iving into a new turn-based strategy game can be a daunting endeavor. Just to name a few tasks, you’ve got to figure out how the economy works, what rate of expansion is optimal, and how diplomacy is handled. Lost Empire: Immortals, for all of its nifty features and new ideas, makes things much harder on new players than it ought to due to minimal tutorials and a decidedly sub-par interface.
More than anything else, scale defines this game. The smallest maps contain hundreds of stars to colonize, and even on default settings a game can take dozens of hours to complete. To make running an empire this large feasible, colony management is very hands-off. Beyond deciding what the world’s focus will be (agriculture, mining, trade, etc.) and which, if any, static defenses or ships to build, individual colonies run themselves. Players’ decision-making is focused on choosing research paths, designing and moving fleets of ships, and diplomatic relations.
Lost Empire’s approach to technology is pleasantly novel. A bare few dozen techs are available, with almost none of the branching tier climbing that nearly every other title in the genre uses. Instead, further research into a specific technology improves its efficacy; for instance, fifth-level laser beams do much more damage than first-level weapons. I’m not convinced that this is necessarily a better way to do tech, but it’s at least a different set of problems and options than we’re used to.
The two titular Immortals make themselves known relatively early in each game. These warring superpowers will give you missions, with obvious diplomatic effects should you complete or ignore them. Allying with one or the other has benefits (including, perhaps most importantly, good relations with other empires allied with that Immortal), as does trying to remain neutral (notably, neither of them will attack you with their vastly superior technology if you don’t piss them off). This twist adds needed flavor to Lost Empire’s otherwise vanilla gameplay.
Beyond these standout features, Lost Empire is a fairly traditional 4X title. You’ll use your fleets to conquer minor races and rivals, manage your economy and research, and try not to have everyone declare war on you at the same time. Unfortunately, a boneheaded interface that makes selecting fleets and sorting through uncolonized planets a giant pain constantly frustrates. Also, it’s a bit disappointing that you can’t command your ships in battle after designing and building them – all combat is automatically resolved. Still, 4X fans should be able to extract plenty of entertainment from this Danish import.