I've put in over 44 hours playing this so far. I have not played Crusader Kings so my comments are strictly limited to just this gaming experience.

I enjoyed the game the first 4-5 playthroughs. It took me 4 games of failures before I finally got it. My game #5 lasted for about 38'ish hours. It took me only 3 generations - my starting character, her daughter, and grandson - to capture 62+ worlds. Not even a 100 year dynasty. How? I played the most diplomatic, peacekeeping, justice-loving ruler I could. I had 0 secret affairs. I never punished anyone without there being a demand for justice. I only warred when it too was just or would boost my reputation. I played smart which maximized my resources and led to very easy victories when I chose to start expanding. I quelled all unrest in my core worlds of my Faction and made sure leaders always loved me - I threw banquets almost every time the cool down would let me. I cringed every time one of my planetary rulers' shade of green dropped from anything below 100%. I knew I did something "wrong" to the AI.

And that's the problem...you can ONLY play as honorable, if you want to win. You HAVE to be the friendly, approachable, pro-justice leader. Your vassals must adore you. Because the biggest flaw in this game is combat and military. No matter how many planets you maintain in your core faction or spread across your league and no matter how many military ships those planets equate to, if the ruler of that planet does not like you, you're F****d.

The game restricts you from ANY level of success if you want to play as a ruthless tyrant lording over his "peasants" and demanding allegiance and loyalty by the blade and the gun. Once you are despised beyond all reproach, you are limited to the military your home world can field plus any mercenaries you can afford. If the other nobles in your homeworld grow to despise you too, you spend all game basically fighting against yourself.

This game is only good for the 1 type of experience - the noble leader. Have too many affairs while spreading dissent and defaming public leaders while secretly drugging every visiting person that enters your house? You get caught enough and you lose favor, and then you lose the game. Want to be immediately rebellious against your starting Archon and forge your own destiny? Don't do it too soon or you'll lose for sure because your starting planetary rulers LIKE the starting Archon. Want to design a custom character that is beyond hated because of the RP character development points you've selected (that usually boost military and security) - prepare to be a target for immediate assassination and overthrow. My very next game, I created and played a villainous character that apparently was so "evil" that they were literally assassinated after I pressed "End Turn" after the first turn of the game. I hit end turn, I was told I was dead. How is that fun?

I immediately continued with the hated son of my character who inherited the negative traits. Complete collapse and civil war occurred within just a few short turns. From doing nothing more than starting with a "bad guy."

TL:DR Fun to play as the honorable lord. Once you beat the game as the good guy, there's little to no replay value. You can't play the bad guy and win because of the way combat is designed and military requests are completely denied to a despised ruler. So this is and is not a recommendation. I enjoyed the 1 successful playthrough but am disappointed at 0 replay value or variation.

EDIT:

Ok, this edit was necessary out of fairness to the game and my review. As of the time I am writing this update, I have now played around 105.3 hours. So obviously the game does have replay value (sort of) and I want to remove that from my previous review here in an edit. It does have SOME replay value because of the randomness of the map generation, the randomness of where you start, and the attributes of your starting archon as well as your peers, fellow dukes.

I am currently playing a 40+ hour game where I am trying to conquer 100% of everything. Turns out TERRAFORMING is possibly the greatest story challenge as it makes most of your empire turn against you. Which would be terrific if I could just nerve whip them all into submissive obedience.

Additionally, content fixes by the developers have made it easier to not have to sustain an endless crusade of holy justice just to keep everyone happy. It is now more clear what justice can be ignored. And the person who commented on my review is right, you CAN play the game with negative attributes. This is totally true but....

1. If your starting character is an usurper and overall, very bad guy, you will get targeted by your peers and archon at the very beginning.

2. You still can't be a ruthless despot. This is my #1 complaint. I want to channel my inner Palpatine. I want to shout, "UNLIMITED POWEEEERRR!" while I barrel through the center of the known galaxy leaving nothing but destruction and orphans in my wake. You simply cannot be the ruthless dictator you know you were born to be in all empire-building games. You can recover from moments where you lose favor and even become despised for a few turns, but a whole game as an evil dictator that rules by the bullet and the blade? Nope. That's not honorable bruh, and the creators of this game only recognize honor and respect as the legitimate way to rule a galaxy.

