Endless Legend is a sad story about a game that forgot to be a game.

It's oozing with character and lore, gives each faction unique mechanics for winning, introduces a looming wintry doomsday which both sets the background for all conflict and directly impacts your game, and is totally, agonizingly, hollow.

The combat is absolutely atrocious. We're talking worse than Civilization, let alone Age of Wonders or Heroes of Might and Magic. As fancy as their art is, the AI has no spark of personality like Alpha Centauri did. These extraordinarily alien cultures are bizarrely predictable. Techs are clumsy and unimaginative.

But most of all, it's unimpactful. The game's ethos appears to be "hit like a wet noodle." Nothing seems to matter - you just go through the 4x motions as beautiful, echoing, ethereal music plays in the background. It's like a dream where you watch yourself do somebody else's taxes. It's purple and pink and blurry and Bloom-y and your dog is now a unicorn, but not only is it oh so boring, you don't care. These aren't even your taxes. Why aren't I going on a ride on my unicorn dog? But there are no choices here. It's a not a lucid dream.