Genre: Turn-Based Strategy
Publisher: TBA
Developer: Kerberos Productions
Release Date: TBA

There is a light at the end of the long, black warp-tunnel for those forlorn and forgotten fans of the “4X” (expand, explore, exploit, exterminate) space strategy game. The source of that shining point is called Sword of the Stars, and I do hope you’ll forgive my turn of phrase as I describe it as a “stellar return to form” for the genre. It’s nearing the end of its development cycle, and through methods most Machiavellian, I managed to catch a couple of hours time with it at the cloistered offices of Kerberos Productions here in Vancouver, BC.

After taking in some quick impressions of the offices themselves (comfortable, awash in toys, full of pop-culture savvy artists, programmers, and designers), I sat down with the CEO of Kerberos for a tour of Sword of the Stars itself. He assured me as he loaded the latest build that they were nearing completion of a demo, so if any of my following words entice you, fear not. You’ll have a chance to test it out firsthand soon enough.

My very first impression was, “That looks really cool, but there’s no WAY I’ll be able to sort out all of that information!” As we shall see, my fears were put to rest, but I’m getting ahead of myself. At its core, Sword of the Stars is a turn-based strategy title with real-time combat that places you in two roles: Emperor of an expanding intergalactic empire, or Admiral of a starship fleet. In your capacity as either of these two figureheads, you will have four distinct races to select from, each with different approaches to technology and culture. These races are: the Humans (of course), the aquatic Liir, the chitinous Hiver, and the reptilian Tarkas.

The history and lore put into these species is expansive, and their differences rapidly flesh out; they quickly grow into more than just random names. One tangible that I’ll touch on for each is their approach to travel between the stars. Humans use warp nodes, indirect point-to-point faster-than-light lanes of hyperspace. This is very quick, but somewhat inaccurate in that the most direct route from planet to planet may not be available, so you are frequently at the mercy of the node paths.

Liir utilize stutter-warp, essentially millions of tiny warp jumps made in succession. This is extremely fast in open space, but very susceptible to gravity wells, and so it slows down significantly when close to a celestial body. Hivers don’t use FTL travel at all, instead slowly crawling from star to star, and then setting up warp-gates. It may take them decades to get anywhere, but once they’ve set down a gate, they can summon a force of millions almost instantly. Finally, the Tarkas use the Star Trek method of travel, “Warp 8” and all. There was no sign of a lizard-like Wesley Crusher that I could see, though.

While being shown the basics, one design element kept coming to my attention – the user interface and its interactive leanings. Traditionally, 4x games look and play like detailed spreadsheets. The information and detail is abundant, but speaking personally, I’ve never found Microsoft Excel all that engaging as entertainment. Sword of the Stars breaks away from custom in the way it approaches your empire overview. Considering the fact that 90% of all play lies in these screens, the effort appears to be right on target. Beginning with the fully 3D star map that scales flawlessly as you mouse-wheel in or out, and carrying through to the sublime tech-tree research room that evokes a virtual reality feeling with its immersive interface, Kerberos have done their utmost to make the “spreadsheet” a fully playable experience.

Other notable elements to the GUI include click-and-drag fleet formation (only if you've built a command craft, or else your craft spew towards their destinations in a haphazard array), easy-to-use slider bars and pie charts for economic management, and ship design that’s far more than just increased turret points. Each of your ships has three segments to it that can each be researched in different ways, allowing extremely customizable tailoring to whatever style your rule desires. Are you a warlike Imperator? No problem, just research heavier armor and weapon mounts for the middle section. Prefer defense and speed? Grease the wheels of your technological advancement towards things like reflective plating to repel laser attacks, and make sure your engines have been developed to their utmost. Each tweak you cobble together can be saved as a custom design and given personalized names, a handy little feature that adds a sense of immersion to the game.

The technologies available aren’t exhaustible; there isn’t a single pyramid upwards that is the same every time you play. This means that not only is replay increased exponentially, but there also isn’t any one cheap strategy with which to achieve a bloated victory score. In essence, there won’t be a “zerg rush” that plagues Sword of the Stars.

For multiplayer purposes, Kerberos will include custom victory badges, which will allow you to roughly determine with a single glance the aptitude of the Emperor/Admiral who's joined your game lobby. While researching these technologies, you do have the option of pushing through rush grants to get any given project done quickly, but be fairly warned that doing so immeasurably increases the odds of a lab accident. Wildcard events like an explosive Bunsen burner aren’t restricted to the development cycle of your empire, either. In situations where little is happening over several turns, random celestial actions break up the dry run. Meteor storms showering a colony are one example that’s easy enough to picture, although a Von Neumann device is a little more exotic. I won’t spoil the surprise, though.

All told, I was extremely impressed with what I saw in Sword of the Stars. I assure you, the screenshots, regardless of how good they look, don’t do any justice to how warm and inviting the overall presentation is. I have no hesitation at all in saying this is the best GUI I have ever seen in a game. The elegance and ease of use is exactly what this genre has been calling for, the background and lore are second to none, and the depth goes exactly as far as is needed without spilling over into a micro-managerial chore. With a full single player mode and fully fleshed-out multiplayer out of the box, this isn’t just a fantastic new entry into a venerable field; it’s a must-have franchise in the making.