On the bright side, getting to the end has a great flow whether you’re on story or random maps. There are a variety of victory conditions, from political unification to deploying a doomsday device, but without those meaningful storylines steering me toward them I just wasn’t as excited to get there. The one downside is that once I looked beyond these hand-crafted scenarios (of which there are 13 in all and take anywhere between one and several hours to complete) the random maps that make up the meat of Planetfall felt lacking in comparison. I found these to be the most entertaining part of Planetfall, challenging me to explore ancient ruins, get to know named and voiced characters, chase forbidden secrets, and navigate sometimes complex politics that often pit different ideologies within the same base faction against one another. You can get to know each of the factions through a handful of well-written, quest-driven story scenarios set on pre-made maps that help flesh out their place in the galaxy.

Forge of empires virtual future map