This game was made in 1996. 20 years after it is still one of the best (if not THE BEST) 4X on market. If you are a 4X fan and didn't play this one - DO IT, JUST DO IT!

Well, I seem to be the only reviewer here not driven by nostalgia, so I'll try to stand for all those folks who are new to this piece of fine software.

I was introduced to moo2 just a week ago by my flat mate. Similar to other reviewers, he was definitely driven by nostalgia. It was on sale, I was looking for something to play with a friend, so ... I gave it a shot. Let's try it for an hour and see from there...

"There" lasted for almost the entirety of saturday, was - much to my dismay - interrupted until monday evening, only to be stretched to about 4 a.m. on tuesday and similar times on tuesday and wednesday night. I never knew of this game and I genuinely thought I'd never be this eager to continue with my turns in any 4x game, as those are usually not my kind of games. I'm working full time, so I'm usually in control of my bed times, but it's .. always .. one .. more .. turn

I can only recommend this game. Especially in multiplayer (there are tweaks to configure the dosbox to run ipx tunneling) it's an experience. Only downside to this game is that you won't be able to stop... I mean, I'm sitting here, writing this review on my mobile and out of reach of my PC, but I know damn well that I'd be playing moo2 otherwise.

Enough good things can not be said about Master of Orion 2. Even though it came out in the 90s, modern 4x games only hope to be a fraction as good as MOO2. Master of Orion 2 is a timeless 4x with a near perfect balance of features, options, events, and challenges that will keep you coming back for more years later even. My original disc has probably spent more time in the CD tray of my old Win95 laptop than it has in the CD case.

If you even think you might enjoy 4x games, get this...

Masters of Orion 1-2 are some of the greatest strategy games ive ever seen. FYI im a 16 year old kid who never grew up with Masters of Orion, instead growing up with games like stellaris and endless space only finding out about this game through its terrible remake which i bought after hearing from friends telling me that the original was an amazing game. So i picked it up and found it awful, only spending an hour in the game before turning it off and locking it away in my steam library never to be seen again. Months went by and the comments my friends had said about the original game stayed in my mind, so i finally decided to pick up the game and try playing it and im utterly disappointed that after the 25 years in technological and cultural development in the gaming industry nothing has ever been able to top this incredible masterpiece of a game. From its game mechanics to its story i was hooked. Now whenever i go on games like stellaris or endless space i feel empty and bored as these games dont hold the same weight as Masters of orion and this is why i give it my highest recommendation. Go play this game!

This is still the best Space 4X ever made, better than Galactic Civilizations, Birth of the Federation, Star Ruler, Space Empires, Distant Worlds or any over space 4X. Certainly better than the embarassing MOO 3 and current remake of MOO - "where the best thing is the voice-acting!"

This managed to capture the elusive fun factor, and despite its dated graphics, and a fairly clunky diplomacy, its an unparalled joy.

The remastered OG, Still the Best 4x ever made.

I don't understand how every single 4x game made after the Masters games
(master of magic/master of Orion)

always have less features then a game that came out in the 90's.

yet every single one of these games is trying to pretend to be.. this.
It took age of wonders to get to age of wonders 3 to re add an item forge for heros.
yet master of magic always had one.


This game has multiple named remakes, and they all suck in comparison.
removeing tactical turn based combat, ect.
or like with stars in the shadow removeing multiplayer.


This game is also basically free, I pretty much bought it on steam just to write a review.

Great Game! Poor Implimentation.

Don't buy it on steam. Steam inculdes no multiplayer support or ipx tunneling (Something you need for multiplayer) It's basically a repackaged version of the game everyone has been freely handing out online.

If you just want to try the game download it and run it on dosbox. If you want to support the devs and get multiplayer support buy it on gog.com. Game frequently crashes on steams implimentation of this game, At least for me.

Great game, Terrible place to buy. If you want the game... Just buy it on gog.

Still the crowned king of space 4x games. The age shows a bit, like the first grey hairs on an aging monarch, but the gameplay and the amount of options you have are superior to every other game of this genre you'll ever play (with the possible exception of Master of Magic).

Never cross the Klackons!

This is a simple, yet 100% effective space empire simulation. It's got it all, heroes, alien races, ship design, colony management, espionage, diplomacy, research, exploration and explotation. You will colonize planets, invade planets, bombard planets, or destroy planets. You'll go from researching technology to create farms in planets with no atmosphere to developing the means to turn a radioactive planetoid into a Gaia class homeworld for your race to live in.

You'll meet telephathic races, smart races, dumb races, mineral races, cyborgs, cat people and maybe even the Phobos leather godesses cousins. If you like them, you can ally with them. Or you can destroy their ships, enslave their population, and exterminate them. Or go anywhere in betwen.

You could be the next galactic chancellor. Or you could be the last man standing. You could steal Orion's secrets for yourself. You can even invade other dimensions in your endless quest to crush aliens like bugs.

Your marines will take out enemy forces, colonies, rebellions and even fight enemy crews if you happen to board your opponents ships.

Would you build a doomstar to take the heat onto their homeworld, or fortify your own worlds while you hire spies and terrorists to dismantle their planets from within ? Who knows, they may blame someone else. You could even hire that telepath hero to help with the efforts.

The amount of choice in this game is astounding. Only two cons for me :

1 Turn based combat is excellent at the beginig and middle game. On the later stage, where you have 40 vs 38 battle regularly and each ship has to take a turn, you'd rather click auto-resolve.
2 Diplomacy is a bit unpredictable at times, then other times you can just trick the cpu into giving all away.

Other than that, this game is *for me* superior to every other space empire strategy game except perhaps it's predecesor, Master of Orion, but that, is a matter of taste.

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　.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　I used to play this as a child.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ 　 。　　.
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　.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　I mostly choose for the tigeraliens or dinoaliensㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ 　 。　　.
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　.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Became highcounsilor of the universe :Dㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ 　 。　　.
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　.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Lot's of replayability and funㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ 　 。　　.
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　.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　GREAT GAMEㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ 　 。　　.
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