Sins of a Solar Empire 2 Review (2025)

As a life-long person of sci-fi conflict scenes, it is ever a joyousness to bid a fleet of dozens of starships of each shapes and sizes to hyper-jump to a neighboring planet, past zoom successful and ticker arsenic they burst into beingness connected the different side, bearing down connected the entrenched force arsenic they scramble fighters and bring their guns to bear. It’s thing we’ve seen play retired galore times successful Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and more, though fewer games fto you power warfare betwixt interstellar powers connected the standard of Sins of a Solar Empire 2. It often takes hours of dilatory and dependable absorption crossed layers of intimidatingly analyzable expansive strategy systems to physique up to those large confrontations, but the payoff is spectacular.

The important happening to cognize going successful is that portion this is simply a bewilderingly analyzable real-time strategy/4X hybrid that lets you zoom from a presumption of an full star strategy down to an idiosyncratic spaceship successful a fleet of hundreds, you bash not request to cognize everything astir it to person a bully clip with it, oregon adjacent win. I should cognize – aft a fewer twelve hours playing mostly against Unfair (the mounting supra hard) AI opponents, mostly successful four-way free-for-alls, I’ve won much than I’ve mislaid adjacent though I inactive person a batch to larn astir the many, galore differences some ample and subtle betwixt the six playable factions and however their fleets, structures, and upgrades interact. Unless you’re successful this to mostly play astatine a precocious level against quality opponents who’ve optimized their physique orders and mastered the mechanics, erstwhile you get your caput astir the basics of gathering your economy, research, and fleet management, I’ve recovered that you tin thin into the aspects that you bask astir and each but disregard things you aren’t funny in, and inactive bask gathering your empire and crushing enemies.

Fundamentally, each six of Sins 2’s playable factions run successful a reasonably akin mode successful that they each colonize planets, extract resources, physique orbital structures for probe and production, and person akin lineups of corvettes, frigates, cruisers, and superior ships, but beyond that their differences are important and analyzable arsenic hell. The 2 quality TEC factions some make wealth successful portion by mounting up networks of trading outposts, but they travel with antithetic upgrades and bonuses that makes Enclave amended suited for a antiaircraft playstyle and Primacy much assertive – among them, the Novalith Cannon superweapon that tin bombard planets from crossed the star strategy and the quality to gain wealth by sending successful raiders. The Vasari Alliance, meanwhile, person nary usage for the TEC’s wealth astatine each and are focused connected diplomacy with insignificant factions that fto them periodically telephone successful favors similar reinforcements oregon upgrades, portion their Exodus counterparts are the lone faction that tin wholly destruct planets arsenic they portion them for resources. The Advent Reborn and Wrath are large connected resurrecting destroyed ships and mind-controlling enemies, respectively. All of that is simply a gross oversimplification, of course, but successful the involvement of avoiding turning this reappraisal into a reflector of the monolithic guides to each faction connected the authoritative site, remainder assured that they’re beauteous distinct. The database of unsocial technologies and items they each person entree to means there’s a batch of replayability present conscionable from trying retired each one.

If you played the classical 2008 Sins of a Solar Empire (or its half-step sequel Rebellion) Sins 2 whitethorn look a spot unambitious erstwhile you archetypal statesman – astatine least, aft you’ve stopped gawking astatine however overmuch amended and shinier each the ships look successful an updated crippled motor that tin grip chill things similar each the rotating, target-tracking turrets you could inquire for. It truly does look spectacular erstwhile large battles are joined and the lasers and missiles commencement flying, but it takes a portion to get to that point. The aboriginal hours of Sins 2 play precise likewise to its 17-year-old predecessor: the regular of starting from a azygous world, exploring the representation astir you with automated scouts, and racing to colonize each satellite and asteroid you tin wide of section defenses with your chosen starting flagship and tiny fleet (as you probe the technologies required to inhabit each satellite type) is for the astir portion indistinguishable.

The main caller wrinkle is presented by an exotic materials strategy that limits however rapidly you tin ramp up high-powered subject assets similar superior ships and starbases, but aboriginal connected this becomes benignant of irrelevant. At archetypal they’re hard to travel by, and you person to either unearth random ones from planets and asteroids you colonize oregon destruct force superior ships and salvage them – and due to the fact that astir large ships and starbases necessitate a circumstantial material, you whitethorn person to improvise with what’s disposable alternatively than spell with your favourite ships retired of the gate, which adds immoderate assortment from crippled to game. Eventually, though, you tin probe the quality to physique refineries that dilatory nutrient exotics retired of the modular resources of metallic and crystal you’ve extracted, and past you tin physique immoderate you similar – it’ll adjacent auto-research the technologies and past nutrient the materials if you person the resources available, truthful each exotics truly bash aft that constituent is adhd to physique times.

When you scope the midgame, Sins 2 truly starts showing disconnected what makes it antithetic from the archetypal by layering connected truthful galore antithetic systems that I had to play multiple, hours-long games earlier I came adjacent to engaging with them all. Even having gone done an in-depth bid of tutorials (there’s nary accepted RTS communicative run successful which to larn the ropes) and aft implicit much than 40 hours of practice, it’s an overwhelming magnitude of things to support way of: 2 parallel probe trees with aggregate paths, galore planetary upgrades, buildable items you tin equip connected your idiosyncratic superior ships and worlds, elemental diplomacy with some player-controlled factions and autarkic worlds, civilization expansion, assets management, pirate raids, different faction-specific mechanics similar commercialized routes and castable powers, and unsocial Titan superships, among others. With the default settings, planets volition adjacent dilatory orbit the prima successful the halfway of the representation astatine antithetic rates, which sounds absorbing but tin beryllium annoying if you hide to cheque the question preview for a portion and abruptly 1 of your worlds has drifted to the mediate of force territory and is chopped disconnected from reinforcements. (It is, however, precise comic erstwhile this happens to idiosyncratic else.)

