Sins of a Solar Empire

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 317 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 245 out of 317
  2. Mixed: 43 out of 317
  3. Negative: 29 out of 317
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  1. Elc1247
    Aug 24, 2011
    7
    fun game to play every once in a while, but the thing that really kills it, is the fact that there is no story mode or single player campaign at all. this is especially important since the game has an opening sequence that seems to hint at an epic story, and then you get to the main menu and find out that theres absolutely nothing...
  2. Discord
    May 19, 2012
    9
    An excellent strategy game, with great amounts of variety, especially in the upcoming Rebellion expansion. Controls take a little bit to get the hang of, but after that it's fun as can be. Only drawback is the lack of a single-player campaign, but I believe that's being worked on in the Rebellion expansion as well. The other two expansions, Entrenchment and Diplomacy, add differentAn excellent strategy game, with great amounts of variety, especially in the upcoming Rebellion expansion. Controls take a little bit to get the hang of, but after that it's fun as can be. Only drawback is the lack of a single-player campaign, but I believe that's being worked on in the Rebellion expansion as well. The other two expansions, Entrenchment and Diplomacy, add different technologies and structures while still building on the backstory to the game itself. In place of single-player campaigns, it has multiple scenarios in varying sizes. Without a doubt a fun strategy game.… Expand
  3. theirrelephants
    May 15, 2016
    9
    Great rts strategy game. Only two downsides: One is that there is no single player campaign and the trailer made me want one, badly.

    The second is that multiplayer games can drag on for very, very long in a large galaxy.

    All the factions are well balanced, the graphics are good, and if you put the AI on insane and let it cheat beyond belief you can even pretend that it's somewhat competent.
  4. Andrew
    Oct 6, 2008
    10
    To Start off this game is by no means a short game, or a game that is meant to use a quick rush. You must be thoughtful and tactical to accomplish what you want in this game and with the three different races there is enough differences to make you use a different strategy while still keeping the game balanced. Another Plus is that this game is that you can play an epic space game on aTo Start off this game is by no means a short game, or a game that is meant to use a quick rush. You must be thoughtful and tactical to accomplish what you want in this game and with the three different races there is enough differences to make you use a different strategy while still keeping the game balanced. Another Plus is that this game is that you can play an epic space game on a budget. I am playing this game below specs and it still runs smooth on medium, so there are no requirements like crysis to play a cool game. It is a very deep game making you choose where you put you defensive structures, because you can only have so many on any planet. The best part of all is that you can design your own star systems to play using galaxy forge and that it is that you can mod the game. The only downside i can possibly see is that the game is TOO epic, but me liking massive long drawn out wars of survival in space while staying un-dumb downed and not to complex. I love this game and if you like epic drawn out space battles for the survival of your people and see epic space battles close up then this is your game. and Long Live the Unity.… Expand
  5. wordy_actions
    Jun 19, 2011
    7
    This game fills a void in my heart. I've always yearned for a game where you fight an intergalactic (well, in this game it's a solar system, but still) war. You manage your planets, built your fleets, conduct research, and wage war. It's a very fun and unique game. It takes place in real time but the pace is slower than most real time strategy games. The game plays unlike any otherThis game fills a void in my heart. I've always yearned for a game where you fight an intergalactic (well, in this game it's a solar system, but still) war. You manage your planets, built your fleets, conduct research, and wage war. It's a very fun and unique game. It takes place in real time but the pace is slower than most real time strategy games. The game plays unlike any other strategy game I've encountered. The biggest problem is the lack of meaningful ways to change the outcome of fleet battles. In this game the outcome is almost always determined before you engage in combat, and it basically comes down to who has the most ships. Tactics are non-existent for the most part, but the strategy is very much there. Recommended for people who like space battles and nuking planets. (Don't we all?)… Expand
  6. Tristan
    Jul 4, 2008
    5
    Bland and unoriginal. The capital ship system is identical to WC3's hero system, the space battles look boring, there is no storyline, there are no backgrounds for the races or ships, the gameplay feels like any other RTS game where you churn out units to throw into combat. The voice acting is ok, the music is quite good and the graphics are nothing spectacular.
  7. DrTizzle
    Nov 14, 2011
    3
    So glad i picked this up for pennies in the bargain bin of i would have wasted a lot more money than i did.
    Good:
    -Style
    -idea
    Bad:
    -Terrible AI
    -Too tong to play
    -unhelpful interface
    -story with no campaign (needed both or none)
  8. ChunkySaurus
    Aug 12, 2012
    8
    An excellent 4X type game. You really get the sense of massive ships blasting each other apart. Games take a very long time to play out, but if you enjoy the genre this won't matter. The graphics are decent, I really enjoy the multiple independent guns on the capitol ships.

