Galactic Civilizations 4 Review

Galactic Civilizations 4 reviewed on PC by Kris Cornelisse. After completing a few campaigns I’m left struggling to find reasons to come back to Galactic Civilizations IV. What few new ideas it brings to the space 4X genre prove to be poorly implemented and ultimately uninteresting, with promising features like Sectors and Galactic Challenges missing the mark and feeling unfinished. Every option and playstyle inevitably blurs together into a galaxy-spanning land grab, and without flavorful writing to back it up the tedious nature of that and its whack-a-mole warfare mean I’ll probably forget I played GalCiv IV by year’s end. Other 4X games have solved these problems more effectively, and with more flair and identity. This leaves Galactic Civilizations IV feeling barren, hollow, and in desperate need of a balance and polish pass - which, to be fair, Stardock has a respectable history of doing with its games after launch. In its current condition it’s not particularly good or bad; it