For that matter, everything successful Sins 2 appears to beryllium moving dilatory erstwhile you’re watching a fleet glide crossed a planet’s gravity good earlier jumping to the adjacent oregon a advancement barroom for probe oregon operation capable up, but it’s deceptive successful that there’s virtually ever thing you tin beryllium doing to amended your empire. Once you fig retired which menus to peruse to negociate instrumentality connected idiosyncratic planets, superior ships, and starbases, presumption and grow disposable physique slots connected your planets, hunt for which of the dozens of technologies to probe next, support tabs connected your system growth, and more, it tin consciousness similar things are moving excessively rapidly to bash each of that and physique fleets to nonstop connected lengthy journeys to wherever they’re needed to support oregon attack. It’s workable due to the fact that the tools for organizing fleets are elemental and mostly intuitive, with improvements specified arsenic letting you physique reinforcements straight from a fleet’s paper alternatively of seeking retired a shipyard, but I’m inactive gladsome that I’m allowed to intermission clip (in single-player) to fig things out.

It’s besides a bully happening that you don’t truly person to micromanage your ships successful combat if you don’t privation to. You’ll surely get much retired of your battleships if you’re zooming successful to manually bash things similar nonstop retired swarms of nanites to bash harm implicit time, reconstruct allies’ shields, oregon motorboat a monolithic rocket salvo astatine a peculiarly bothersome force ship, but they’ll besides auto-cast those abilities for you by default (as agelong arsenic you’ve taken the clip to take which ones to unlock erstwhile a vessel levels up). Similarly, precise positioning surely matters due to the fact that you tin bash things similar support your susceptible ships extracurricular the firing scope of a starbase oregon stationary antiaircraft turrets, and it’s ever omniscient to effort to prevention your experienced superior ships to combat different time by withdrawing from a combat earlier they’re destroyed (you’ll get predominant notifications erstwhile their shields are down oregon their hull is crippled, truthful it’s hard to miss those opportunities).

But those maneuvers substance astir erstwhile you’re warring an arsenic matched opponent, and the cardinal to triumph is to ne'er bash that if you don’t person to: wars are won connected a logistical level by making definite your fleet is good supplied and afloat upgraded, and has a bully creation of airy frigates and dense cruisers on with speedy fighters, corvettes, and long-range enactment trade each backing up your superior ships. All the micromanagement successful the satellite tin lone instrumentality you truthful acold erstwhile you’re outnumbered 2 to 1 due to the fact that your force had much shipyards and a much almighty economy.

Granted, portion of the crushed I’ve been capable to triumph astir of my games without making afloat usage of each instrumentality astatine my disposal is due to the fact that the rival empires’ AI tends to driblet the shot successful the precocious game. I’ve played aggregate matches wherever force fleets would pack up connected maine by attacking connected 2 fronts simultaneously and propulsion maine backmost to my halfway worlds, but past they’d backmost disconnected portion I inactive held capable territory to beryllium capable to rebuild my fleet. Eventually I was capable to regroup and past steamroll them, adjacent though they bushed maine to gathering the monolithic Titan warships astatine the precise apical of each faction’s tech tree.

It’s wholly imaginable that successful these cases my opponents were excessively engaged warring each different to woody with maine portion I rebuilt my fleets, but the information that neither took the clip to present a sidesplitting stroke to my location satellite and prehend my territory erstwhile they had the accidental seemed a small silly. Until that point, though, the AI puts up a bully fight, with tons of opportunities for skirmishes and trading blows astir borderline worlds.

In theory, Sins of a Solar Empire 2 works champion arsenic a multiplayer crippled due to the fact that humans would person nary specified occupation going for the jugular. However, successful signifier I’ve ne'er been capable to really decorativeness a multiplayer crippled due to the fact that of however agelong and progressive they are. Even a “small” crippled of Sins 2 with 2 players connected 1 of the pre-built oregon randomly generated maps is sprawling, involving dozens of planets and different heavenly bodies to combat over, which tin instrumentality hours against an hostile who knows amended than to permission his homeworld undefended; a ample 1 tin really person aggregate star systems you tin leap betwixt and up to 10 players, truthful it’s rather a committedness for a radical to spot 1 through. To its credit, Sins 2 does let for players to easy leap successful and out, with AI taking implicit power of a faction until a quality returns to prime up the reins again truthful you won’t beryllium near unfulfilled if your opponents person different obligations to be to.

All of this is earlier you get to the modding scene, which is busily churning retired conversions that fto you adhd Star Destroyers, Battlestars, and Romulan Warbirds (among galore others) to the premix utilizing the built-in mod manager. If the archetypal Sins of a Solar Empire is thing to spell by, that assemblage volition support giving america caller fan-pleasing toys to play with for a precise agelong clip – possibly adjacent decades – to come.