C'mon developers! I want to rule BY FORCE. Not have my forces taken away because I didn't hold my pinky up during tea time!

Multiple balance and design issues mar this title right now. Vassals are a constant source of problems, and with the very punishing reputation system, there's little upside to keeping them. You get a meager tax revenue from them, and their fleets are sometimes helpful. However, on the other hand, even during a relatively short game I had one vassal leave and join a neighbor, and declaring war to get them back would be "dishonorable". Another two times some foreign rulers would demand that I punish one of my vassals for crimes against "unknown" persons. In another case, a now deposed noble who lost control of everything demanded that I punish one of my barons for having started their independence fight against him, and I was penalized for refusing to punish one of my vassals on behalf of a now deposed foreign ruler. Issues like this make the game seem less feudal and more bizarre; kings and emperors were notorious for not punishing their own vassal's crimes against outsiders (because there was often little to gain for doing so), but yet in this game my own vassals will dislike me because my reputation tanks for not punishing them?

Another clear example of design issues was a foreign ruler (a distant cousin) asked me to join a war they were declaring. I assessed the military strengths of myself, my cousin, and the target. We had a clear overwhelming force, so I joined. The war resolved quickly (it seems like wars usually resolve in just one turn) and my cousin and I were victorious. Yet, when I checked his character page his opinion of me was not exactly stellar. I had a boost from joining his war, but also a substantial penalty because I "declared war" on the system he took over. Of course, I never declared war, rather I just joined his. But this is just another example of how bizarre this game can be, and how it seems like doing anything will lead to a reputation hit.

All this, not to mention the two (in just 4 hours of playing) popup events where there was no honorable option, each option (to either do the thing or to not do the thing) came with a reputation penalty. Rather than representing galactic feudalism, the game is much closer to representing galactic anarchy with star systems changing colors and allegiances every turn, every one getting upset at every decision (even if it benefits them), vassals leaving you at the drop of a hat and bringing them back into the fold being considered "dishonorable" (a word you will quickly begin to hate), and foreign rulers that are not just fickle but seem to make decisions completely at random (and will hate you even if you decide to help them out).

There is some potential here, but this game has a lot of work before it's ready for prime-time.

The game just isn't fun in its current state, sadly.

- The sci-fi setting has zero bearing on gameplay; there's no technology to research, ancient ruins to delve, or planets to resettle. Instead it's just an excuse to transplant a carbon copy of Crusader Kings onto a generic starmap devoid of any cultural or historical context.
- There aren't enough possible actions to make the gameplay varied or interesting. Within a few turns you'll have assigned out all the people you can onto a few generic tasks, and then it's just a boring waiting game to manufacture claims or build up money.
- The turn system and defined win condition exacerbate this lack of options by making it feel painful to let turns pass without doing anything. In a game like Crusader Kings or Stellaris, if you have nothing to do, you can just let time flow forward; it doesn't feel like you're being punished for doing so, since your resources are always building up and the only real goals are those you set for yourself. Here, though, you have to actively hit "end turn" over and over again to let time pass, watching your action points be transformed into pathetic amounts of gold, and it just doesn't feel fun.

The game has some positives -- I think the abstraction of wars and battles is interesting, and cuts out a lot of boring grand strategy bloat, and it's interesting how fluidly allegiances and control over star systems change -- but there's just not enough here to make it worth buying.

I've found Star Dynasties to be frustratingly enjoyable.

In most "conquer the known world" games, you have direct control over the entirety of your empire and winning is usually a matter of building up a strong military force and imposing your will on the cosmos. If you get your military might the strongest the quickest, you win. If another empire does that first, you lose.
This game is not like that.... at all.

