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Space Empires V

Space Empires V Game Cover
70%Game Brain Score
graphics, gameplay
stability, optimization
71% User Score Based on 357 reviews
Critic Score 50%Based on 2 reviews

Platforms

PCWindows
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Space Empires V Game Cover

About

Space Empires V is a single player and multiplayer strategy game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Malfador Machinations and was released on October 16, 2006. It received neutral reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

Space Empires V is a turn-based strategy game that offers a rich galaxy exploration and empire building experience. Players can design their own ships, conduct research, and engage in tactical combat in a procedurally generated universe. The game also includes diplomacy and espionage elements, providing a variety of ways to interact with AI-controlled factions and expand your interstellar empire.

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Space Empires V screenshot
Space Empires V screenshot
Space Empires V screenshot
Space Empires V screenshot
Space Empires V screenshot
Space Empires V screenshot
Space Empires V screenshot
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71%
Audience ScoreBased on 357 reviews
graphics10 positive mentions
stability20 negative mentions
  • The game offers nearly endless replayability with a vast tech tree and customizable ship designs.
  • It allows for deep strategic gameplay, including the ability to manipulate stars and planets, and engage in real-time combat.
  • The modding community has created numerous mods that enhance the game, particularly Captain Kwok's Balance Mod, which improves AI and overall balance.
  • The game suffers from significant technical issues on modern systems, including crashes and slow performance.
  • The user interface is clunky and not intuitive, making it difficult for new players to navigate and understand the game.
  • The AI is often criticized for being weak and predictable, especially in the base game without mods.
  • graphics
    48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game are generally considered dated, reflecting its nearly 20-year-old origins, with many users noting that while they were acceptable for their time, they do not hold up well by modern standards. Some players appreciate the immersive gameplay despite the clunky UI and basic visuals, while others express a desire for a graphical update to enhance the experience. Overall, the visuals are seen as a drawback, but they do not significantly detract from the game's solid mechanics and depth.

    • “The graphics are slightly dated but hold up well compared to most conventional standards.”
    • “Great graphics for its time.”
    • “This game pairs the solid empire-building gameplay from SE4 with the 3D graphics and high-octane combat of Starfury to make for an epic experience.”
    • “Wish this game had a modern update to improve the bit graphics.”
    • “The new design makes the game harder to play; desired information harder to find, necessary actions more inefficient in their execution, while the graphic revision somehow appears uglier and more dated than previous editions.”
    • “The graphics are pretty bad (considering today's standards), but who plays turn-based strategy games for their looks?”
  • gameplay
    23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of the game is a mix of solid empire-building mechanics and tactical combat, though it suffers from outdated graphics and user interface issues typical of older titles. While some players appreciate the depth and customization options available, others find the core mechanics primitive and the overall experience lacking in quality of life improvements. User mods can enhance gameplay significantly, but the game may feel tedious or boring to those seeking modern standards in 4X games.

    • “As someone who has loved space 4X games since their origins, I would say that, by both its design and its actual gameplay, this is hands-down the best space 4X game ever made.”
    • “This game pairs the solid empire-building gameplay from SE4 with the 3D graphics and high-octane combat of Starfury to make for an epic experience.”
    • “Overall, Space Empires: V delivers consistent quality and satisfying gameplay despite coming out a decade ago.”
    • “The gameplay is essentially like any of the Gal Civ games with worse graphics... does have some FPS issues with Windows 10, so be aware of that.”
    • “Boring, boring, and bland. The music is terrible, and gameplay is boring. If you want a real game, buy Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. That game is worth every penny; this game has bland written all over it. I mean, yeah, it's a classic, but it sucks.”
    • “The game itself isn't that complicated, but as I said before, the gameplay is really bad.”
  • stability
    21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is widely criticized, with users reporting frequent crashes, bugs, and performance issues, particularly on modern operating systems. Many players note that the game is nearly unplayable without extensive modifications and troubleshooting, although some aspects, like real-time space combat, are praised for their enjoyment. Overall, the game is described as a "buggy mess" that requires significant user intervention to improve its playability.

    • “The real-time space combat should not be overlooked - it's actually not buggy at all and very enjoyable.”
    • “It is ancient, buggy, unstable and requires mods to make it remotely playable.”
    • “Game has great potential but is buggy and impossible to finish because of crashes.”
    • “Unplayable on modern systems - a buggy piece of crap - Valve, sort it out, get this crap off the store.”
  • optimization
    20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization is severely lacking, leading to significant performance issues on modern systems, including long load times, crashes, and sluggish gameplay. Players often need to manually tweak settings to achieve even marginally acceptable performance, which can be frustrating, especially for those unfamiliar with such adjustments. Despite its potential and nostalgic value, the overall experience is marred by these optimization challenges.

