ENDLESS™ Legend

Excellent music, great setting, enjoyable fantasy 4x.

good

If you're a fan of 4X games I sincerely recommend this game. As someone who spent $100 for the full version, I have no regrets. The game keeps a good balance of juggling what your empire is good at or allowing you to stick with one specialty. With the different factors (city population, economy, influence, military power, etc) all having a large enough influence on your success, you're free to use any play-style you enjoy. Speaking from experience, the game will seem overwhelming if you just jump into a game, however, the game has a tutorial that covers all of the more basic and most of the more complex aspects of the game. The game also has many factions to pick from, to amplify and affect different play-styles so that no matter how you choose to play, you can still enjoy the game. AI turns are near instant, so you can play the game at your own pace when playing alone. Although everyone must finish their turn to move on to the next turn, multiplayer is still very enjoyable if you have a group. Overall, this is one of my favorite games.

best 4x

Great game, can't wait for the second.

A breathtaking blend of strategy and storytelling.

I am a university professor, game developer, and 4X TBS game fanatic. I played, developed, collaborated on, play tested, analyzed, wrote about, and searched for 4X TBS games most of my life. I played thousands of games and tens of thousands of hours of TBS games. I make this post after 156 hours of playing Endless Legend. My estimated level of knowing and understanding Endless Legend and its features: 80%. I bought and used all official add ons and patches. I played 2 games. I played slow and took careful notes. I enjoyed my first game a lot. This game has many innovative interesting features and ideas that impressed me first. Then in my second game the large number of bugs, usability problems, and poor design became the dominant factor that determine my opinion on this game that was published 11 years ago and the last official patch 7 years ago. Here are some examples of the problems in the order I found them:
Bug?
1. Frequent confusing text. E.g. Sewer System did not count as Influence increaser for my quest even though it increases influence.
2. Rebellion is displayed to cause -20% on security. But the town’s own security is displayed as 0%.
3. Meritocratic promotion tech shows -2 upkeep for army, but it is -4.
4. I killed roaming Urkan Lice, but sometimes it did not count to Quest of killing Urkan Lice. Probabilistic if counts or not.
5. Save and Load logic is broken. It does not load the game state that was saved. New battles pop up, army's HP are different.
6. Attack odds should add up to 100% for the 4 possible outcomes. Instead, they add up to much more.
7. I gave my units order to move to specific positions, but also Hold position order. They all just held their positions. In other times they moved instead of holding position. They were not attacked first. What is the exact rule? Seems probabilistic. Defense order has similar problem.
8. Trade UI bug. It displays the wrong base value if I select trade 10. Then it fails to change it as I click.
9. Hero was assigned to an army that cannot be unassigned for 5 turns. Then I garrisoned the army, but the hero remained outside the city and free to move without the army.
10. Empire Plan setting is bugged. Once I set it, it cannot be changed in the same turn to other setting. But I can cancel it and then change it to something else with no penalty.
11. Display bug: Usually 90% Approval in a city is displayed as Fervent and get huge bonus. But sometimes 93% is only Happy and get moderate bonus. Same problem with 62% is sometimes happy sometimes content and apply different bonuses.
12. UI bug. Sometimes I can't give move order to my unit in battle. Must click an enemy unit first then click my unit then give move order.

