Now Playing: The Vaulters (DLC)

Endless Space 2 was one of my top rated games of 2017. A fantastic 4X strategy title that I don’t feel received the attention or sales it deserves. Which is part of the reason why I decided to purchase the first DLC – The Vaulters – upon release. This is a game I want to support and continue to see evolve and improve.

I was already familiar with the Vaulters race from Endless Legend, so it was interesting to see how they’d be incorporated into ES2. Their primary and most useful mechanic is their portal technology, allowing you to instantly transfer fleets between your colonised systems. Knowing you can immediately jump a fleet to even the most distant system in your empire gives you far greater freedom not only to defend your borders, but to attack others.

The Vaulters, like the other races, also have their own unique quest chain to complete and heroes to recruit. They also have their own unique ship designs, the best of which is their carrier class vessel. But this DLC doesn’t just add new things for the Vaulters.

It fleshes out the pirate ‘faction’ and allows you to engage with them diplomatically. It also adds a new ‘boarding pod’ module, allowing you to capture enemy ships – although I must admit, I found it easier to just keep blowing them up.

I played my Vaulters campaign on the Hard setting with 5 rival empires. It was great to jump back into the game and see not only the additions of this DLC, but the free updates I’ve missed in my time away – such as the new fighter and bomber modules, or the improved diplomatic options.

Just as I did at release, I still feel the game has difficulty issues – my Hard campaign versus 5 empires was actually pretty easy to win. But when I started another campaign on Easy against a single empire to test some things, I actually started to lose. The difficulty in ES2 can seem strangely random, regardless of the setting.

Overall, The Vaulters DLC expands and improves an already enjoyable and content rich experience. I wouldn’t say it’s an essential purchase, because it doesn’t really add much in the way of new mechanics, quests or events, but if you’re a fan of the game, this new race is certainly worth your time and investment.

That said, I hope the next DLC isn’t just another race with a handful of new mechanics, but one which overhauls how the campaign plays for every race. Maybe some kind of invasive horde from beyond the galactic borders, creating a campaign not of expansion, but survival. That would be pretty neat.

7/10