    • “I used to love this game as a kid, and Captain Kwok's balance mod makes it great fun even these days, although you do have to do some finagling to get it to run smoothly on modern systems.”
    • “This game allows more freedom and options than any game I have ever played, and it is for this reason that I tolerate its performance issues with modern hardware so that I may gleefully kill aliens with crewless kamikaze viral spore carrying frigates again.”
    • “The game requires a lot of manual fine-tuning by the player to get it to run smoothly on any system with a modern OS.”
    • “It's got no optimization at all, and quickly grinds to the point of needing to wait 20 seconds for each window to open.”
    • “Do not bother buying it as it doesn't work on modern systems, is unoptimized, basically lost in space, waiting for a return which will probably never happen.”
    • “The performance of the game is abysmal with lots of lag if you manage to put it in fullscreen.”
  • replayability
    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game boasts exceptional replayability, with users highlighting its expansive tech tree, customizable races, and diverse ship-building options as key factors that keep the experience fresh. Many players find themselves drawn back to the game due to its depth and strategic complexity, despite some criticisms of its interface. Overall, it is regarded as a must-play for fans of the 4X genre, offering endless opportunities for varied gameplay.

    • “If you want a game that will deliver endless replay value, this is the game for you.”
    • “Replayability is one of its better selling points, with the expansive tech tree, custom races, and insane ship builds and strategy; it is very difficult to lose interest.”
    • “Like all the SE games, the deep research trees, customizable ships, production and fleet management, and easy-to-load custom ship models make the game endlessly replayable.”
    • “The design team should steal UI ideas from other, better games -- the original Masters of Orion is ancient, but more playable.”
    • “Underneath the underwhelming, clumsy, and confusing interface is a very intelligent 4X game with more choices and replayability than its more glamorous competition (looking at you, GalCiv 2). It must be modded to show its full potential (Capt Kwok's balance mod).”
    • “Replay value: depending on your mood, as this game for me is mood dependent: should I spend hours tailoring a civilization around a specific goal or should I just mess with the AI and just build like crazy?”
  • music
    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising its complexity and variety, while others find it bland and repetitive. Although certain users appreciate the quality of the music files themselves, they note that in-game audio can sound muffled. Overall, while the music enhances the experience for some, others feel it detracts from gameplay due to its limited selection and looping nature.

    • “Some of the improvements are welcome, the 3D models and real-time battles are great, the use of scanners to scan a system is a nice mechanic, and even the music is better.”
    • “- It's a great complex game with great music, great diplomacy, and great variety.”
    • “The music is great and doesn't get too repetitive or boring.”
    • “The music is also quite horrible.”
    • “Boring, boring, and bland; the music is terrible. Gameplay is boring. If you want a real game, buy Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. That game is worth every penny. This game has 'bland' written all over it. I mean, yeah, it's a classic, but it sucks.”
    • “Only a little criticism I have, and it's only minor, it doesn't ruin gameplay at all, is that the music in-game tends to be on a massive loop and the music selection is a little limited, so you could hear the same song being played over and over again before it changes track, just to do it again.”
  • atmosphere
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is intricately tied to its planetary environments, with different atmospheres (such as hydrogen, methane, and oxygen) affecting how species can settle and thrive, often requiring domed colonies for inhospitable conditions. Players can fully customize their species, including their atmospheric needs, which adds depth to the strategic gameplay. Overall, the turn-based atmosphere enhances the strategic experience, appealing to players who enjoy thoughtful planning.

    • “Planets (and races) have both an atmosphere and planet type.”
    • “Fully customizable species, down to atmosphere and planet type.”
    • “The atmospheres of planets will determine how well your species settles, either having to live under atmospheric domes or under an open sky.”
    • “Colonies of a different atmosphere are domed.”
    • “What atmosphere do they breathe?”
  • grinding
    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be both tedious and fascinating, with a steep learning curve that requires extensive micromanagement. While the depth of the gameplay offers some engaging elements, the repetitive nature of issuing commands across a large empire can become overwhelming and monotonous.

    • “The learning curve for this game is long and tedious.”
    • “Enjoy giving orders tediously one at a time across your huge empire until you figure out queues, because the game isn't going to nudge you in that direction one bit.”
    • “The micromanagement has some cool things going for it, but it gets really tedious after having a certain number of planets, because appropriate mass commands and the like are just missing.”
  • story
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story revolves around a true narrative where players make small decisions that cumulatively lead to tactical advantages in their quest for galactic domination. This emphasis on choice and consequence adds depth to the overall experience.

    • “The game is about small decisions that add up over time into tactical advantages in the quest to dominate the galaxy.”
  • humor
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is characterized by a playful yet relentless approach, where players often find themselves in amusingly frustrating situations, such as being repeatedly thwarted in their attempts to progress. This blend of slapstick and irony creates a comedic experience that resonates with users.

    • “Forget not holding your hand; SE5 is pushing you down in the street over and over and laughing at you while you try to cross.”
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50%Critics’ scoreBased on 2 critic reviews
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32h Median play time
32h Average play time
32-32h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Space Empires V is a strategy game with science fiction theme.

Space Empires V is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 32 hours playing Space Empires V.

Space Empires V was released on October 16, 2006.

Space Empires V was developed by Malfador Machinations.

Space Empires V has received neutral reviews from players and neutral reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its graphics but disliked it for its stability.

Space Empires V is a single player game with multiplayer support.

Similar games include Space Empires IV Deluxe, Distant Worlds: Universe, Master of Orion, StarDrive, Galactic Civilizations II: Endless Universe and others.