''Endless Legend'' is a

turn-based Timekeeping is relevant to many types of games, including video games, tabletop role-playing games, board games, and sports. The passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. In many games, this is don ...

4X fantasy-strategy game developed by

Amplitude Studios Amplitude Studios SASU is a French video game developer based in Paris. The studio was founded in January 2011 by former Ubisoft employees Romain de Waubert de Genlis and Mathieu Girard. Sega Sammy Holdings acquired it in June 2016 and became p ...

and published by

Iceberg Interactive Iceberg Interactive is a privately held video game publisher based in Haarlem, Netherlands. The company is known for publishing games of independent developers. It publishes video games for Windows, macOS, and Linux through traditional retail cha ...

for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

in September 2014. The purpose of the game is to dominate the world of Auriga with one of the fourteen races/factions through either diplomacy or war while developing new technologies, exploring new lands and founding new cities. ''Endless Legend'' is the second game made by

in their ''Endless'' series of titles, following ''

Endless Space ''Endless Space'' is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Amplitude Studios and originally published by Iceberg Interactive. It was released on 4 July 2012, for Microsoft Windows and 31 August for Mac OS X. In the game, the player t ...

''. A sequel, '' Endless Legend 2'', was announced in January 2025.

Gameplay

''Endless Legend'' is a turn-based 4X strategy game, in which players take control of a fantasy faction to establish an empire through exploration, conquest, diplomacy and research. The game is set in the land of Auriga, with the layout of its landmass and ecosystems being randomized per game, represented on a model-like map made up of a

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A regular hexagon is de ...

al grid. The map is populated with a variety of terrain, each made up of

biomes A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community (ecology), community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Art ...

within the world which have effects on the player's units. Tiles and their layout are all randomly generated to create a unique playable world with each separate playthrough.

Fog of war The fog of war is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, and adversary Intent (Military), inten ...

covers the play space requiring exploration by the player's units to find resources, minor factions, and races that players must utilize and exploit to benefit their growing empires. Unlike other 4X games, the world map of ''Endless Legend'' is formed of separate regions. Once a city has been established within the borders of a region for the first time, the entire region becomes part of a faction's territory and control. At the start of each game, each faction begins with a settler unit to establish their first city and region. Regions can only host one city each within their borders.

Reception

''Endless Legend'' received positive reviews from critics.

Review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gathered an average rating of 82 out of 100 based on 35 reviews for the PC version. and

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

gathered a score of 83% based on 20 reviews.

PC Gamer US ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

gave it an 89 out of 100: "

has created another astounding story-driven game, that really has taken the best bits of

RTS RTS may refer to: Medicine * Rape trauma syndrome, the psychological trauma experienced by a rape victim * Revised Trauma Score, a system to evaluate injuries secondary to violent trauma * Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by ...

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

, and 4X, drawing much from Endless Space, and spun it differently for every faction".

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

commented: "It combines style, substance, and setting into a marvelous overall experience for both empire management and tactical combat", giving it an 8.3 out of 10.

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

warned of passive and weak AI but remarked that "''Endless Legend''s driving forces are so thoroughly executed that it serves as an imperfect, but well worthwhile step in the series, and hopefully a sign of things to come", giving it an 8 out of 10.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' is a British video game journalism website. It was launched in July 2007 to focus on PC games and was acquired by Gamer Network, a network of sites led by ''Eurogamer'', in May 2017. History ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' ...

named ''Endless Legend'' Game of the Year in 2014. During the

18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards The ''18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards'' was the 18th edition of the D.I.C.E. Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2014. The awards were arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (A ...

, the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

nominated ''Endless Legend'' for " Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year". In a review of ''Endless Legend'' in '' Black Gate'', Eeknight said "the ideal way to play ''Endless Legend'' would be online with a few friends. With this game's mechanics, the battles, backstabs and potential for a surprise coup would be epic".

Sequel

A sequel titled '' Endless Legend 2'' is set to be released as an

early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release Software release life cycle, developm ...

game in early 2025. Amplitude Studios partnered with Hooded Horse for the game's release.

References

External links

Official website

''Endless Legend'' wiki
{{Amplitude Studios 2014 video games 4X video games Amplitude Studios games Early access video games Fantasy video games Iceberg Interactive games MacOS games Multiplayer and single-player video games Sega video games Turn-based strategy video games Video games developed in France Video games with Steam Workshop support Windows games