Sins of a Solar Empire 2 review – Don’t rock the space boat

Ironclad’s sequel is faithful to the original and afraid of innovation

Ironclad Games / Stardock

It’s probably not an enviable position to set the design goals for the sequel of a long-lived game beloved by many. Change too little and you’ll be accused of being lazy, bringing nothing new of value to the table. Change too much and you’ll be accused of ruining the original concept with the added danger of upsetting your loyal fan base – an especially grave threat for games in a niche. In the face of this dilemma, Ironclad Games committed early on to the path with little changes and did so very openly.

Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is an excellent sequel for players of the original who wanted the exact same thing again, but built on better tech. You’re once again asked to choose one of three major factions in the galaxy and embark on a spree of conquest among the stars, colonizing planets, researching technologies, and crushing enemy fleets. Gameplay-wise, Sins of a Solar Empire 2 combines real-time strategy and 4X.

Starting from a single planet, you explore your solar system, build up planetary and orbital infrastructure on your territory, and then expand it. Once again, some minor factions can be found in addition to your main foes, offering opportunities for trade and diplomacy. Some exotic materials required for certain infrastructure projects can only reliably be gained from such interactions.

Most of the ships in the game will look familiar to veterans. / Ironclad Games / Stardock

The influence system from the original is back as well, allowing you to spread your culture from planet to planet, gaining additional bonuses where it becomes dominant.

For a veteran, most of this will feel intimately familiar. For beginners, there is a series of tutorials that can be completed fairly quickly and provide a solid overview of the game’s systems. It has many of those, but most are relatively shallow – like the original, Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is all about producing mighty armadas and smashing them against those of your enemies.

In terms of content, Sins of a Solar Empire 2 recycles everything from Rebellion, the final expansion for the original – and I mean that in every sense of the word: It’s the same ship classes, starbases, and so on. If you’d hoped to get your hands on some cool, brand-new toys, you’ll be disappointed. Again, the motto here is: You get all the old stuff on new tech.

Speaking of which: Sins of a Solar Empire 2 runs very well for me and looks the part. Compared to the original, the new engine allows for better accessibility as well. I just can’t shake the feeling of having already seen everything – because I have, over a decade ago. Sure, the lasers, lights, and explosions all look better now and my toys got shiny new colors, but it’s still the same toys with their rather generic sci-fi designs.

Pretty. Thousands of aliens died in that explosion, but it's pretty. / Ironclad Games / Stardock

It’s very rare that a new strategy game I play starts feeling old very soon – usually, there is a rush of excitement as I explore the mechanics and learn their potential. There is very little of that here.

It’s not like Ironclad didn’t try innovating. In fact, the mobile orbit mechanic is something I’ve never seen before in a game like this. Basically, the planets and asteroids in the map continue to rotate around their sun, which leads to the phase lanes connecting them being rearranged. An extra button on the UI allows you to preview the next constellation to enable you to plan ahead.

This is such a cool and interesting idea. Laying out defenses so that they can cover several lane constellations, making sure to time your offensives in a way that won’t result in your fleet getting stranded in enemy territory, or striking when the enemy will be cut off from one of their planets – all of these are fantastic strategic decisions to make for players. It’s too bad it only happens at each one-hour mark in a game. Yeah, you have to play one real-life hour to even experience that system.

Which brings me to the pacing. Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is not a rapid game. That’s fine, but it’s something you should keep in mind. You really have to commit to matches in this game and a multiplayer match often ends not with anyone outright winning, but with people leaving because they have other stuff to do – it can take hours to finish a game. On the flip side, it being played in real-time can lead to very hectic moments during which you have to be in three places at once, which has its good and bad sides – those moments feel action-packed, thrilling, and rewarding, but they’re a massive whiplash compared to the regular snail’s pace everything is happening at.

Individual ships can be upgraded with new modules, giving them additional bonuses and abilities. / Ironclad Games / Stardock

PvP alongside PvE skirmishes (you can use a pause button in the latter) are the butter of this game – there is no bread, for there is no single-player campaign with any sort of story. This adds to the unfortunate feeling of the game feeling samey very quickly. All you can really do on your own time (because you can save in-between and simply continue playing at some other point) is challenge the relatively lackluster AI on various maps.

I will give the game extra points for including a LAN mode and having a mod browser integrated into the game, continuing one of the strengths of the originals – mods are one of the factors that made it so long-lived in the first place and it’s great to see the developer recognize that.

A lot of the things I’ve written here sound pretty negative, so it has to be noted that I still had good fun playing this game. I liked the original, and as I stated above, anyone who shares that feeling is absolutely going to like this one as well – for those of you who believe that “the same thing, but with better tech” is the definition of a textbook sequel, Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is that.

Personally, I’m a little frustrated by the lack of a campaign. It means that there is very little reason for me to care about these factions, there is no narrative to immerse me in this universe, and no hook that would allow me to roleplay – an aspect that may help stave off the samey feeling from everything else. It also feels like Ironclad was a little too afraid of its own new ideas. Aspects like the orbital movement mechanics could be great additions to the game, but feel only half-baked out of fear that it may rock this space boat too much.

Putting that divide into a score is somewhat difficult because it’s going to be a compromise that won’t accurately represent either side. An old-school fan who simply wants to bask in nostalgia will rate Sins of a Solar Empire 2 very highly, while someone expecting a little more will inevitably feel disappointed by the wasted potential. I’m counting myself toward the latter group, but I have to respect Ironclad’s commitment to remaining faithful to the original.

Score: 7/10

Version tested: PC (Steam)