Closest Alpha Centauri Successor

[Wolffe]

After Civilization: Beyond Earth completely and utterly failed to live up to anything that resembled the classic 4x Alpha Centauri, the galaxy went dark for many years until I discovered Stellaris.

Stellaris is the closest spritual successor I have found to SMAC though not based on a planet but instead in space.

Stellaris seems to be taking itself seriously and presenting a mature atmosphere appealing to adults which is something I find extremely lacking in modern pc gaming.

I can't wait to play it with my friend whom is also a SMAC enthusiast.

[zombiewarrior07]

+1 for all the above.

[Kerovanka]

+

[Phase]

While this looks like it will be a great game, it really isn't like Alpha Centauri - if you want something similar to that, have a look at Pandora.

[Roguehandle]

There will be bugs. Quill found one trying to use the Blackhole Drive through an allied territory. Nothing major but might even be fixed when the game really comes out.

[Astasia]

I feel like this has to be a troll thread as the elements that make Alpha Centauri at all memorable are compltely missing from Stellaris, ingoring the fact that the gameplay itself is completely different.

SMAC is praised for it's narative and deep emphasis on a hostile environment and how to deal with it. There is no narative in Stellaris, there are no preset factions, little to no lore, it's just random aliens in a random galaxy and you make everything up as you go along. There is no gameplay at all analogous to the hostile planet in SMAC.

The only things they have in common is they are both 4x games. SMAC is not a particularly good 4x game to begin with, it just had some very unique and interesting elements that many people enjoyed and few other games have tried to mimic. Beyond Earth did the hostile planet well enough, just fell a bit short on the narative. Pandora is a terrible game all around.

[The Renderer]

Don't see how Stellaris has much in common with SMAC, but hey, if you feel that way then good for you.