    The big drawback is that there is no single player campaign.
  9. JeffM
    Mar 29, 2008
    3
    An uninspired attempt to combine two inherently incompatible styles of gameplay, Sins ends up falling flat on its pretty face. The scale is ridiculous, completely destroying any possibility of a suspension of disbelief. The artificiality of "jump lines" between planets, not to mention dozens of planets in a single system, is laughably dumb. For the so-called amazing battle scenes, ships An uninspired attempt to combine two inherently incompatible styles of gameplay, Sins ends up falling flat on its pretty face. The scale is ridiculous, completely destroying any possibility of a suspension of disbelief. The artificiality of "jump lines" between planets, not to mention dozens of planets in a single system, is laughably dumb. For the so-called amazing battle scenes, ships just warp into an area, then sit there and shoot at each other until the exploding is over. Yawn. Homeworld this is not. Stick with Space Empires if you want a 4X turn-based game. Or maybe go dust off Homeworld or try out Sword of the Stars. But stay away from Sins... it tries to be all things and comes up a big loser.… Expand
  10. Pontifex
    Mar 31, 2008
    4
    Starcraft meets Masters of Orion. Not terribly impressive at either. Loses a lot of points for not having a SINGLE PLAYER campaign. Were they too busy ripping off two superior games to hire some voice actors and a decent script writer? A single player serves two functions: To get the player used to the controls and the interface and To entertain. So this game really loses points for not Starcraft meets Masters of Orion. Not terribly impressive at either. Loses a lot of points for not having a SINGLE PLAYER campaign. Were they too busy ripping off two superior games to hire some voice actors and a decent script writer? A single player serves two functions: To get the player used to the controls and the interface and To entertain. So this game really loses points for not having one. I would go so far as to label it "half a game" because of its short coming.… Expand
  11. RanbirC.
    Feb 4, 2008
    6
    Solid RTS but not the epic RT4x it is boasting to be. If anything, it's just a slower but still standard RTS affair.
  12. ClintG.
    Apr 16, 2008
    6
    you really have to want to play this a RTS set in space to wanna play this game, because it is the best of it's type as you can tell by the high score. Of course I would assume it's only merited against games of this exact type wich in this case is like being the brightest kid on the short bus. This game is booooring ! very very boring and haveing a huge tec tree ware everything you really have to want to play this a RTS set in space to wanna play this game, because it is the best of it's type as you can tell by the high score. Of course I would assume it's only merited against games of this exact type wich in this case is like being the brightest kid on the short bus. This game is booooring ! very very boring and haveing a huge tec tree ware everything mainly does the same this just called something different, kinda gives you the illusion of content. Unfortunatly there really isn't much there aside from the large scale as you will find out after playing about 2 games. In my opinion if have alot of time to waste I suggest watching paint dry instead of waisting money on this game.… Expand
  13. superecnate
    Feb 6, 2012
    10
    How is it possible not to like this game?! Well, maybe multiplayer junkies. Epic space battles, uber campaings (sure they are technicly skirmish games, just get over it!). Who doesn't like an uber battles between multi-hundred ship super-fleets?! This game lives up to its discription. EPIC!!!
  14. Celius
    Aug 21, 2009
    2
    Play about an hour and you don't need to play anymore, you've seen all it has to offer and it just happens over and over again
  15. Dan
    Mar 5, 2008
    3
    No single player campaign and very bugged multiplayer. One of the game's features is bugged and can give players extra resources, up to infinity. Online plays degenerates into who can exploit this better. Developers knew about this serious bug for weeks and did not fix it. They first pretended it didn't exist, then claimed it does not affect game play. Not worth your time & money.
  16. WolfMan
    May 19, 2008
    3
    This review is directed more toward the casual gamer. As a casual gamer who plays for a good story this game utterly fails on both marks. The game play requires constant babysitting and the storyline, well, outside the tempting intro cg there is none, no campaigns, dull. The tutorial lacks any narration and you have to read ugly red text to get through it, I didn't play this game for This review is directed more toward the casual gamer. As a casual gamer who plays for a good story this game utterly fails on both marks. The game play requires constant babysitting and the storyline, well, outside the tempting intro cg there is none, no campaigns, dull. The tutorial lacks any narration and you have to read ugly red text to get through it, I didn't play this game for months because I hated the tutorial with a passion. The voices are much to be desired I don't play one of the races because the voices are irritating. Frankly, I am surprised this game got high ratings and had buyers remorse after being duped by the ratings. Back to the game play, yes, I know I can edit the options and change how everything interacts but the game simply comes off as an eye sore. The pirates are just annoying as you can bribe them to attack the other player, but there are no real warnings if the other player raises the bribe and moments before the pirates begin their raid you have to babysit the Pirates menu to watch for an increase. I don't touch multiplayer as a casual gamer and since there is little to be enjoyed from single play. This game reminded me of those Nintendo games that were ridiculously hard or annoying just to make you angry... yeah I'm not interested. I intend on ejecting this game into space, I'll go back to playing Freelancer. 3 points for pretty graphics.… Expand
  17. DanB
    Oct 15, 2008
    3
    Fun, but the game's take way too much time. I played a multiplayer game with a friend of mine. We picked a decent medium sized map, and it still took just over 7 hours to complete. We saved halfway and started back up on another day so it was not all in one session, but still, a game should be fun. This game is just too boring to keep playing when the games get too long.
  18. ThinkGamer
    Mar 4, 2008
    4
    No single player campaigns. Playing vs AI on random maps is predictable and easy. So the game is meant for mostly online play, however its poor online designs hold back the game. If you want to play online, you have to either reconfigure your network or find someone else willing to do so. The online experience for players seems to be waiting in the lobby and complain they can't join No single player campaigns. Playing vs AI on random maps is predictable and easy. So the game is meant for mostly online play, however its poor online designs hold back the game. If you want to play online, you have to either reconfigure your network or find someone else willing to do so. The online experience for players seems to be waiting in the lobby and complain they can't join games. Even if you get into an online game, it crashes or drops, which is a severe problem for this game because each game takes a long time, up to 4 hours. After building up slowly for an hour then the host player drops, the game is dead for everyone. So you just wasted an hour for nothing and it happens frequently.… Expand
  19. RayC.
    Feb 11, 2008
    9
    Apart from the plagiarizing of many aspects from an older game called Hegomonia, this game is awesome. It kind of feels like the Total War series, but with space combat in lieu of medieval times. Though Total War is turned base and Sins is not, it still has that same
  20. Lars
    Feb 11, 2008
    2
    It's definitely not Homeworld nor is it C&C. Best to wait for the demo before making the mistake and buying this one.
  21. Rizak
    Feb 16, 2008
    1
    It's overly complicated UI and gameplay is sadly Sins greatest weakness. But if your still a fan of PC games, love games that are overly complicated and have pretty particle FX, Sins should feel like comfort food.
  22. Rylos
    Feb 5, 2008
    4
    Meh.. Empire at War space battles are better and more epic.
  23. TheGreatCow
    Feb 8, 2008
    2
    Great looking game, but nothing more. Typical generic strategy game. There are much better games out there to spend your money on.
  24. JohnnyBadhair
    Dec 18, 2008
    0
    Crippling DRM. I mean even worse than Spore's. There's really nothing else that needs to be said about this game.
  25. Jeff
    Feb 12, 2008
    2
    Command and conquer this game is not. If your're a fan of games like C&C, WIC, or UAW you'll find SOSE to be overly complex and the action in spurts. The game looks great so its no wonder the press like it. Could have been a better game if the turn based aspect was removed for more traditional RTS gameplay.
  26. GrantL.
    Feb 9, 2008
    10
    Just awesome. Need I say more?
  27. vXxo0oxXv
    Jan 24, 2011
    9
    No amount of words could possibly describe how epic this game is. Play it. Get the torrent if you want. You will end up buying it. A truly spectacular creation.
  28. Johan008
    Jun 23, 2011
    1
    No story line. Battles are all the same, playing few or many planets. No strategy is needed as the player with the most and biggest ships wins. Diplomacy or culture influence is not needed. For young and mentally less develop player. More a first person shooting than strategy game. Does not even come close to Homeworld, Nexus and other space strategy games.
  29. Delta_Assault
    Sep 22, 2011
    9
    This game kicks ass. It's pretty much a combination of Homeworld 2 and any regular 4X space empire game. You could also see it as a space version of Supreme Commander, it's goddamn epic. Like, battles with fleets of over 200 ships.

