You sonofabitch. I uninstalled all my precious, precious 4X/wargames from steam in the winter to help pull myself out of a deep depressive pit. They acted exactly as you have described, to numb. In fact, when I read your previous piece on the artisitic uniqueness of video games I thought about my shameful hoard of paradox/creative assembly/firaxis games. Now you're telling me there's a baroquely detailed 4X wargame where the numbness of repetitive gameplay is a feature of the narrative experience? Fuck.
Afraid so, my friend! I'm a recovering Paradox GSG obsessive myself, so I can tell you with confidence that Shadow Empire stays with you in a way the old guard doesn't. Playing EU4 for a couple hours makes me want to continue playing EU4, but playing Shadow Empire for a couple hours makes me want to write — hence my 4,000 words of breathless enthusiasm.
I'll eventually have to write about how Paradox's oeuvre (CA's and Firaxis's too, come to think of it...) flirts with emergent drama as well even as those games lack the machinery to stick the landing like Shadow Empire does. Appreciate the food for thought!
I can't believe I've never heard of this, it seems right up my alley. I kind of love a game I can jump into knowing that in 100 hours time I will still barely understand what's going on
Great write-up. There's something special about a game where you can play WITH the ideas that interest you, rather than just having your own beliefs echoed back to you, if that makes any sense. I still feel the same way about Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, for example, which has a lot of the same elements you describe - such as the fact that Planet becomes almost as important a character as any human leader. And being forced to make decisions that are somewhat hypocritical, either to your own morality or the projected morality of the faction you're embodying, for pragmatic or justifiable reasons is something I agree doesn't get followed through with nearly enough. Did the era of Paragon/Renegade dialogue options and quest rewards stunt our ability to grapple with moral grey areas? Solo developers are also generally my favorites - there's something intoxicating about getting a distilled vision of the developer's concept of a perfect game, even if their reach exceeds their grasp.
Incidentally, the setup and retro flair of the game reminds me a lot of Emperor of the Fading Suns, which is a much, much older game that just got re-released [with updates] on Steam a few weeks ago. The main difference is that it takes place on a multi-system scale, with the ability to put troops on starships and shuttle them to other planets of note, though the general scope is still relatively focused compared to most space-based 4Xs. The setting and style is probably my favorite part - a bit of Dune, a bit of 40K, and very 90s cartoon character portraits.
Another game in a similar vein I've heard a lot of good things about is Terra Invicta, which is about Earth society breaking into factions over how to respond to an imminent alien invasion, with a lot of subterfuge and political manipulation as everyone jockeys for position in the wake of that revelation.
Unfortunately, 4X is by far the most daunting genre to heap onto the backlog, so I haven't played many myself recently, but Shadow Empire is definitely going on my wishlist now. As a last note, the soundtrack seems like a solid ambient backdrop - reminds me a lot of Paul Ruskay's tracks for Homeworld.
Thanks! This game absolutely brings Alpha Centauri to mind, and both underscore how rare these deep explorations of human ethics have become. You make an interesting point about the Mass Effect archetype of binary moral choice — there certainly seems to be less of an appetite for serious nuance in its wake, and I suspect a lot of it comes down to commercialism and risk-aversion. It's hard to imagine a AAA publisher green-lighting Alpha Centauri in 2025 given its rather advertiser-unfriendly approaches to corporatism, population control, etc. etc. I suppose this is one area of game design in which indies and solo-devs still enjoy a structural advantage over the major studios.
I've noticed a number of Shadow Empire streamers also love Emperor of the Fading Suns, which can't possibly be a coincidence. That might well be my next 4X. I also really like the look of Terra Invicta's Crusader-Kings-in-Space conceit — sounds like they're targeting a full release late this year, so I'll be keeping an eye on that one, too.
