Space Tyrant

About

Space Tyrant is a single-player real-time strategy game where you control a brutal alien tyrant. Conquer, build, and battle your way across the galaxy, using a mix of tactics and ruthless aggression. Manage your empire, customize your tyrant, and research new technologies to maintain your iron grip on power.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 472 reviews

story8 positive mentions

grinding7 negative mentions

Space Tyrant is a fun, quick, and simple 4X game that remains challenging and engaging.
The game features a humorous and lighthearted theme, with colorful graphics and entertaining writing.
It offers a unique blend of strategy and randomness, with a variety of unlockable cards and commanders that enhance replayability.

The game can be frustratingly random, with many players experiencing unfair outcomes due to dice rolls and RNG mechanics.
Losing a mission can lead to significant setbacks, forcing players to restart campaigns and lose progress.
Some players find the lack of depth in strategy and the repetitive nature of certain missions to be a drawback.

story
150 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
91%
3%
The game's story is minimalistic, focusing primarily on a campaign structure composed of various missions that players undertake to conquer the galaxy. While the missions offer a range of objectives and some humorous elements, many players find the reliance on random events and difficulty spikes frustrating, often leading to a sense of unfairness and repetitive grinding. Overall, the narrative serves as a backdrop for gameplay rather than a central feature, with players primarily engaging in strategic battles and resource management.
- “The game has a multi-tiered structure that revolves around missions, which are intended to be playable in under an hour.”
- “Clever utilization of the mission-focused campaign structure allows for a wide range of strategic challenges to keep you on your toes, ironically of greater range and variation than the 'full size' 4x games, which typically have snowball-style gameplay.”
- “The variety of mission structure keeps things changed up. Some missions are about taking over a percentage of the galaxy, others are about accumulating wealth, playing so many cards, accruing a set number of crystals, or controlling 2 of 3 points on the map.”
- “The missions where unrest just keeps rising are super annoying in my opinion because you basically can only just hold on and wait until your science or whatever is done and hope RNG doesn't mess you over.”
- “The difficulty curve with a certain mission type where you take control of two omega cores is almost impossible.”
- “Fail one mission and your 6-hour campaign goes down the drain.”
gameplay
103 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
63%
4%
The gameplay of *Space Tyrant* is characterized by its streamlined mechanics and casual 4X elements, making it easy to learn yet challenging due to a steep difficulty curve and reliance on random outcomes. While the core gameplay loop is engaging and offers a humorous take on galactic conquest, many players find the mechanics frustratingly shallow and repetitive, with some aspects feeling overly reliant on luck. Overall, the game provides a fun, if inconsistent, experience that balances simplicity with strategic depth, appealing to those who enjoy quick, tactical gameplay.
- “Easy to learn mechanics, but a challenging difficulty curve.”
- “The gameplay is addicting and fun, the graphics look great without being over the top, the sound doesn't feel repetitive even though it is, the writing knows exactly how seriously to take itself, even the difficulty I feel is just right.”
- “The mechanics are tight, easy to understand, and manipulate.”
- “Unfortunately, the simple gameplay style just didn't hold my interest.”
- “The mechanics are just tilted a bit too far against the player to make it fun.”
- “Now then... the actual gameplay is repetitive, and that is putting it lightly.”
graphics
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
41%
7%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their crispness, vibrant colors, and cartoonish art style, which effectively complement the humorous and lighthearted tone. Many reviewers appreciate the clean visuals and unique aesthetic, noting that they enhance the overall gaming experience, despite some mentioning minor graphical glitches. Overall, the graphics contribute positively to the game's appeal, making it visually engaging and enjoyable.
- “The graphics were vibrant and added to the game experience, and the user interface was intuitive and friendly.”
- “The music is very fitting, the comedy is fulfilling, the graphics are really nice, and the overall feel of the game is welcoming.”
- “The core concept of being a cartoony galactic villain is presented well, with clean graphics and solid audio.”
- “If not Troy from Explorminate, I would never play this game because the graphics do not appeal to me.”
- “I was almost put off by the art style - I thought it was a mobile port.”
- “If I had a complaint, it would be the graphical glitches here and there, but it's early access.”
humor
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its quirky and darkly humorous take on the 4X genre, featuring amusing dialogue, absurd random events, and a playful aesthetic that keeps players engaged. While some players noted a lack of depth and polish, the humor is consistently highlighted as a standout aspect, making the gameplay enjoyable and often laugh-out-loud funny. Overall, it offers a lighthearted experience that appeals to fans of strategy games looking for a comedic twist.
- “Basic gameplay is nicely done, thematic but a lot of humor about it as you go about conquering the galaxy as an evil overlord.”
- “The campy humor is great, the artwork is great, and it really has that 'one more turn' feel that will suck you in past your bedtime.”
- “Space Tyrant is hilarious, so many funny moments as you, the bad guy, blast your way from one planet to the next expanding your empire.”
music
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
39%
11%
