Endless Legend 2 might become my new 4X obsession, and you can try a demo now

Civilization 7 might have landed to a mixed response, but we're still spoiled for choice when it comes to 4X games. Paradox's Stellaris recently launched its experimental Biogenesis expansion, and its magical sibling Age of Wonders 4 is soon to get a major overhaul. For a shorter-form spin on the format, indie game Rogue Hex puts a roguelike twist on things. My attention this week has been on Endless Legend 2, however, which I've been playing in a preview form. So far, it's feeling like a worthwhile successor to the game that finally stole me away from Civ 5 more than a decade ago, and you can try it for yourself thanks to a new demo on Steam.

Amplitude Studios is releasing Endless Legend 2 into early access in September, having recently pushed it back to ensure a strong launch. If this decision was in service of polish, then things are looking good. What I played so far has already felt like a well-oiled sequel to the original, which can still be found on our list of best 4X games more than a decade on. The menus are sharply designed, striking a nice balance between evocative style and cleanly presented information. It's simple but pretty, allowing the gorgeous environments and building designs to stand out as the focus, and lets you quickly flip elements on and off to suit your needs.

I first spend some time with the game's 'tutorial campaign,' designed to be a little more hand-holdy than a traditional playthrough (which still offers advice and tips if you want them). Here I'm playing as the Kin of Sheredyn, who feel most like a classic 4X faction. They're good at production and construction, expanding their towns into defensive powerhouses. Much like its predecessor, Endless Legend 2 only allows one settlement per 'territory,' though there are ways to connect several regions together under the control of a single city as you expand.

The Kin are enjoyable, but I'm most immediately reminded of why I loved the series when I switch over to play as the returning Necrophage. The greatest strength of Endless Legend was its focus on a smaller pool of much more diverse playable factions, where no two groups felt alike. As the ravenous, warmongering bugs, I'm given a much clearer objective right from the moment the first turn begins: "Consume Saiadha."

Limited to just a single city that plays home to their queen, the Necrophage can instead create tunnels that let them cross large swathes of the map in almost no time. Their forces are bolstered by fragile larvae that spawn automatically with every victorious battle, and can be gradually evolved down a branching tech tree to suit my needs. There's no option to parley with minor factions here; all must be thrown into the proverbial meat grinder to fuel my pile of corpses, a core resource for the Necrophage used for many upgrades.

Despite the more singular focus of the bugs, I'm still presented with regular quest objectives to guide me forwards, and can earn valuable rewards for doing so. Along with the regular fighters, 'hero' units each come with their own skill tree and the ability to swap out their equipment as you unlock more powerful weapons, armor, and accessories. By default, they'll never die permanently, instead being wounded for several turns if they fall, but you can switch on full lethality if you'd prefer a more hardcore experience.

Battles are broken out in much the same way as the first game, temporarily lifting the involved units onto a separate 'board' that is based on the current environment around them. This allows for more intricate turn-based tactics than other similar strategy games where you simply slam the stacks of military might together until one falls over. Hero units bring special abilities to the table, typically with just a single use per fight, so use them wisely.

Also crucial to Endless Legend 2, and one area where it differs from its predecessor, are the Tidefall events. The new world of Saiadha is an ocean planet, and at certain points through the campaign the waters will recede, revealing everything from new land and resources to additional points of interest and even fresh threats. It's a smart way to ensure that the map doesn't stagnate over the course of a campaign by providing reasons for any and all areas to suddenly become relevant again.

The version of Endless Legend 2 I played had just three factions available of the five we'll get when it hits early access, but I'm already eager to try the others. If you'd like to get a taste, there's a new demo that's just launched; note that it doesn't include the Necrophage, but will let you choose between the Kin of Sheredyn and The Aspects, a machine hivemind that spreads a creeping coral across the map much like Starcraft's Zerg.

The Endless Legend 2 demo is available now on Steam. The full game arrives via early access on Monday September 22. Head here if you're ready to take a closer look.

If you need even more to tickle your tactical tendrils, we've got all the best turn-based strategy games to play in 2025. Want to make sure they look their best? Take a peek at our guide to the best gaming monitors right now.

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