You sonofabitch. I uninstalled all my precious, precious 4X/wargames from steam in the winter to help pull myself out of a deep depressive pit. They acted exactly as you have described, to numb. In fact, when I read your previous piece on the artisitic uniqueness of video games I thought about my shameful hoard of paradox/creative assembly/firaxis games. Now you're telling me there's a baroquely detailed 4X wargame where the numbness of repetitive gameplay is a feature of the narrative experience? Fuck.
Afraid so, my friend! I'm a recovering Paradox GSG obsessive myself, so I can tell you with confidence that Shadow Empire stays with you in a way the old guard doesn't. Playing EU4 for a couple hours makes me want to continue playing EU4, but playing Shadow Empire for a couple hours makes me want to write — hence my 4,000 words of breathless enthusiasm.
I'll eventually have to write about how Paradox's oeuvre (CA's and Firaxis's too, come to think of it...) flirts with emergent drama as well even as those games lack the machinery to stick the landing like Shadow Empire does. Appreciate the food for thought!
I can't believe I've never heard of this, it seems right up my alley. I kind of love a game I can jump into knowing that in 100 hours time I will still barely understand what's going on
Would be cool if there was an end game epilogue where it’s revealed your planet was actually in the path of the Great Crusade from Warhammer 40k 🙃
Great write-up. There's something special about a game where you can play WITH the ideas that interest you, rather than just having your own beliefs echoed back to you, if that makes any sense. I still feel the same way about Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, for example, which has a lot of the same elements you describe - such as the fact that Planet becomes almost as important a character as any human leader. And being forced to make decisions that are somewhat hypocritical, either to your own morality or the projected morality of the faction you're embodying, for pragmatic or justifiable reasons is something I agree doesn't get followed through with nearly enough. Did the era of Paragon/Renegade dialogue options and quest rewards stunt our ability to grapple with moral grey areas? Solo developers are also generally my favorites - there's something intoxicating about getting a distilled vision of the developer's concept of a perfect game, even if their reach exceeds their grasp.
Incidentally, the setup and retro flair of the game reminds me a lot of Emperor of the Fading Suns, which is a much, much older game that just got re-released [with updates] on Steam a few weeks ago. The main difference is that it takes place on a multi-system scale, with the ability to put troops on starships and shuttle them to other planets of note, though the general scope is still relatively focused compared to most space-based 4Xs. The setting and style is probably my favorite part - a bit of Dune, a bit of 40K, and very 90s cartoon character portraits.
Another game in a similar vein I've heard a lot of good things about is Terra Invicta, which is about Earth society breaking into factions over how to respond to an imminent alien invasion, with a lot of subterfuge and political manipulation as everyone jockeys for position in the wake of that revelation.
Unfortunately, 4X is by far the most daunting genre to heap onto the backlog, so I haven't played many myself recently, but Shadow Empire is definitely going on my wishlist now. As a last note, the soundtrack seems like a solid ambient backdrop - reminds me a lot of Paul Ruskay's tracks for Homeworld.
Thanks! This game absolutely brings Alpha Centauri to mind, and both underscore how rare these deep explorations of human ethics have become. You make an interesting point about the Mass Effect archetype of binary moral choice — there certainly seems to be less of an appetite for serious nuance in its wake, and I suspect a lot of it comes down to commercialism and risk-aversion. It's hard to imagine a AAA publisher green-lighting Alpha Centauri in 2025 given its rather advertiser-unfriendly approaches to corporatism, population control, etc. etc. I suppose this is one area of game design in which indies and solo-devs still enjoy a structural advantage over the major studios.
I've noticed a number of Shadow Empire streamers also love Emperor of the Fading Suns, which can't possibly be a coincidence. That might well be my next 4X. I also really like the look of Terra Invicta's Crusader-Kings-in-Space conceit — sounds like they're targeting a full release late this year, so I'll be keeping an eye on that one, too.
Finally! The oceanic salinity gameplay I have been searching for all these years.
https://kaiserbasileus.substack.com/p/the-mandate-of-libertarian-fascist