Design flaws and usability issues:
1. Painful unit design. Need to try many similar items to compare statistics. Can't just rely on labels without trying. Then screen shot and paste to Word.
2. When you build settler, do not assign worker to food. It is pure waste. Poor game design.
3. Frequent zooming in and out is required to find resources on the map. Hard to see them.
4. Unintuitive use of color on how the check boxes work in Options. Green means no, yellow means yes.
5. When I edit a unit design, it deletes the design of the original unit. To continue being able to build more of the original units and upgrade them for Dust instead of Industry place many of those in the City queue. Other option is to edit the design of the new unit again to make it the cheapest. Then place many of those in the city queue. Then design again as needed alternating between cheapest and best unit designs. What a waste of time to play optimally.
6. UI not updated on time. Searching Temple Ruins and finding science there is correctly applied to research progress, but it is not displayed in graphics in the "percentage completion of the current research project".
7. I started the new game by searching a temple ruin and found science points there. But this was all lost since I have not yet selected a research project.
8. Tile movement cost should be displayed in battle to aid unit placement decisions.
9. Waste of time to watch animation of my units walking in battle after all enemies are killed. It can take 25 seconds after each battle.
10. Too easy to miss a move on the world map. The UI is not intuitive and not forgiving.
11. Cliff and ridges are very hard to see even with full zoom and map rotation. This hinders move planning.
12. It would be important to show on my army which conflux type they already hold so I would not go to pick it up again.
13. In battle, it is not clear at the time of unit placing if a tile that is 50% river and 50% forest can be stepped on or not. This impacts decisions.
14. Anomaly and Villages are displayed the same way on the world map if zoomed out. This is not user friendly since only villages need military to attack them.
15. Acting order in battle is based on initiative, but if I have 2 units with same initiative there is no way to change which will act first. Bad for tactical game play.
16. In the early game defeating the many villages is boring and fairly predictable. They all have 2 defending units and are roughly equally strong. The initial hero and the initial 2 units are enough to beat them even without research.
17. Game's meta is too narrow. Need to run around and search ruins as fast as possible. Boring.
18. Poor UI support to plan new cities. Only becomes useful once the settler gets out of the region it was built. But then it is too late.
19. Knowing about game rule step functions and thresholds, such as minimum requirement for happy is needed to play optimally. It makes a big difference.
20. Searching Temple Ruins shows it may find enemies. But out of my first 200 searches it never did. It is always treasure, quest, item, or nothing. Wrong info and boring.
21. Merging and splitting army can be done for free. This allows frequent use of these to explore more land and gather resources faster. Encourages micromanagement.
22. Research carry over when completing an Era to the next is not user friendly. All overflow science points that was completed last turn does not carry to next research if I choose tech from next Era. Worse, once I make change I cannot change it back to the original tech without full penalty.
23. Tech screen should open up on the current tech Era to research. It often opens up on Era VI that I cannot research. Waste of time and annoying to scroll to the available research.
24. I can't find indicator how many science points were spent already on the current tech research. Only shows percentage.
25. I can't find indicator how many industry points were spent already on the current construction. Only shows a bar and number of turns remaining.
26. When I research enough techs to unluck Era II, all my normal units are forced to be built as level 2, which I do not want since they cost more. Particularly problematic for Settlers. The colonization cost just goes up.
27. Attacking an enemy in Cold War increases cost of War declaration. Why? I think it should decrease it.
28. City placement planning with volcanoform ability is very tedious, boring, and time consuming. The rules are complex and unclear. The actual benefits are a fraction of what the UI is predicting.
29. Battles are boring. They became a repetitive chore by my second game.
30. Unit design: pure better versions of items that are currently being worn are not displayed. Need to take off the item to make the better version available. Surprising, not user friendly.
31. Empire plan logic is not user friendly. For example, I completed 99% of a unit construction under 20% unit construction reduction empire plan. Then the plan expired. It suddenly removed the 20% discount and now I need to pay full price. It should be proportional.

Good Game

great game to play casually by yourself. Interesting story line and different ways to play based on how you want

Honestly, a pretty good game.
Similar to other Grand Strategy games like some Civ games and others, it's a really good turn-based game. Now it does have its ups and downs, like the combat system being based off as initiative, and the long tutorial, but after that point, you play your first legit game and get used to what to do!
One small problem that new players may have is when maps won't load for games, which a simple fix is either 1. Remove a mod that is causing a problem that you have on, or 2. Go to "Properties" in the game settings and put in the code in the bar in the "Launch Options" section, "-useembedded" and you should have no problems loading into maps.

Overall, graphics could be better, sound is good, gameplay is also pretty good, so overall, a solid 8.5/10 Could be better with some bugs getting fixed but the devs are working on Endless Legend 2 so I'm also pretty stoked for that.

It's got its problems, especially around AI, but the asymmetry of the factions is amazing, and they do really interesting things around strategic / luxury resources

Still good!

Game is boring...
If you like reading and interpreting instruction manuals then you will enjoy the tutorial.

