I’ve been waiting to play Distant Worlds 2 for a long time. I might even say that I’ve been waiting for it since Distant Worlds 1. And, uh, I didn’t play that one either.
With a game like Distant Worlds, you have to be in a particular mood to dive into it successfully. You need to be prepared to work through the complexity, and the initially dense, possibly inpenetrable feel. Likely pull up an external guide while finding your feet.
Every time in the past I’ve been in such a mood, I’ve had another game to sate it, and Distant Worlds just… continued to languish in the background.
Distant World 2’s inclusion in this month’s Humble Choice was finally the push I needed to get it, load it up, and take a look around.
If you’re unfamiliar, it’s a space 4X grand strategy game in the vein of Stellaris.
Distant Worlds 2’s hook is that you can control as much, or as little, of the galactic empire you play as you like. Want to play the role of a civic overlord and let the military do its own thing? You can. Want to control a singular exploration vessel away from the trappings of civilisation? You can. Want to rule absolutely every minute decision imaginable? Well, you might be crazy, but you can do that too.
Layered over that, you can start your empire right pre-warp, right after their first steps into space above their planet, or at the other end of the spectrum, an ancient species nearing the end of its physical existence.
I set my empire to automatic control of certain elements of *cough* diplomacy, such as spy missions and allocating ambassadors, setting colony taxation levels, and other such busy work.
I maintained control over when to build anything, from mining outposts to new ships (although I did allow automation of updating ship designs).
Once I jumped in… Well. My first minutes with the game were… Not great. New Player onboarding is in the form of screens upon screens of text. I was not in the mood. And I completely expected to bounce out with some vague promise to myself that perhaps I’d look into a Let’s Play or Beginner’s Guide at some point in the future.
For whatever reason, though, I pushed through.
And then I blinked, and 3 hours had gone by.
Since those first three hours, I’ve jumped in for 4 or 5 more, and it’s safe to say I’m enjoying it. Particularly starting with a pre-warp civilisation, the game has a slow start. But given I was learning the UI and flow of the game, I didn’t mind that.
The UI, though, is a thing of magic. Despite the pages assigned to getting you to go through it, I quickly found it to just… make sense. It’s intuitive. Everything was more or less where I thought it would be, and my hours in Stellaris and other 4X/Grand Strategy games put me in good stead to have a great start with Distant Worlds 2.
I’m still in my first game, and a long way from done. Although I did accidentally awaken a hive of sentient living ships; and given the panic from my interstellar neighbours, I take this as an action which may have collectively reduced our lifespan forecasts. So… Whoopsies.
If you’re someone who enjoys 4X and Grand Strategy, and like me, had somehow managed to avoid Distant Worlds 2, this is an easy recommend, even if it’s the only thing you’re interested in from the current Humble Choice bundle. The game’s scope, balanced by options for automation, is simply incredible.
The fact that there is a whole private civilian economy, and that they become your transport and logistics force just tickles the happy parts of my brain as well.
You know, in many ways, I feel like Distant Worlds 2 is delivering on the promises Stellaris made. Promises of being able to design and realise any sort of space-empire-fantasy you might have.
It’s early days for me yet, but I’m in. I think this might be my 4X game for the next little while- and that’s even before digging into any of the DLC!
