Strategy Session: Sins of a Solar Empire 2 Steam Review

Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is an intricate real-time strategy 4X with a detailed combat system, a multitude of galactic factions, and spinning solar systems. It’s a technical game that took a while to dig into, and after spending 2 weeks with it, I’ve gotten a good feel for how it works. 

Sins 2 places you in the shoes of a galactic commander, tasking you with conquering the galaxy and asserting dominance over your opponents. You’ll need to defeat foes while building your empire, managing your planets, and setting up diplomatic partnerships to secure victory.

Here’s a breakdown of the good, the bad, and the downright confusing. 

The good

One of the best things about this game is that it knows how complicated it is. Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is a big game with a mountain of data and elements to sift through as a new player, and it’s a little intimidating to take in at first.

Thankfully, the tutorials are rich and detailed. There’s a full list of walkthroughs available as soon as you load the game for the first time, taking you through each crucial function and setting you up for your first match nicely.

There’s also a huge amount of content on offer. The maps range from 2 to 10 players, some with predetermined stories and others randomly generated. 

Some are a lot trickier than others, and I’d suggest starting with the three-player maps when you play the game for the first time. The massive maps can be a lot of fun, but they can feel chaotic, especially if you allow ‘colonization victories,’ which means whichever player has the most planets under their control wins. 

There are plenty of ways to customize your experience, too. You can assign teams and change difficulty levels if you’re playing against the computer, for example — like I was for this review — and you can adjust elements like the speed that resources are gathered, too. 

Once you’ve sunk a considerable amount of time into the game, matches feel rewarding to win. I was initially concerned that my first match