    Plus, there's absolutely no DRM, if you know what I mean. While I describe it as Supreme Commander in Space, Sins has a much better UI. Supreme Commander    This game kicks ass. It's pretty much a combination of Homeworld 2 and any regular 4X space empire game. You could also see it as a space version of Supreme Commander, it's goddamn epic. Like, battles with fleets of over 200 ships.

    Plus, there's absolutely no DRM, if you know what I mean. While I describe it as Supreme Commander in Space, Sins has a much better UI. Supreme Commander wasn't all that great IMO because the pacing was slow as hell and you had to individually upgrade all the tiny little resource poiints which really got annoying. You also do a lot of teching in Sins but it's all very easy and intuitive, without feeling like a chore.

    The only thing this game lacks is a singleplayer campaign with a storyline, but the open sandbox levels do an adequate job.    … Expand
  30. LordMandalore
    Nov 23, 2011
    10
    The amount of depth, strategy, and amour of stuff you can do in this game is mind boggling. While the story is limited and there is no campaign, Sins offers endless hours of galactic warfare, and getting the Trinity version deepens the experience further. There is also a large modding community and an upcoming expansion on the way!
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Awards & Rankings

9
#9 Best PC Game of 2008
22
#22 Most Discussed PC Game of 2008
16
#16 Most Shared PC Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 52 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 52
  3. Negative: 0 out of 52
  1. GameDaily
    80
    Sins of a Solar Empire combines the depth of traditional turn-based games like Civilization with the action of real-time strategy (RTS) games like Command & Conquer. The result is a rich and highly detailed game that pleases fans of both types of strategy.
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  2. Game Almighty
    90
    Sins of a Solar Empire makes no apologies for being ambitiously massive and deep.
    Read full review
  3. GamesRadar+
    90
    With most RTS games shifting towards fast action at the expense of real strategy, it would be an unforgivable sin for a strategy fan to pass by this game on the shelf and not pick it up.
    Read full review
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