Too much content at once. Every few turns a worldwide disaster striking. The game lack consistency. It's just a show of random disaster events.

Exceptional faction concepts and art style. As for game play, I can cheat by moving troops quickly when the turn starts and I don't know if that is intentional. Apart from that the game mechanism is good. You can also adjust the combat animation speed to 3x in "advanced" before you start a game.

Honestly, its a competent game that comes with a bittersweet feeling.
Its so much like a dream game for me, its so close to being one of my perfect games
but its turn based.
Its a very good game with mediocre combat. I just wish it wasnt turn based

Had the game for about a week. Unfortunately it stopped working and refuses to launch anymore. If it performed the way it should it would been a decent game to try to understand but alas it does not.

Found this game after seeing the carnage of the Civ 7 launch and people getting excited about the prospect of Endless Legend 2. Now I see why this game is regarded as an under-rated gem by so many,

I adore this game <3

Endless Legend takes a while to learn and despite it's seemingly rich lore; the game just isn't fun game-play wise. I've been very patient with it, and after finally figuring out the basics you need a break just to try and get into it again at another point in time. After learning how to play it's OK, but there's better strategy games out there for me to play.

cant wait for Endless II

Great game! Looking forward to Endless Legends 2

More addictive than crack <3

Genuinely this game is able to wrap you perception of time in a very (un)healthy way

Played again after a few years, and the game has just been crashing on launch.

Not the game I was hoping it would be, but still fun to play. I was looking for a game to replace Age of Wonders 1. But I like my strategy games graphics simple. I would still play classic Empire with a game board of x's as opposed to what we have now with towers that block the area behind it making it more challenging to select the hexagon you want. So while the strategy is fine, there is too much graphics in an effort to make it look good, but it really just adds more annoyance. I just want to use my A to attack the o.

Disclaimer: Some DLC was received for free.

A unique fantasy/sci-fi 4X with a distinctive presentation and factions that give it character and replayability. Mechanics such as unit and hero customization provide depth and third-party mods like ELCP fix many technical and balance issues with the game. However, onboarding is lacking and mistakes can be very punishing for a new player. Coupled with somewhat frustrating mechanics like combat and the tedium of keeping units upgraded to each specific equipment can be frustrating. Furthermore, if not using mods the technical and balance issues, especially desync in multiplayer, can ruin the game session.

Positives: Incredible presentation, both in artstyle and audio especially with the soundtrack. Factions, both major and minor, feel distinctive and have special faction quests, gameplay mechanics and/or asymmetrical units and bonuses. Depth of customization of units and heroes through equipment and passive skills. Third-party mods like ELCP fix many issues and re-balance the game.

Negatives: Lacking new player onboarding, coupled with very punishing consequences for beginner mistakes. Combat is strategic but once executed is out of the players' control and can be very frustrating. Some major bugs and balance issues present if not using a mod to fix them. Many mechanics that provide depth like unit customization can become tedious maintenance work to optimize.

This game has been one of my absolute favorites for about a decade now. The world building is imaginative yet subtle, leaving lots of room for the player to read between the lines. The gameplay is first rate and was doing a lot of things Civ has since integrated before Civ did. The customizable, asymmetric factions also add a lot of replay value to the game.

Yeah, I play this game too much, often while watching TV. It's both a comfort and an adventure.

One of the best Civ 4x alternative out there.

The playable factions in Endless Legend are distinct and play very differently from each other. AMPLITUDE Studios did a downright excellent job on this front.

Research feels substantial without being overpowered, and unlike many other 4X genre games - the research doesn't seem nearly as linear. Progressively more powerful techs unlocked as whole tiers make you truly evaluate which of the different techs to get in your current tier, since you won't get them all. (You can, but you'd be making a mistake.)

Exploration is fun and vibrant. There are local minor factions that you can do quests for, subjugate, or assimilate into your empire.

Combat, while not exactly a main selling point, is more involved and dynamic than most 4X games. Fights happen in an instanced battle map that uses the same overworld terrain, which makes positioning very important. Additionally, your units bring RPG-style equipment to the fight. The same unit with different sword or shield and helmet will have wildly different stats.

