Rule space, fight laser-thundering battles and not lose sight of research and development: Galactic Civilizations 3 is in the same line as Civilization: Beyond Earth or Stellaris.
But before we continue with Galactic Civ 3: If you need more space game recommendations, you will find it at GameStar Plus.
more on the subject
These new space games have something for everyone
From January 21 to 28, 2021 at 5 p.m., Epic is giving away the 4X or global strategy game to anyone who wants it. Epic offers the basic version of the game for free. This already contains a complete story campaign, a sandbox mode and “dozen” different races.
But is the gift worth your time at all? We’ll give you an overview of what the new Epic Gift has to offer and whether it might be the right game for you.
Here you can get the Epic gift
Who is Galactic Civ 3 for?
In Galactic Civilizations 3 you can either create your own sandbox according to your preferences or one Story Campaign consequences. As usual in 4X games, you have several races to choose from.
Galactic Civilizations 3 runs like Sid Meier’s Civ series turn based from. You move your troops across a map that spans many solar systems and is divided into hex fields. In this way you conquer important systems in order to gain resources for your shipbuilding and your territorial expansion.
Because the galaxy is with up to 100 other factions filled, who also have great ambitions. So that you are always one step ahead, you research new technologies, manage a complex economic system and tinker with your spaceships to make them more powerful and dangerous.
If war is not your thing, you have cultural supremacy, technological advancement, or political alliances to achieve victory. This in turn is reminiscent of the great role model: If you enjoy Civilization and / or Stellaris, Galactic Civilizations 3 could be the game for you.
You can see our test video from 2015 here:
5:29
Galactic Civilizations 3 – Test video for the space round strategy
Fans of the game praise the high degree of complexity, for which 4X games are known. The fact that every game is different also earns praise from players. In addition, fans of hardcore strategy games are happy about the steep learning curve. Steam player The Crescent Hawk is very enthusiastic:
“This is the 4X-RTS I’ve been looking for. It’s an amazing game with more depth than I would like. I’d rather play it … Well done Stardock, really well done.”
Some newcomers to the genre in Galactic Civilizations 3 like the aspect of the game depth less, because one easily overwhelmed and frustrated can be. In addition, numerous players complain about technical problems. Steam player Psychosiz wanted to give the game a chance, but didn’t get it to work:
“All in all, I can’t say if this game was good or bad, all I can say is that it didn’t work for me.”
You can see even more visual impressions of Galactic Civ 3 in our screenshot gallery:
Galactic Civilizations 3 – Screenshots ansehen
What is the current state of the game?
Galactic Civilizations 3 gets significantly more positive than negative reviews on Steam, which suggests that the game is mostly in good condition. However, this can vary from PC to PC.
Developer Stardock Entertainment has released regular updates for the game through June 2020. Given the May 2015 release, that’s a good sign that improvements have continued to be made to the game.
In addition, the developers brought out a total of 17 DLCs and expansions over the course of time, some of which are free, but mostly available for a fee. The most important DLCs are also available for purchase on Epic, including the two major expansions Mercenaries and Intrigue.
- Mercenaries (around 8 dollars): A new story campaign, two new factions and a mercenary feature.
- Intrigue (around 17 dollars): Policy expansion around the choice of your own form of government, confederations and political crises.
There is also a series of smaller DLCs with precursor worlds, a prequel campaign on human history or mech combat robots for your army.