In this game, you only have direct control over your own star system and indirect control over everything else. Each star system is ruled by it's own ruler and they get to decide what to do with it and its assets. They may decide to pledge allegiance to you and your faction. They may break away to join another faction. They may even rebel, creating their own faction to compete with yours. The beauty (and frustration) with this game is that you're never winning until you win, but neither are you losing until you lose. A small faction can plot and scheme its way to galactic domination and a large league can splinter due to internal strife and ambition if it's archon isn't paying attention. You can make a gross error causing a downward spiral to lose half of your empire (or more), but until you lose your home system (and are deposed, if not worse), you're still very much in the game. (even if your dynasty does fall, the game gives you the option of continuing to play as one of the other factions on the map. I thought that was neat)

The lack of direct control in the game is the frustrating part, but the manipulation you need to do because of it.... that's fun.

Up front, I like grand strategy. If done right.

SD being in Early Access, one can only hope that "Early" stands for "Oh-so very, very Early". As it is, the game hovers haplessly in limbo between confusing and aggravating. Compairing it to Crusader Kings 3 is like comparing a soap box car to a Lamborghinii - both have four wheels, one on each corner.

SD's UI is nothing short of a crime. For instance, when one clicks on a system, one gets some little picture of its sun. Cool, except, in order to get the vital information about the population unrest level, one needs to click on the appropriate sub-menu. That gets old with three starter planets already. Is there a reason, why there isn't a comprehensive summary in the top menu, say, in place of the pretty picture?

So then, let's talk about unrest. Say, your own system starts with around 40% and a growth of roughly 3% per turn. Which means, if nothing changes, then the rabble throws stones through your bedroom window in 20 turns - unless you use two of your precious action points every second turn to soothe the masses. Time to find out, what exactly it is you did wrong. One half of the aggravation is "Complacency". Turns out, less developed neighbor systems within your own hegemony make the richer system unhappy - because its nobles are bored. No joke. Which means every penny invested in your capital undermines your population control permanently. The other half of the aggravation is that they are "offended by ruler act". Rightfully so, because they complained about a disease outbreak and you (who started with the attribute "intelligent") decided, the latter was the result of their smell, so you sent perfume. Which was a special event. Looking at this it is hard to decide, what makes less sense. On one hand, there is the fact that the leader of a star-faring entity (ruled from an asteroid belt, no less) sends perfume to a disease outbreak - but the smelly subjects know better. On the other hand, the event happens repeatedly, and repeatedly your only option is to click "ok". Don't you love it, when the game makes the decisions for you? And of course, your vassals can't stay on top of their unrest. So there go another 2 AP to quell unrest. For each vassal. For every turn.

Talking about special events. Special events are suffocating the game. Barons (system owners) can and will break their vassalage randoomly. If you're dumb enough to accept such a baron's offer, you will be hated by a whole lot of people including your own - just to see him pledge to someone else ten turns later. So all you can ever get out of such a deal is hatred and the hole in the pocket for every penny spent on the habitual traitor. Contender for the crown of Stupidest Event Ever is, when a liege of a neighbor faction starts to hate you, because you failed to publicly criticize a heinous act of a baron, who was - I kid you not - their vasall. Then again, top of the pops is the "option" to have a fling (including blood relatives). You don't want to? Tough luck. Now your mood falls like an anvil off a cliff in Looney Tunes (because you're sooo in lurve) - and everybody hates you, because hey, you didn't think they believed it when you said "no", did ya?

Another disaster very much not like CK3 is family planning. You're in a society that wants to rebuild after the Big Badda Boom. So you have "foot" shortages (it's bad not to have feet, right?). Of course, in the perfume-addled laser brain of your duke toon, that means there are too many people. Result? Everybody is only allowed one child. Which, in effect, would half your population every generation and exterminate your tax base long before you go extinct. Which fits perfectly in line with the nonsensical setup and would just be one more thing you better don't think too hard about - except, the nonsense limits your household size. Since you start over the limit, your heir better waits a while to be born. That's not possible, because every couple will have their one child, whether you like it or not? In the end, all you can do is forbid ANY marriage to begin with. There is absolutely no ensuring an heir, let alone a mere glimpse of the breeding game. Which should be receiving standing ovations from the peanut gallery, because in the last 11 turns a full third of your subjects decided to hate you - I guess, because there are too many Thursdays in the week.