A common problem of 4X games that Endless Legend brilliantly solves through simplicity is the overcrowding issue. Endless Legend solves it by limiting each region to 1 city. Control the city to control the region. This results in less bloat and administration than other titles, and cities feel more significant and less disposable.

If you're considering buying the game, I highly recommend also getting The Lost Tales DLC. It's two dollars at full price. Just include it from the get-go. You can hold off on unlocking the other DLC factions until you discover you enjoy the game.

Combat feels slow, awful and clunky. Sometimes it makes little to no sense since units with less initiative can jump in priority and stun your units, despite your units having more initiative.

Much like endless space 2 diplomacy sucks. Whereas in endless space 2 it's baffling how hard it is to declare war on people, here it's baffling how hard it is to be friendly with other factions. You can only "compliment" other factions. There is nothing like a non aggression pact or any real trading for most factions. So you'll have a massive enemy next to you, no options in the diplomacy screen to increase standing, and nothing on the research screen that will unlock such a feature. Meaning any bordering factions is just a ticking time bomb since you have no way of preventing them from declaring war on you.

City building and research here however are both much better than endless space 2. It's much easier to understand what you actually need to do to achieve what you want.
It's entirely pointless though since the terrible diplomacy system will drag you into conflicts with other factions where you will be forced to endure the terrible, slow and clunky combat system.

classic

CIV but with aliens and giant beasts

very fun

great well worth the time and with such variety of play styles it will only make you want more. soundtrack, visuals, gameplay, everything is top notch and if you like this genre and have not tried this you are missing out plain and simple.

I just tried to launch the game after a long while of not playing it and i now get an error message saying that it's missing the x86 executable. I tried uninstalling and re-installing, but same message pops up. How do i fix the issue?

I really want to like this game! I really do, but its not there.
Clunky engaging combat, game drops at you event after event and it feels dull. Its winter next day its eclipse then its witner again, then there is this big crab!
Feeling is that this game tries to do many different things and doesn't really do any of them well.

Cool charming game

world builder like civ, but fantasy, army customization by troop selection and heroes to the extent of gear upgrades and skill levels. combat is a hex battlefield where you can go auto battle, spectate the horrible ai, or control your troops like in Heroes. almost all the dlc is worth it, like can be said about many games, but most are.

this is too much. the screen is full with numbers. i dont know what to press. and the tutorial is not helpful. theres no story Campagne either. theres nothing to ease you into the mechanics or different rages. it just throws clutter at you and demands "now land the plane!"
i just cant.

A game that lured me in with its beautiful maps, unique factions, and the promise of a grand strategy experience. And for the most part, it delivered—right up until the moment I realized I was trapped in a never-ending late-game purgatory, micromanaging so many things that I started to question my own existence.

Let’s start with the good: The factions are fantastic. The Vaulters teleport around like sci-fi wizards, the Cultists refuse to play by anyone’s rules (even their own), and each race feels truly distinct. The early game? Chef’s kiss. Exploring the map, building up my empire, and engaging in some light skirmishes kept me hooked. The mid-game? Still strong, still engaging. The late game? That’s where the wheels started to come off.

You see, there’s a fine line between “deep strategy” and “I’m now the unpaid manager of a medieval fantasy bureaucracy.” By the time I was juggling city districts, army movements, research, diplomacy, and trade routes, I wasn’t having fun anymore—I was just filing paperwork. Even my eventual victories felt like an exhausted sigh of relief rather than a triumph.

So, after two playthroughs (and what felt like an eternity in turn-based years), I think I’m done. It’s a great game, but it demands time. And patience. And probably a second monitor just to keep track of everything.

Would still recommend to anyone who loves unique factions and deep strategy but has the endurance of a marathon runner.

Its like a Civ6 with totally different rules, nations, resources and tech-tree. I really like it!

One of the literal best games ever made and that's all I have to say about it.

Excellent 4x game. The different factions each have a unique playstyle that makes no 2 games feel the same.

First, the context is that I am a long-time Civilization player going back to Civ3. I really like Civ, but I wanted to branch out.

