{"id":9777,"date":"2016-12-23T02:14:17","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T10:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/dawn-of-andromeda-review-into-the-outer-reaches\/"},"modified":"2024-01-24T16:59:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T00:59:29","slug":"dawn-of-andromeda-review-into-the-outer-reaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/dawn-of-andromeda-review-into-the-outer-reaches\/","title":{"rendered":"Dawn of Andromeda Review \u2013 Into the Outer Reaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"daw0\"<\/p>\n

Dawn of Andromeda
\nGrey Wolf Entertainment\/Iceberg Interactive<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a big sucker for 4X strategy games, particularly ones within the science fiction realm. Ever since I first sat down and played Master of Orion II<\/em>, I was hooked. For the first time in gaming history, you could actually helm an space faring civilization of your choosing and stake your claim in a multifaceted universe. Having transferred over from the board gaming realm to the digital one, I also enjoyed the fact that after playing each gaming session, I didn\u2019t have to clean up a bunch of cardboard or plastic pieces representing spaceships, planets, and the like.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve played a number of 4X games since the classic MMO2, but not until 2008\u2019s Sins of a Solar Empire (by Stardock) did anything remotely move my needle. Since then, although there have been a number of Master of Orion clones and wannabes, the 4X science fiction category has been stuck in a deep dearth, with nothing interesting on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\"daw1\"<\/p>\n

Until earlier this year. Stellaris, by Paradox Interactive, made some huge waves when it was released in May. It\u2019s combination of pause-able realtime gameplay, beautiful graphics, deep empire customization, and emergent storytelling made it seriously addictive. I mean, when Stellaris first came out it might has well have been made out of cracknip because I tweaked out on it for days on end. Fortunately, after reading some of the many glowing reviews on Stellaris\u2019 Steam review board, I don\u2019t feel as fanboy-ish as I could have.<\/p>\n

It was no surprise then, at least to me, that another indie gaming company would come along and develop a similar game. Well, to be fair, Grey Wolf\u2019s new 4x science fiction offering titled Dawn of Andromeda, certainly does a few things that are original. But after playing it for a while, I couldn\u2019t help that it felt like I was playing a combination of Sins of a Solar Empire and Stellaris.<\/p>\n

\"daw2\"<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with Dawn of Andromeda\u2019s civilizations. You either have the option of picking a pre-rendered, ready-to-go one such as you do in Sins, or, you can create your very own race, complete with perks just as you do in Stellaris. When you begin a game, you\u2019re greeted with handsome view of your solar system, and can zoom out and see a gorgeous galactic view, accompanied by colored sectors which indicate where each civilization resides, just like in Stellaris.<\/p>\n

Each civilization also begins with a scout and survey ship (similar to a science vessel in Stellaris), which you can set on auto-explore just like both of the aforementioned games. Exploring the galaxy and locating hospitable planets proceeds at a much brisker Sins pace. Within ten minutes of my first Dawn of Andromeda game, I had settled three new colonies, however small they were.<\/p>\n

Ship travel is all Sins as well\u2014you travel along space lanes that can be easily bottlenecked. Unfortunately, Dawn of Andromeda doesn\u2019t feature the robust defensive structures and devices that Sins\u2019 excellent Entrenched DLC provided, so you\u2019re stuck with just a basic starbase for holding off enemies.<\/p>\n

\"daw3\"<\/p>\n

Dawn of Andromeda\u2019s trade system is interesting\u2014if you are generating a surplus of goods on a planet, you may export them. Just make sure that any freighters that are ferrying them back and forth between you and a friendly empire aren\u2019t traveling through enemy territory or they will be attacked. Trade is still something that Stellaris hasn\u2019t really articulated well in their otherwise stellar (couldn\u2019t help it) galactic conquest game. At least Dawn of Andromeda went the Sins route and has actually trade ships that travel between distant colonies, although it doesn\u2019t feature any resource haulers.<\/p>\n

Ship-to-ship and ship-to-planet combat is handled just as it is in Sins, with ships pulling up to each other, stopping, and firing their best weapons at one another. This is one thing that I wish Dawn of Andromeda\u2019s devs would have made more like Stellaris, where when ships engage each other, they continue to fly around and flank each other, all the while attempting to dodge incoming fire. It has a much more dynamic and exciting feel to it. I mean, who wants to see a bunch of ships just sitting there in space like their stuck in molasses, and not even veering off slightly in order to avoid taking hits from enemy weapon\u2019s systems?<\/p>\n

\"daw4\"<\/p>\n

Now, as the saying goes, I know that \u201cthere\u2019s nothing new under the sun,\u201d but Dawn of Andromeda does do a few things that are unique. Its menu system is very streamlined and easy to navigate, unlike Stellaris\u2019 rather cluttered UI. The portraits of each civilization\u2019s leaders, underlings, as well as the game\u2019s various other denizens such as pirates, mercenaries, and other assorted scallywags, are really well rendered. The technology tree is also handy and uncluttered, if a little bare. Since the game is still in Early Access, I\u2019m sure that Grey Wolf will be filling in a lot of spaces that are sort of vacant right now. The music isn\u2019t intrusive and is some of the best I\u2019ve ever heard in a space 4X game\u2014it\u2019s really immersive and draws you into the unfolding proceedings.<\/p>\n

It may have seemed that I thought that my experience with Dawn of Andromeda so far has been derivative, and that may be true to a certain extent. But, that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. The game definitely has its own vibe going on, and since it\u2019s so early in development, there is sure to be a lot more content to come, which will hopefully further differentiate it from the ever-expanding science fiction 4X genre.<\/p>\n

\"daw5\"<\/p>\n

In all, Dawn of Andromeda is a solid space-faring 4X strategy game, and any fans of science fiction games should definitely check it out. Its blend of open-ended gameplay, unique alien races, and stunning graphics will keep me playing it as it develops further. I just hope that they do something about those stationary ships during combat!<\/p>\n

SCORE: 77%<\/p>\n

Dawn of Andromeda offers highly detailed visuals that suit its science fiction theme. However, you have to have an equally fast gaming PC in order to play it at a decent framerate. So, you may just want to invest in a decent gaming rig:<\/p>\n

CHRISTMAS VECTOR 15 VR<\/p>\n

\"VR-Ready<\/a>
VR-Ready Fangbook 4 SX7-VR500 Gaming Laptop<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Visit CyberpowerPC\u2019s website<\/a> to check out all of the other great deals as well!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dawn of Andromeda Grey Wolf Entertainment\/Iceberg Interactive I\u2019m a big sucker for 4X strategy games, particularly ones within the science fiction realm. Ever since I first sat down and played Master of Orion II, I was hooked. For the first time in gaming history, you could actually helm an space faring civilization of your choosing… Read More »Dawn of Andromeda Review \u2013 Into the Outer Reaches<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":9771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2724],"tags":[2520,741,2631,2488,67,2486,2630,2607,2556,2602],"class_list":["post-9777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-4k-gaming","tag-cyberpower-pc","tag-fenix-fire","tag-game-review","tag-gaming-pc","tag-ian-kane","tag-osiris-new-dawn","tag-reviews-2","tag-science-fiction-games","tag-survival-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9777"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16000,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9777\/revisions\/16000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}