Though it is showing its age compared to Humankind
I don’t mean to sound derisive. It’s a sombre truth. At 233 hours, I’ve put more time into Endless Legend than any other4X strategy gamein my Steam library, and loved every minute of it. To this day it’s still the best in the genre when it comes to sparking the imagination of my chronically fantasy-loving brain. The music, the amazing variety in terrain and units, the sheer quantity of words bringing to life every last quest, minor faction, creature, and environmental anomaly. It’s a simply splendid game. The question is whether it’s still worth playing today.
Endless Legend was the first game I know to separate each of its procedurally generated hex-based world maps into regions, and only allowing one city per region. Coupled with this, it was the first 4X I played that allowed me to expand my cities across multiple tiles. Before, the only thing telling me that one city was a megatropolis and another was little more than a dusty mining town were the numbers on the screen above the cities. In Endless Legend, you could see the difference. You could see at a glance whether that opposing city on the horizon was a London or a Bell End (yes, that’s a real English town). It was such an inspired move that it was later shamelessly copied byCivilization 6and Amplitude’s later project,Humankind.
Another area where Endless Legend knocks it out of the park is the factions. Counting all the DLC content there’s a total of 14 factions in the game, and it’s not like in Civ where you just get a couple of bonuses, a unique unit, and a unique building. In Endless Legend you get the Roving Clans, who can move their cities at will (because their cities are built on the backs of gigantic scarabs - I mean how fucking cool is that), and are unable to declare war. Then there are the Cultists, who are confined to just one super-city for the entire game but are able to make special use of minor factions, bending them to their will in ways other empires cannot. What about the Broken Lords, who don’t use food at all, and instead use Dust - the currency of the Endless universe - for their sustenance? Or the stealthy Forgotten, whocan’t research technologies?
Each of these factions has their own unique main questline which takes you through a deep story and, usually, across the entire map and timeline of your game. It’s another way in which Endless Legend extends the amount of time you spend exploring its rich and fascinating worlds, and why on earth wouldn’t it? The worlds are lovely. Perhaps not as visually attractive as they once were, but the sheer number of terrain types and little extra curios and anomalies makes it as much a joy to explore each world as it did nearly a decade ago.
I began a game yesterday in a chilly climate near the south pole, and quickly my army stumbled across a couple of tiles dominated by Weaver Worms - giant Dune-like worms which burrow through the ice and whose silk can be “woven into fabulous fabrics”. What a lovely, creative way to give me a boost to my economy in the early-game, I thought. And there are dozens of these unusual anomalies that further diversify the landscape on top of the 50 or so terrain types that the game’s engine combines in thoughtful ways to make each new game world feel lived in, and worth exploring.
Then there’s the battling, which again makes as much use of the surrounding landscape as possible. Whenever you enter into battle with an enemy unit, the game automatically cordons off a handful of tiles and allows you to play a miniature game of tactics and positioning to give you an edge even over enemies with better stats than you. It’s a great idea, but I could never actually get behind 100%. I think it might be more of a me thing than a fault in the game. I don’t think I had the patience to really delve into the different stats, traits, and equipment of each unit, but for those who enjoy those more RPG-esque elements, it makes for a far more interesting battle system than the typical “right-click on enemy with your unit and see who wins” approach. I think the system was improved greatly with Humankind though, and going back it does feel a bit clunky and dated.
That’s the running theme, really. Endless Legend may have been Amplitude’s crowning achievement in the context of its release year, but Humankind is the superior game in pretty much every way. Perhaps if we’d got around to doing these GOTY Revisited posts before Humankind came out, I’d feel a bit less torn about recommending Endless Legend today. But it’s not just about Humankind. The whole genre is more competitive these days, with fantastic 4Xs likeAge Of Wonders 4andOld Worldrising every year to join heavyweights likeCivilization 6at the top.
Endless Legend had a lot of competition back in its day too, and rightly beat them all to the crown. And it’s still certainly playable and enjoyable today, don’t get me wrong. The issue is that all the amazing innovations that Endless Legend made have since been adopted, expanded, and perfected by others. Crucial information in Endless Legend feels a little out of reach sometimes when I’m looking at the tech screen, or a city’s inner workings, or a battle map. The UI design for the time was incredible, and I still think Amplitude’s “right-click to go back” philosophy is one of the greatest ideas in the history of game UIs. But there are a few more little barriers to enjoyment in Endless Legend than I remember. The soundtrack will forever remain one of my favourites and I listen to it on a semi-regular basis, but as for actually playing the game, well… I don’t know. Perhaps that time has passed. For me, at least.
