"...an excellent game in a sea of mediocrity..."

Are you looking for a Civ-a-like to play? Don't buy this. Go buy GalCiv 3 instead. Are you looking for a fresh, new look at 4X entirely? You just found it. Before I get into my personal thoughts [the review, essentially] I want to explain why I say this and why I feel how I do about my review, found further below the following four paragraphs.

To say Endless Legend is like Civ just because its a 4X game is like saying a cheesecake is a cake simply because it has the word 'cake' in it, or a pie because its formed like one. Endless Legend may be labeled as a 4X, but neither does it fit into the traditional mold of a 4X nor does it conform to those of its predecessors, the most notable being Civ.

One of the key principal differences, for instance, is that the land is divided into regions. In each region, there may only be one city. That's it. Choose wisely where you place it; finding out later on there are better resources to be had from founding elsewhere will hurt you in the long run. This is particularly notable just starting out. Rush placement for the early settlement lead, or explore a bit for a chance at longer term returns on prosperity in your capital?

Another key notable feature that I like is that each of the major factions not only has a different play style, but has their own major quest as well. Completion of said quest before the final turn results in an automatic win for that faction. [AI opponents do not pursue quests, major or minor] Is it easy? NO. Do you get rewards along the way? Certainly. Are the rewards worthwhile? Most definitely.

One of the final overhauls I want to mention is the combat system. Rather than Civ's straight out 'this is my unit strength, this is yours, let's do this' system, your units are grouped [as you see fit] into armies. When you engage another army, a small battle map opens and each unit is controlled manually by you, via a directive of three basic commands; attack, defend, hold. Pretty self explanatory. On top of that, there are faction specific and unit based abilities you can use in battle which greatly diversify the depth of combat, instead of just 'surround city with siege units, bombard, invade with one unit when done' as in Civ.

Review:
A/V: First off this game is gorgeous. I don't generally place stock on judging a game based on graphics, but it *really* adds to the atmosphere here. The level of detail is incredible. To supplement that, the ambient sound effects and music are just as amazing and deserve an equal amount of praise. The graphics get a small demarkation for having to re-draw everytime you tab out of the fullscreen interface, however. I am hoping this is addressed, but if not its not a major detractor.

Mechanics: As stated above, this game is a fresh look at a genre that, in my opinion, deperately needed new life. Endless Legend is that life, I feel. This game has introduced things in a way no one would likely have ever thought, and the best part is that the community continues to remain a large part of the process the entire way. If you do purchase this [or are on the fence] head over to the Amplitude forums and check out what we have all accomplished. Several dozen features and additions to this and their other two games have been ones suggested by or designed almost completely by the community. I digress, though. All of these mechanics may sound like a steep learning curve, and the first game through it is. After that one game, however, it flows much more logically and you'll likely end up asking yourself how such an amalgalm of crazy ideas never happened before this.

Miscallenous: There are still some bugs and flaws being ironed out, but Amplitude is very studious and responsive about addressing these issues promptly and responding to user feedback on how to resolve these problems until patches are released. There's even a feature in the game to create your own faction with your own selectable traits, including a couple that aren't assigned to a preset faction by default. Amplitude wants this game to be something for *you*, so if none of what I've written grabs you by all means don't feel pressured. If, however, you feel like Civ used to be enjoyable but has seen its days and you need something new, or if you just love fantasy and deep lore based worlds; this is your game.

Overall: I'm not a fan of numbered/aggregate ratings, so I'll just close with this; if you're on the fence after having read what I wrote, buy it. It will not disappoint. Its an excellent game in a sea of mediocrity that more than deserves a chance to shine.

Editors note: Updating this to reflect that at the time of review, the expansions were not yet released. I am going to leave the review as is, as the review was not intended to be an in depth guide on the mechanics of the game/expansions. The purpose is to cover the base mechanics as a means for comparison. Thank you! [Updated 11-24-2016]

Edit: As of 11-21-2018, I still hold firm to this review in the sense that the game has aged well so far, and continues to stand out among the 4X games I own. I still highly recommend giving this a shot if you are growing tired of the standard Civ releases.