14 DAY TRIAL // 
I colonize a solid world, after spending time targeting the required tech and money rushing production of the colony ship. But I failed to secure a leader for it and now I need to transfer one from the minister pool or re-shuffle policy and use resources to boost my monetary gain so I can hire another. Two other civilizations are around, looking for weaknesses, so I need some military investment. If I gain a scientific edge, I might be able to placate one with some careful trading. My civilization also needs constructors for extra resources, more ships, and colonies. There’s never enough to go around and prioritizing is hard.
Galactic Civilizations IV is developed and published by Stardock. It is, for the moment, offered only on the Epic Games store on the PC. This is a pretty traditional take on the space-based turn-focused strategy experience, with a few new concepts and extra options to work with.
There are 18 pre-built races to try and dominate the galaxy with, including favorites from the past like the Yor or the Drengin. The game also features a deep customization system, offering players a solid way of putting together their own spacefaring conquerors or scientists. It’s then time to choose what kind of galaxy you want to explore (I tend to go with extra anomalies and relics) and take the first steps to build one’s ideal space civilization.
The core gameplay ideas of Galactic Civilizations IV are classic. Start off with one planet and two ships. Chart out the neighborhood, create another colony, locate resources, develop them and the colonies, get more ships, discover more anomalies, planets, and resources to build up more. The game now differentiates between directly controlled core worlds and colonies that just funnel resources, leading to more interesting management decisions. Starbases are also crucial for solid economic development, especially if they can gather rare resources.
Once the player meets another civilization it’s time to think about culture, negotiations, and, possibly, conflict. The computer still seems a little too eager to trade tech with humans that might then use it against it. But it can hold its own when it comes to expansion and war (don’t play on higher than Normal at first).
The sector concept is the biggest impact tweak to the turn-based, hex-driven formula of the series. They basically represent a cluster of systems, separated by others by a slipstream space tunnel. This is Galactic Civilizations IV’s attempt to add some restrictions and some structure to the experience. It creates localized conflicts and forces players to make tough choices about expansion and defense.
The game delivers a few other interesting new mechanics. Leaders are crucial, the only way to make a world a core, but have associated costs and complications. The new control resource allows players to push their civ at critical moments, although it is hard to know exactly when to deploy it. It’s important to try and secure precursor artifacts and use them at the right time. Narrative chains and events open up ways to add extra layers of customization to one’s faction. The ship designer delivers extra depth, although there’s still no option to control fleets during combat.
Galactic Civilizations IV offers a deep experience, carefully designed to appeal to players who want mostly classical 4X mechanics in space. The newly introduced ideas fit well with the old ones. But the entire massive structure is becoming a little unwieldy and it is sometimes hard to figure out what and why is happening. The early game is very fun and filled with possibilities, but it becomes harder to love it in the mid-game, despite attempts to keep the action engaging.
Galactic Civilizations IV doesn’t revolutionize the familiar presentation of the series but it improves it. All elements of the galaxy look good when zoomed in, although players spend the most time looking at a sector or the entire game universe. The user interface is the area that needs improvement most, either via the addition of nestled tooltips or an easier connection between info and potential actions. The sound design and soundtrack are decent but not spectacular, which means those who plan to spend tens of hours with the game need to locate their own space rock playlist.
The Good
- Deep 4X mechanics
- Empire management tweaks
- Faction variety
The Bad
- Limited narrative
- Some obscure mechanics
- Mid-game slowdown
Conclusion
The title is too sculpted to suit the tastes of those who has picked up the previous two titles in the series. It rewards solid planning and careful execution; it asks players to learn the connections between mechanics and to exploit them. But to truly flourish, Galactic Civilizations IV needs to try to add a little revolution to its evolution-driven approach to turn-based strategy.
Review code provided by the publisher.
