Master of Orion 2 on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
Forge an empire in a universe where population growth is stripping away planetary resources. Colonize unknown planets and trade with other races for their knowledge.
Master of Orion 2 is a strategy, 4x and turn-based game
developed by SimTex
and published by Wargaming Labs.
Released on February 25th 2016 is available on Windows, MacOS and Linux
in 3 languages: English, French and German.
It has received 1,533 reviews of which 1,479 were positive and 54 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.1 out of 10. š
The game is currently priced at 5.99ā¬ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Master of Orion 2 into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Master of Orion 2 through various videos and screenshots.
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10
- Processor: 1 GHz
- Memory: 256 MB RAM
- Graphics: 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 7
- DirectX: Version 7.0
- Storage: 161 MB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX 7 Compatible
MacOS
- OS: Mac: OS X 10.6.8 or later
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz+
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: 64MB of video memory
- Storage: 161 MB available space
Linux
- OS: Ubuntu 14.04, Linux Mint 17
- Processor: 2.0 GHz
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: 256 MB VRAM, OpenGL compatible
- Storage: 161 MB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Absolute classic. The slow gameplay hasn't aged well so if that is something that usually bothers you I'd say pass on it. Price is reasonable though so maybe check it out as it is one of its kind. Highlights [*]Build your own empire. [*]Design your own ships. [*]Diplomatic win possible not only "last man standing".
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This is probably one of my all time favorite games. There's diplomacy. Obviously war. It has a fairly complex tech tree for when the game was created. The point is there are multiple ways to win at the game. Even by taking over the galaxy by war. There's multiple approaches. There's some cons. It's a bit too easy to win with diplomacy. But it can be kinda fun to also have everyone turn against you. Or create allies. The game is multi-player. Allowing up to 8 people to play. However... The turn based style makes that a bit time consuming. If you play on the most difficult mode. You can actually construct a war ship so powerful it litteraly crashes the game. So.. long games in the most difficult mode can be challenging to complete simply because you do too much damage. But there's ways around this problem. You can create several weapon banks so that you don't do all the damage at once. Or just don't build a ship that powerful and compensate by bringing more ships. I do like live play, but there's something about this chess like approach to the game I like. You get a lot more time to really plan out your strategy. You can play as any of the races. I usually prefer to do custom. But I have beat the game before as every race. Some are of course harder, but all races are winnable. However, one disappointment I have is that the version in steam is not the better released version back when the game was initially released in 1996. It does seem to have fixed a couple of the bugs. However, they adjusted a few of the race traits. As well as some of the ships equipment and the colony structures. To the point it kinda breaks this version of the game. It's still very playable. But the game requires different tactics than the better one in 1996. One of my favorite feudal warlord race builds is not possible to create anymore even though it's not over powered. It's actually quite crippled and it's why I like it. And some of the items in the mid portion of the tech tree have new constraints that frankly don't make a lot of sense. Like there's a few ship components you used to be able to add to mid sized ships without too much issue in the original version of the game. It's obvious those components are intended to be more useful towards the end of the game. And they were in the original version. But being able to add them to some mid level ships meant that ships you created towards the beginning of the game could still be useful towards the end of the game as support ships. Now.. the game just put arbitrarily high constraints on those components to make them impossible or very difficult to use in medium sized support ships. So there's a moment in mid game where all your smaller & medium ships become completely useless. And your colonies are completely defenseless because of it. So you have to build capital ships early or your going to loose. It's just a bad decision on the part of whoever changed those dynamics IMO. So while the game is worth playing. I think I'll stay with my original 1996 copy and not the one on steam.