I think for me this game falls flat in a number of ways. And I do mean flat. It's not that it's a bad game, exactly. Or that I hate it. I could see myself playing more of it to relax.

...But after 17 hours, I wouldn't buy it again.

Something about the technological progression and city progression doesn't feel... progression-y to me. Nothing really seems to change *too* much except various bonuses and things. Bigger numbers. Could be the factions I'm playing, but even so.

The unit gear micromanagement is also cool in theory but cumbersome in practices. Upgrade trees for units + gear management *just* for heroes would have been better in my view.

Wars and factions feel... okay? I conquered a city. And it was fine.

I do like the drive to explore the map without necessarily conquering it. The marketplace is also interesting (such as how one can sell units), and I'd love to see something like that implemented in a Civ game. Global markets where one can buy military hardware? Sign me up!

The map is also dark somehow and hard to visually make sense of, even after 17 hours of looking at rather small areas. There's something to be said for the Civ approach to icons and clear map design.

Combat is also... disappointing. There's not a lot of room for interesting tactics, partly because one's armies are not fully under one's control. That leads to some weird things happening. And combat doesn't seem to materially change a whole lot.

The Winter mechanics are... not fun? It's just a period when things kind of suck. And then they get better again. But it feels rather pointless.

There's a great game lurking in here. It's just not here yet. Or it's not for me.

I'll be keeping an eye on Endless Legend 2, though. This but with more polish and better mechanics could be something worth checking out.

I've played 4X games since the original Civilization, and this is one of my favourites. True, there are a lot of games in the genre I haven't played, but still. I like how your cities grow and expand on the map as you develop them. I like the decision to use technology levels rather than a more traditional tech tree. I like the use of the different seasons to keep the gameplay fresh. I especially like the quest system, from the faction quests giving the game an overall narrative feel, to the smaller quests that give you optional challenges. Some of these aspects I think were introduced in DLC, so you might want to check that.

The sequel was recently announced, so it's natural to wait for that instead. I am hopeful the sequel will live up to the original; but however the new game turns out, this version will always by here to enjoy.

This game is too cool for me.

“ENDLESS™ Legend” might look similar to Civilization or Age of Wonders at first glance, but it plays quite differently. If you're a fan of combat-heavy gameplay, this might be right up your alley. However, if combat isn't your thing, the experience could be less enjoyable, as nearly every victory type demands a substantial amount of fighting.

Unlike Civ, where peaceful strategies can thrive, Endless Legend makes it difficult to succeed without eliminating a large portion of those you encounter. While it's technically possible to avoid conflict, most quests require combat, whether directly or through objectives that involve clearing regions. Diplomacy is also challenging—factions are highly aggressive and will frequently attack, often breaking treaties impulsively once they strengthen their armies. This design can make non-combat playstyles feel frustrating, especially since victory conditions like Quest and Science are achieved by a small percentage of players (3% and 5.2% on Steam, respectively). It could suggest that most players resort to combat simply because other paths feel like a grind.

The combat itself, while serviceable, didn't feel as engaging to me as it does in games like Age of Wonders, where battles allow for more tactical control. In Endless Legend, you issue attack commands, and units handle the rest on their own. It wasn’t terrible, but it didn’t quite capture my interest over time. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy parts of the game—I got many hours of fun before I grew bored—but I struggled to find elements I truly loved.

Customization, for example, felt limited. While you can create custom factions, the options don't allow for deeper personalization, such as tailoring the appearance of your kingdom or diversifying your units. Personally, I’d have loved to make half my soldiers women instead of the rare handful present in most factions.

Overall, Endless Legend offers an intriguing mix of systems and storytelling, but it didn’t quite click for me despite playing multiple games to try different victory types. However, it's far from terrible and I later edited the review to make it positive, if barely. (5/10)

Takes everything one loves about 4X games, and does it right! The graphics are beautiful, the music is hypnotic, and the game is complex enough to keep one interested without getting frustrated. From the opening prologue, the game immerses the player in a compelling and unique world that is rich in lore. It is starting to show its age in 2025 but still worth playing if you have not already tried it.

9/10 would uninstall again; at least in 2025, since I only get crashed to desktop on launch.