Galactic Civilizations II Endless Universe

As the nights draw in and the weather gets cold and wet, there's nothing we like better here at VideoGamer.com than to cuddle up with a hot water bottle, a laptop, a duvet and turn-based strategy game, and Galactic Civilizations II: Endless Universe fits the bill perfectly. Endless Universe is not technically a new entry in the Galactic Civilizations pantheon, but instead is a retail release of the Dark Avatar and Twilight of the Arnor standalone expansion packs, which, while available through Stardock's digital distribution system (Impulse) for some time, have somehow managed to avoid a European release in your favourite High Street video games retailer until now.



If you played the first campaign in the Galactic Civilizations II series (Dread Lords), or indeed any 4X strategy game, you should broadly know what to expect from Dark Avatar and Twilight of the Arnor. Namely, a huge universe, lots of depth in the diplomacy, economic, research and ship-building models, some viciously clever AI, lashings of smart humour in the game text and several hundred hours lost in sleepless nights. As with most turn-based strategies, Galactic Civilizations II is fearsomely addictive and very hard to put down. Endless Universe is quite an apt description for this expansion pack bundle, because with two campaigns and the ability to customise and play in your own galaxy, the amount of time you could spend playing Endless Universe is, well, endless.