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Master of Orion 2 is a fantastic turn-based "Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate" (4X) game that takes place in the far future among the vastness of space and blends empire-building, tactical ship combat, and even diplomacy into one excellent package. It is incredibly fun and enjoyable as a single-player game and is perhaps even moreso when played multiplayer but unfortunately I have no experience with that. Despite being almost 30 years old now, I find that it still holds up very well to this day since I revisit it every few years without fail. Overall, I highly recommend it because the gameplay is fun and relatively easy to pick up but complex enough to give a great amount of depth, the replay value is immense due to the sheer number of races, race options, ship weapons, technology choices, and galaxy settings that are available to you, and the graphics look surprisingly good even by today's standards. It is one of my all-time favorite games which I revisit every few years without fail and I have far more hours than what's listed on Steam because I only recently got it on here for ease of accessibility and to support the developers. The game is frankly an extremely well-rounded and complete package which has no major flaws and I can't recommend it enough. S U M M A R Y - The gameplay is fun, engaging, addictive, and ultimately keeps you wanting to play another turn just to see what happens; - The replay value is endless as there are so many different ways to play the game and settings that you can adjust to fine-tune the experience; - The graphics are surprisingly good for 1996 and still hold up really well to this day; - The soundtrack is superb since it doesn't wear on you and become irritating over time; - The sound effects are very sharp and the weapons and explosions are particularly realistic and gratifying; - The story is simplistic and I'd argue that the over-arching narrative revolves around how you decide to conquer the galaxy and win the game; and - The port is fantastic minus two issues which might be compatibility issues with my computer rather than general ones that everyone will have. R E V I E W Gameplay The gameplay is made up of three core facets: empire-building and expansion, tactical ship combat, and diplomacy, and each one seamlessly feeds into one another to deliver an addictive gameplay loop which keeps you wanting to play another turn. The empire-building and expansion portion of the game forms the bulk of the gameplay loop but micromanaging and optimizing your empire is nevertheless fun, especially due to the multitude of ways that you can approach the game thanks to the 13 default races that you can play as in addition to the custom race option which lets you pick and choose among 51 options to build your race with. Furthermore, the ship design aspect of the game also introduces a plethora of ways to customize your very own fleet which allows you to engage in combat in a number of exciting and unique ways. The tactical ship combat is the most exhilarating part of the game as you are able to control your fleet's exact movements and destroying the opposing ships is always extremely satisfying. The diplomacy aspect is quite simplistic in single-player since the computer opponents are limited to acting within the bounds of their randomly-assigned personality type but I've read that playing online with real people makes for a much more nuanced diplomatic experience. The single-player mode also has a number of options to customize the galaxy, which further enahnces the replay value, and has a number of difficulty options which make the game more challenging but also rewarding; however, the higher difficulty levels artificially manufacture challenge by simply giving the computer races more beneficial racial options and make them act more erratically, unpredictably, and aggressively, sometimes even going completely against their personality type. There is also a score-based leaderboard for another way to compete against yourself or your friends but online multiplayer still exists to this day using a fan-made patch and is probably more fun than competing for a score. Although I have no experience with online play (or even hotseat play), I would guess that it would be even more fun with friends as the computer difficulty settings eventually become predictable and can only be so challenging without being overbearing and unfair. Graphics The graphics are fantastic, very detailed, and still hold up to this day despite being made in 1996. The ship designs look especially awesome and combat is always a spectacle to observe. That being said, one complaint that I have is that the character models' limbs move independently from everything else which gives them a very disjointed look and is akin to how a marionette would move; however, it doesn't look horrendously janky like many mobile games these days and isn't a huge deal. Sound The soundtrack is extremely well-composed since you can listen to the various songs for long periods of time without them irritating you which helps keep you engaged and hankering to play one more turn just to see what happens. All of the songs seamlessly blend into one another and act as great background noise. The sound effects for the various weapons and ship explosions are very poignant and extremely satisfying to listen to because they evoke a sense of realism and do a superb job of helping immerse you in the setting and universe. Story The story is very simplistic, as is the case with most 4X games, and involves an interdimensional alien race called the Antarans who threaten to exterminate your entire galaxy and everyone in it. That being said, I'd argue that the real story is the one that you craft by deciding how to win: either conquer the galaxy by eradicating all other races, enslaving them, or winning the democratic vote, or automatically become the savior of the galaxy by destroying the Antarans. Miscellaneous The port of the game doesn't work perfectly for me but the issues are relatively minor: I can't see wormholes and the game starts to lag heavily after 30 minutes to the point where it's unplayable; however, quitting out of the game and re-launching it resolves the problem by resetting the 30-minute timer. This second point actually isn't solely negative since it forces me to take a break every 30 minutes which is helpful because it's easy to play this game for hours on end and completely lose track of time. These issues might also be compatibility issues with my computer rather than a general problem that everyone will experience but it's worth noting for anyone who's looking to purchase the game in this day and age. Conclusion Overall, I can't recommend it enough which is especially telling because I only have experience with the single-player aspect of the game. I'm sure that playing with friends would seriously enhance the overall experience, particularly the diplomatic aspect of the game as you form alliances or backstab your friends at the most inopportune of moments. Although I have very little experience with modern (post-2010) 4X games, I might be swayed by nostalgia when saying that this game still holds up really well to this day and would be a terrific starting point for anyone looking to get into the genre and see its origins.
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Version is 1.40b23. Unfortunately, terraforming Toxic planets by using a Weather Controller doesn't work until v1.50.8. Aside from this one flaw, the game is the timeless classic you remember.
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This is probably one of the best strategy games of all time. I have played this for literally decades. I introduced my nephew to it and he loved it. You can just conquer all, go to the next galaxy, or get elected by all. Sadly, every attempt to replicate this game just never lived up to this original. Oh, and don't play Master of Orion 1 as it sucks ... unless you want to appreciate this one more. This is lightning in a bottle.
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Last Updates| Steam data | 30 March 2025 23:19 |
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| SteamSpy data | 26 March 2025 12:50 |
| Steam price | 01 April 2025 20:45 |
| Steam reviews | 30 March 2025 21:52 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Master of Orion 2, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Master of Orion 2
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Master of Orion 2 concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Master of Orion 2 compatibility
