Imperium Galactica is a game I've spoken of here for a while....(in 2013, 2016 here and here, as well as in 2018). As mentioned in those blog posts it's a real-time, sci-fi, strategy empire builder. From small to large combat both in space, on planets via orbital bombardments and invasions. It's a game that has it all.
Originals screenshots...
Each planet needs to be self sufficient, developed and protected(or do they), on ground and in space(planetary defenses, orbital space stations, fleets of starships, all or none!). Yet each has a limited size to place buildings on the surface... Do you choose to use ground based planet defenses instead of new farms to increase civilian size, a long-term choice. Some planets are large, others can barely take a few buildings. Not that things are permanent(chop and change as you like) but it's a balancing act to keep them happy as well. Add in the technology R&D, production lines to build everything, diplomacy and a personal story-line that develops as you progress. The game is immersive. The music, the day night cycles on planets. The animations going from ship bridge to stations or departments. The architecture on a world with mixed faction/races. It works for me and I lap it all up.
Granted nostalgia is a massive part of the game for me. Back in the day I'd spend hours and hours playing it. It's not a perfect game but what it does do clicks with me as a gamer even today(Just like another game in the genre).
These days the game is now available on GoG, so now works on 'modern systems' with ease. I bought it there the moment I realized it was available. But given the original was a mid 90's Dos game it never fared well with systems since(especially once XP was end of life). I'd tried a lot without success but given the tricky nature of it an alternative seemed better than the real thing. Enter Open Imperium Galactica. An open source Java based standalone 'reimplementation' of the game with an nice auto-updating Launcher.
But the main reason to keep up to date on the OpenIG is because it's essentially a fan made remaster. With lots of 'modern' improvements. What's not to like about that. It describes itself as "Open-IG attempts to reproduce the feel of the original game while fixing many bugs, inconsistencies and extending it with new features, however, it does not aim for producing an exact, behavior perfect and pixel perfect replica". Again, whats not to like!!!
The additions and modernizations to this version of the game are very welcome and show a real love of the game.
Given it's project that's mainly a one man band progress is often slow. But it's playable and well playable and has been for a while, only getting better! Last year there were maybe 3 updates but this year alone there's been over 10. A project with a renewed vigor it seems. Awesome!
More fun to be had yet.
There's two links for the game, One on Facebook and another for it's files on Github.