The music in the game is generally praised for its fitting and quirky nature, contributing to the overall atmosphere and enjoyment. However, many users express disappointment over the limited variety and repetitiveness of the tracks, with some wishing for more music to enhance the experience. While the soundtrack is often described as good and reminiscent of classic games, it ultimately falls short for extended play sessions.
- “The music really sells the pulpy atmosphere, and the graphics are very crisp and clean.”
- “The music is very fitting, the comedy is fulfilling, the graphics are really nice, and the overall feel of the game is welcoming.”
- “The music was a special surprise as being quirky, fun, and original, and the overall 'tyrant' theme is refreshing.”
- “But also please add some background music; I can't bear it anymore, way too repetitive.”
- “The music is serviceable, even though I just ended up muting the game to listen to podcasts/music eventually.”
- “The soundtrack is very repetitive.”
replayability
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
25%
19%
Overall, the game is praised for its high replayability due to multiple factions, diverse card systems, and unlockable content that encourages players to engage in multiple playthroughs. However, some users noted that the slow unlocking process and reliance on luck can hinder the experience, leading to a lack of motivation for extended play. Despite these criticisms, many players find the replay value to be significant, especially for those who enjoy exploring different strategies and options.
- “Multiple factions and different card, commander, and unit options (upon unlock) provide replayability for future playthroughs.”
- “The game is highly replayable; in order to progress, you will need to fail and replay several times.”
- “The amount of replay value in this game is truly insane.”
- “It severely lacks replayability; not even the achievements motivated me to continue for more than 4 playthroughs because the speed in which you get them is so slow, and you have to be lucky to get some events, either successful or failure, to get certain cards, traits, and equipment.”
- “One smaller issue I've had is replayability: almost everything that would bring variety is locked, and unlocking anything takes many missions.”
- “The campaign plays quite well and feels like a hybrid between Endless Space and a little like Rogue Legacy in terms of humor and replayability.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
25%
38%
The game's atmosphere is characterized by a vibrant, cartoonish aesthetic complemented by crisp graphics and an engaging soundtrack, creating a refreshing departure from typical grimdark settings. Players appreciate the polished visuals and the pulpy, cultural vibe that enhances the overall experience, despite some minor glitches. Overall, the combination of art style and music effectively immerses players in a unique and enjoyable environment.
- “The music really sells the pulpy atmosphere, and the graphics are very crisp and clean.”
- “It has a very cartoony atmosphere both in looks and text; personally, I find this a welcome change to the usual grimdark/high fantasy/historical settings.”
- “Excellent level of polish, nice sharp graphics, good music, and a great general atmosphere.”
- “Beyond the glitches, there is a sort of cultural atmosphere to the game that also annoys me.”
- “It's like the atmosphere of 'Evil Genius' but with more detailed gameplay reminiscent of 'Ogre Battle'.”
- “A single cruiser, venting atmosphere and limping.”
grinding
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews indicate that the grinding aspect of the game is a significant drawback, with many players finding it tedious and overly time-consuming. While the core gameplay loop is enjoyable, the meta game and combat can become frustratingly grindy, leading to a loss of engagement and excitement. Overall, the balance between fun progression and excessive grinding seems to be a common point of contention among players.
- “Amazingly, this tiny change turns combat tedious, and consequently completely kneecaps the flow of the game.”
- “Tl;dr — too hard, too grindy, and too tedious for most people.”
- “My only complaint is that while I like the rogue-lite style progression of unlocking things each time you die, the maps are long enough that you spend many hours grinding and hoping for a good RNG before you will be able to unlock the next third of the campaign.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, the game's stability has improved significantly, with developers actively addressing glitches and ensuring that freezes are no longer an issue. While some minor graphical glitches persist, they are generally acceptable for an early access title, and the game is not considered a buggy mess.
- “Beyond the glitches, there is a sort of cultural atmosphere to the game that also annoys me.”
- “If I had a complaint, it would be the graphical glitches here and there, but it's early access.”
- “Thankfully, this is not a buggy mess in early access.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its smooth performance and well-optimized gameplay, featuring appealing visuals and engaging sound effects that enhance the overall experience.
- “Nice setting with cute visuals and runs smoothly.”
- “Cool graphics and sound effects along with streamlined, well-optimized, and detailed gameplay.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized for being misleading, as it is marketed as a strategy game rather than an autobattler, leading to disappointment among players. Additionally, the price point of over 20€ is seen as excessive for the experience offered, contributing to negative reviews.
- “If it were advertised as an autobattler and not as a strategy game, and if it cost way less than €20, maybe I would've kept it. But because of the misleading advertising and because this game is definitely not something strategy fans could ever enjoy, I have to give it the thumbs down.”
- “The monetization model is incredibly aggressive, making it feel like the game is designed more to extract money than to provide a fun experience.”
- “I feel like I can't progress without spending money, which ruins the enjoyment of the game. It's frustrating to see so many paywalls.”