years now. A modern take on golden age of gaming in 1990s strategy games. Please devs, smooth out the learning curve, clean up the UI, game is perfectly hardcore, now teach new age of 2020 gamers how fun and satisfying complex games can be.

Very Positive feedback is absolutely correct but this game can become the next normal if devs go beyond about

mixing arcade modern games' UI AND HUD with realistic hardcore 90s golden age games' DEPTH



I M LOOKING FORWARD TO THE UPDATE WHERE I CHANGE MY RECOMMENDATION TO YES

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415 Std. insgesamt
Verfasst: 09.12.20 03:07
its a work of art
who knows if ill have the time to learn it all...
nonetheless a work of art deserving praise, love, and admiration.

something you can look at from afar and admire just for it's existence, yet alone it's capabilities -- though i prefer to play it.
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Rating auf Steam Sehr positiv
85.24% 612 106
Release:03.12.2020 Genre: Strategie Entwickler:keine Infos Vertrieb: Slitherine Ltd. Engine:keine Infos Kopierschutz:keine Infos Franchise:keine Infos
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