A Green Mushroom

Stellaris is a 4x space game from Paradox.  I've often picked up 4x games only to set them down after an hour or two out of frustration.  It's a genre I've always found interesting in the abstract but I have trouble finding a game that nails the execution. So I was a little surprised that my first play session of Stellaris lasted four hours.  I was learning a lot and made some mistakes but overall it was great!  I came back to that same playthrough another night and played for another few hours before stalling out in the mid-game as all the alien cultures' borders filled in. I immediately jumped over to a new game with slightly tweaked settings (for fun and variety) and proceeded to spend another six hours of so in that game.  And this time I made my own alien race!  That part was super fun.  The second round was much better since I could apply everything I learned the first time... but again I found myself stall out in the mid-game without muc...

Master of Orion is a space 4x game that is a revamp of an old game by a new company that grabbed the rights.  It's fairly pretty and it's solidly made for a space 4x game.  It has a definite Civ V feel and I found myself continuously getting that "one more turn" feel while playing. Master of Orion really is better than most 4X games I've played, but it still didn't quite click with me.  I should really give up on this genre one of these days.  I'm generally disappointed in them when I pick them up.  They're never quite what I expect. It's my own fault, because I can tell this is a solid space 4X game, so if that's your genre you should really take a look at it despite it not clicking with me.