Galactic Civilizations IV
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Galactic Civilizations IV
Despite a few ideas for improving the 4X genre, Galactic Civilizations IV misses the mark on almost all of them to succeed only at feeling bland, derivative and soulless.
Galactic Civilizations 4 is a vast and dependable grand space strategy. But there's little here that radical, and expect to meet it halfway.
ChatGPT implementations takes a passable game and makes it very, very good. Read on to see if this is enough to beat the likes of Stellaris or Endless Space 2.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Unfortunately, I can't say I have had huge amounts of fun with Galactic Civilizations IV. Although all the basics are there for an enjoyable experience, and Stardocks added a good amount of specific systems to make the experience unique, crucial aspects like war management and IA behaviour ended up ruining my time with the game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
There’s been a lot of innovation in strategy games in the last few years, and Galactic Civilizations IV is not a revolution. It’s a sequel, bigger, neater, and smoother. All the things a sequel hopes to be. With so many new, fizzy strategy games, it’s nice to see a long-running series retain its core and its spirit. Galactic Civilizations IV is safe and deeply playable.
Galactic Civilizations IV is another satisfying space-faring extravaganza that introduces some smart tweaks to the long-running series' formula, although a lack of guidance, bloated tech trees, and some other minor lingering issues hold the game back from true top-tier status. Hardcore sci-fi strategy fans will undoubtedly find plenty to enjoy here, but this game may not quite have the gravitational pull needed to separate you from your 4X favorites long term.
Stardock has created a game with good bones. Some of the new systems, such as the core world management and ideology system, add to/improve the game. Unfortunately, other systems feel tedious at times. They are not broken per se but are not quite there yet. They either bog down the gameplay or lack impact on the experience. The core gameplay loop is decent, but it just didn’t hook me into feeling the need to play one more turn before bed. If you enjoy the series, Galactic Civilizations IV is worth picking up. Otherwise, I would wait for a few patches or DLC to help flesh out some of the systems.
This new space 4X game is nothing novel, but Stardock's latest release builds on classic strategy mechanics while giving them a contemporary, intergalactic twist.