Yeah, yeah, whatever. What about war? Grand strategy and all that jazz. Depends on what you're talking about. Raids? Sure, makes a whole lot of sense in space. Well, it trashes any diplomatic effort, which hasn't been made senseless by random events. Battles? Sure, except that allies are randomized AFTER your choice to attack. And of course, ten turns after your completely random success your baron may just decide to defect. If that is not enough silliness, you get frequent requests of invaders for help to beat your own barons to pulp.

The list is a lot longer, but what it all comes down to is that this game is not like CK3. In its current design it is not even a miserable copy. It is, instead, a never-ending random sequence of completely idiotic events, which ruin any attempt at what little gameplay the mechanics sensibly allow so far.

Crusader Kings, but in SPACE!

If you came here looking for another economy manager/4X civilization building game set in space, this is not that kind of game. This is instead a deep game focused on characters, their relationships, ambitions, dynastic intrigue, secrets and whispers that lead to affairs and murders, rise and fall of their empires and lives in a quasi-post-apocalyptic universe set centuries after end of the Earth.

Think Game of Thrones, but in space. Just like the famous Crusader Kings series (and its very famous Game of Thrones mod), you play a lord, but of entire star systems rather than lands and castles of an area. That's right, you can now spread your inbred Habsburg/Valyrian spawn around the galaxy. :P

I love what I have seen so far. For an early access game, it has a lot of basic lore/event content as well as intrigue stuff. It even has a very simplistic and basic character customization system from the start. Coming from Paradox games, it was a easy to learn (although UI is a bit...lets just say, hectic and I hope will be improved as development continues). It will take time getting used to, but the tutorial was decent in my opinion.

As a CK player, I love that this is turn based rather than real time, because the mechanics fit very well for a space age post-apocalyptic feudal society. Turn-based games can be amazing when packed with immersion, control and mechanics that fit well with each other...and so far, this one certainly seems good in that regard.

My only complaint right now is that you cannot view direct close family members of a character (like you can in Crusader Kings, and yes, that comparison will often be brought up because how similar these games can be at times). You have to open family tree window and look around to find your kids, parents and such.

There is also the issue that it does not seem to have things like cultures, religions or anything to distinguish apart various nations. Only the dynasties and borders change, everyone seems generic in flavour.

That said, I do hope we get a lot more content as the development progresses in Early Access. Especially when it comes to politics. military and customization options.

I am going to be harsh on this game due to the fact it is a fully released game with paid dlc.

2/10 This game is a shiny lie, you have no agency at all. As it stands it is the crappiest version of a visual novel where you are railroaded from one event to the next without any agency at all. Don't waste your time and money. That being said it is a single patch away from being an 8/10 game. However, I genuinely have no faith in the developer as they seem hellbent on making a game that nobody wants to play.

Your MC is an intelligent, loyal, satisfied and honorable man who is in love with his wife and has max happiness, becomes attracted to a random noble from a neighboring house and begins a secret affair with them. I did reveal the secret cus I wanted to get out in front of it as I had no other option to deal with it because the game in its infinite wisdom doesn't allow you to hide the secret or realize you are actually perfectly happy with what you have. Also, there is no way to cultivate or continue love. Which is severely depressing. Program some events in to where you can gain traits your spouse, children, parents, elders, etc. has and vise versa, and how being with your spouse can take away some of your negative traits. If a reserved person marries a friendly person then there should be a chance that they lose there reserved trait as they are forced out of their shell and perhaps even a chance they become friendly. And if you are worried about balance, if things get bad between the couple and they go through a long period of strife and the player chooses not to do anything to try and fix it, then they could become disillusioned and become reserved as well. Please for the love of god add ROMANCE OPTIONS to your frickin game!, If you have an option to have an affair you should be given a way to love your spouse. Some people want to actually love their spouse, its important to them. Some people want to be able to have healthy long lasting and stable relationships. Especially since it has important in game ramifications.

