Amplitude Studios has always been one of the top dogs in the 4X strategy games space with Endless Legend and the two Endless Space titles. That sentiment went away for a while following Humankind’s tepid reception, but after spending a few hours with the (early access) launch build of Endless Legend 2, we can safely say this French studio could be ready to wow 4X veterans again.
In the long-awaited sequel to the 2014 fantasy 4X game, we have to fight to expand and survive in the new world of Saiadha, an unpredictable planet “at the brink of extinction” which is largely defined by aggressive weather events and one phenomenon that’s key to the game’s overarching design: the Tidefall. The short story is that Saiadha’s oceans are disappearing, thus entire new regions are revealed as each game progresses. Beyond how you choose to develop and expand the civilization of your choice, Endless Legend 2 has a number of narrative threads and mysteries that may or may not be followed and uncovered as you burn through all those turns.
In fact, the most interesting victory conditions (the others are more traditional Score and Conquest win scenarios) are tied to such mysteries and how each faction deals with the transformation Saiadha is going through. Amplitude’s past 4X games had already paid special attention to the idea of emergent narratives in turn-based strategy titles, but such efforts feel bite-sized when compared to Endless Legend 2’s swings. While it remains a 4X sandbox, players looking for ‘direction’ will find plenty here.
Even after completing the (optional) tutorial scenario starring the Kin of Sheredyn – an offshoot of Endless Space 2’s United Empire – Endless Legend 2 is the rare sort of 4X game that actively gives players clear paths to follow. Sure, picking a victory condition to chase and ‘building’ a civilization in a fitting way has always been the optimal way to play this type of games, but Endless Legend 2 goes beyond those conventions, all while encouraging fluid experimentation versus strict pre-planning due to inherently looser endgames. With no Science, Culture, or Religion victory conditions to gun for, all five civilizations (so far) are allowed to quickly pivot depending on how the game develops and other players – human or AI-controlled – behave as new scripted threats and opportunities arise.
Mind you, committing to certain playstyles still pays off big time: The Necrophage, for example, greatly benefit from acquiring the ability to have larger armies in the game’s ‘second age’ as soon as possible. While you could play more defensively with this bug-like faction – in fact, they can only have one city for the entire duration of a match – it’s encouraged to stay on the offense regardless of the actual victory condition you end up targeting.
Aside from paladin-like humans and the token Zerg-inspired civilization, factions in this sequel feel quite unique for the most part. The Aspects are essentially half machines and half corals; the Auriga-born Last Lords remain spirits trapped in knight armors; and the new lizard-amphibian Tahuks are “devout followers of the Endless” who mix faith and technology. Endless Space 2 already excelled on the lore and faction design front, and the second Legend game keeps the trend going. Whereas other fantasy-themed strategy games seem beholden to ancient conventions, you can always count on the Amplitude teams to come up with distinct fictional designs and compelling takes on their turn-to-turn mechanics and systems.
When everything comes together (which is quite often), Endless Legend 2 easily finds a voice and makes space for itself in the 4X genre. As cities become megacities and each faction interacts with subfactions, the Tidefall reveals entire new regions to explore and conquer, full of points of interest and even dungeons to venture into. It quickly becomes evident Amplitude’s guiding star is making the predictable 4X loop we know and love a bit more surprising. The studio seems well aware most of its barriers can’t be eliminated without turning the 4X formula into something else, and so it’s added more elements to the procedural concoction found in its predecessors.
Quests and minor events aren’t cleared in the same way each time, in case you were wondering. In lite-RPG fashion, Endless Legend 2 spends a decent amount of time putting full-blown dialogues in front of the player. Most of these exchanges lead to decisions. Your first instinct is to go with the choices that better suit your expansion plans, yet some of them add up to open up or block certain narrative branches. I don’t think anything here will wow veteran gamers, but it’s refreshing to see a 4X game that thinks outside the rigid space the genre boxed itself in long ago.
Another area that’s seen major improvements is combat. Mind you, Endless Legend 2 doesn’t suddenly have full-blown real-time battles like a Total War title, but its turn-based army encounters (which can be skipped if you believe in your forces’ chances) have been turned into combat which is actually fun to engage with. Heroes have much deeper progression tracks and active abilities to use; terrain modifiers are easier to read and take advantage of; and each unit’s passives and specializations actually have visible impacts on the action. It’s no longer a dull, dramatized clash of numbers. Regardless, chances are you’ll stop spending much time going hands-on with armies the moment you realize which warriors work well in tandem and how you can have different army groups attack or defend together.
Endless Legend 2 does everything else by the book, so there’s no reason to go in depth here about elements which aren’t particularly interesting to discuss and you’re already familiar with. Two features likely to be overlooked by casual players stood out to me though: Camps and landscaping. The first is a way to benefit from resources and set up defense/rest points without committing to large-scale cities that are harder to feed and keep happy. The second adds to the whole passive bonuses layer of combat and can also improve a hex tile ahead of building a district on top. As extensive as the tutorial is and despite the many improvements to the user interface, some of the game’s many nuts and bolts are oddly underexplained. We’re hoping user feedback will help Amplitude better make its latest game less daunting than past ones.
More robust from the get-go is the performance, at least on a well-equipped current-gen PC. While there’s nothing ‘cutting-edge’ about Endless Legend 2’s visuals, its massive maps and attention to detail are above-average in the 4X genre, and Saiadha’s doomed regions as well as the creatures and armies that roam its surface are attractive while also evoking a mood that’s markedly darker than the first game’s.
Those looking to play this one on the go should know a bit of tinkering is needed: By default, the controller-friendly build Steam Deck launches lacks video settings, which results in a framerate which is sluggish even for turn-based gameplay. Instead, adding “SteamDeck=0 %command%” to the launch options on Steam will force the game into the regular, controller-less build with graphical options. Yes, you’ll be stuck with touch screen or trackpad plus trigger controls, but with the lower settings and a robust 30 FPS cap, it feels like the most consistent way to enjoy the game on the Deck for now.
I’ll be curious to see how the multiplayer component (not available just yet) will change down the line the already-wobbly balance that’s inherent to asymmetrical civilizations. Right now, however, the studio and Hooded Horse’s (publisher) focus appears to be on proving Endless Legend 2 has something new to add to both its universe and the larger 4X genre. As it stands, I’m satisfied and eager to see where Saiadha and its peoples are taken next.
Endless Legend 2 (early access) launches on PC (Steam and Xbox app) as well as Game Pass (via Game Preview) on September 22, 2025. No console versions have been announced.
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