Stats. What do they do. Nothing. .08% chance of contracting illness. every 3 turns 1 to 2 people fall ill like clockwork. Have a archon with 99 in every stat and max happiness for 5 turns straight. Lose every match in 3 tournaments fighting aggressively to vassles who have max relationship to you during a feast for yourself and get injured. highest stat of the winner was 84 security, age 85. Have a maxed out security score, 3 people die of nothing on your home system in 7 turns and you never hear a word about it for the rest of the game. The only stat that matters at all is administration. And weirdly enough they are the rarest people in the game to find... and wouldn't you know it, they are the oldest recruits and the first to suddenly die from unknown causes. Weird. Its almost like this game is saturated to the core with artificial difficulty. Oooooo... and lets not forget about diplomacy! You will only ever use it to acquire claims and smooze people so they give you free stuff, literally doesn't matter how much you have though. Saves like 2 turns, and you will still have nothing else to do, because nothing matters if you don't have money, and the game will do everything in its power to make that impossible.

Lets talk about marriage, one of the most important aspects of the long term political success of a dynasty. Want your 18 year old 2nd in line for a Legion to marry an heir of a duke. Nope, your house is too small and they are afraid they will miss a better match. Well, I have 340 credits burning a hole in my pocket, I make 50 credits a turn, I own 3 vassle states, one of my vassle states exsists on our shared border and I currently hold blackmail over them. You might be thinking to yourself, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that sounds awesome, so many possibilities. Lol. Nope, you just wasted 5 ap! Get wrecked! Even though the a.i. can attempt to sweeten the deal you have no control over anything. It is seriously ridiculous how empty this game feels.

In summation: Game shows you a vast galaxies worth of fun opportunities to explore and expand in and gives you 0 meaningful choices and absolutely no control as you watch your house crumble for, legitimately, the absolute dumbest reasons. I have played like 2,00 hours of rimworld. So i know what good rng work actually looks like. And I refuse to spend 300 dollars to be able to play a real game of crusader kings. I have played enough sims 3 to know what lifesims should feel like and how much control is required to yield a satisfying gaming experience.

The patch that fixes the game. Let the player have more control. turn negotiations into a mini game with rounds. Creating a realistic back and forth. You know... actual diplomacy. If you are that much stronger then them, put in a strong arm option. Allow the player to combo maneuvers. Secretly destabilize a system and then offer quell its unrest for relationship gain etc. Play vassals against their leaders. Offer systems independence if they fight with you, etc. Make blackmail useful. Replace vassals that are despised! WTF!? If you have a Baron with every negative trait and he is vilified why do I lose honor for deposing a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tyrant I didn't put into power?! Your spy digs up a juicy piece of info on your favorite duchess who has perfect stats and traits and is loved by her people? Please, allow the player to help them cover it up!!! You are on the same team! Allow people to at least act like it! Instead you just have to sit on the info and wait for someone else to discover it and watch as your empire fades into chaos. Stop letting ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ happen. If a person is loyal, no more affairs. If a person is satisfied, no reckless gambling debts with house funds, especially not twice in 3 turns! If someone is honorable then they should be immune to blackmail period! And if you must have your cake and eat it too then they should only generate secrets about covering up other peoples mistakes. etc. Your game isn't big enough to excuse the fact you haven't taken these things into account. There is only like 10 sets of traits... Combat is as basic as humanly possible. Gaurdianship is basic as shizz. Bloodlines are either pointless or overpowered and they are inconsistent as fudge. Meaning I have to take 3 useless ones to get to one that would actually help me. or I could take 2 less useful ones now and have to take 5 totally useless ones later to get to the next interesting one. I mean seriously, building on your home system have better or the same effects for like 60 credits. They are uber lame. More traits like, your kids are born intelligent, +25% tournament win%. You know cool stuff that makes sense and that you can't get anywhere else. Oh no. I'd much rather have 10 to my tech score. Decreasing my illness chance from .08 to .07 is worth just as much as 10% more money. Especially since I know 4 people are going to get sick anyways in the next 5 turns. More info for the player. During expeditions you let the player see a majority of consequences for their actions. But we don't even get to know when we are going to die of old age. Tournaments suck. Giving all characters a 50/50 to win is shallow and stupid. There is no reason an 85 year old diplomat should ever be able to win against a 34 year old admiral with 99 in military, brave, cruel and intelligent. Military, by the way, which should be the skill used in DOGFIGHTS! Make assassinations harder for the A.I! or at the very least give us a intrigue plot by letting us know whether or not the person was murdered or if they just dropped dead by sudden adult death syndrome or old age. This game is missing the most basic concepts and it completely ruins the enjoyment that players should be getting out of it.

Calling Star Dynasties 'Crusader Kings in space' is perhaps not the most helpful. On the one hand it's a selling point, and on the other it's a criticism. Star Dynasties does share the central mechanic of feudal dynasty building, but I think it should be considered on its own, rather than debating whether it's a good or bad clone job. The sci-fi setting is pretty important since it grants freedom for creativity and imposes mechanical focus. Every game is procedurally generated with fresh galaxies, factions, and stories. Sci-fi elements interject plot chains that can really shake things up, and the lore caps character count to produce a very tight politicking between the great houses. The game is turn-based and often slow-moving, but the game design means events tend to bunch up and unfold very rapidly. Star Dynasties is quite challenging and rewards patient play. Much of this is about balancing honour against expansion. Who can you afford to anger with an action, how do you cloak greed under upstanding conduct, and when should you openly invade? With the right actions you can pass off the worst tyranny as shining justice. Watching something you spent a dozen turns setting up play out as you wanted is very satisfying, although make a crucial mistake and it will blow up in your face. The latter can be frustrating because the rng your plan hinges on can be opaque, and the user interface could use some work, as it can obscure important relationships in less obvious places.

Star Dynasties is the work of a solo developer, and impressive because of that. Apparently it was not a big financial success, but it did get one dlc which adds some worthwhile content. We've become too used to games with years of post-launch support that we deem those that don't get it as unfinished or dead. While there are some aspects of Star Dynasties that would have been nice to see expanded, it is a complete experience now. It's good little game that should be better known because it does offer a unique spin on the genre.

Crusader Kings in Space or perhaps even "We wish we had a Dune License" the game.

But to the games credit it does enough to be its own thing. You exhibit greater control over your dynasty than in CK2. Not only can your agents do more different things, you can also actively try to have a larger household with more agents. There are som really great mechanics in this game, and the space you can use those mechanics is pretty big and opens up for some fun creative play. It is early access, but it is FUN to play and very polished in how it works.

Where it shows its unfinished part is more in the world building. There is a game here, but now it needs a world. There are already thematic events in the game, but they are all intrinsically connected to the actions and gameplay, and the game could use with some more flavour events to bring the world alive. It needs CK2s equivalent of holy orders, pilgrimages, thematic decisions like summer fair and festivals to truly come alive.

The good thing is, those missing parts are the whipped cream of the proverbial cake. The foundation is solid and now all it needs to truly shine is a bit of a paint-job.

This is one of those games where steam need's a third category for a maybe its okay but its certainly not a thumbs up at this point....

I am sadly going to be one of those people comparing this to CK2 as its about the closest relative to this game and lets just put it simply CK2 has this entangible feeling of enjoyment and fun that this game is totally missing....

The game mechanically functions, and from a purely game mechanic standpoint it works but thats it... the world is dry dull, boring... No excitement no character building no real feeling of yeah I am really feeling this character or yeah I am really interested in how my son or duaghter will turn out...

Infact this game tends to be one where your tossing the story away because you need to satisfy the game mechanic's... You got a new young son who likely won't be heir but maybe you could train him to be a future diplomate for your heir... NOPE... Family limit you gotta send that kid packing asap... Not to mention where are you going to get his trainer to train him??? You going to marry a daughter to this trainer thus making him family too.... No you can't do that you don't have the family limit to be able to do that your silly even thinking it....

The game seems like it fights itself.... Mechanics that could lead to you developing a story often times lead to you instead doing something meta to satisfy the game thus destroying the story....

Lets Just say CK2 this game is not....

Does it have potential??? Sure it does.... Could it be something worth playing in the future well thats certainly possible....

But at this moment in time its like trying to drink from an empty well.... you just going to wet your lips...