| Pandora: First Contact | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Proxy Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Slitherine Software |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | 4X |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multi-player |
Pandora: First Contact is a 2013 4X game developed by German company Proxy Studios and published by Slitherine Software. It is inspired by Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and is about ideologically opposed factions from Earth who colonize a hostile planet.
After polluting Earth, colonists settle a new planet. The native lifeforms are not initially hostile, but as the human colonists destroy their habitats by polluting the world, the lifeforms grow increasingly restless. The human factions are split among ideological boundaries and receive different bonuses. Although the technology tree is partially randomised, there are still prerequisites that must be researched. [1] [2]
The game was written by game journalist Dan Griliopoulos, who was inspired by Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri . Slitherine Software released the game on 15 November 2013. [3]
An expansion pack, Eclipse of Nashira, was announced on July 29, 2014, and released on September 19, 2014. [4] [5]
Pandora: First Contact received mixed reviews on Metacritic. [6] In his review for GameSpot , Daniel Starkey wrote that the game "is laden with awful design choices and a confusing mishmash of old and new mechanics". Unlike the Civilization series, Starkey said Pandora effectively forced players to play in a single way to win the game. [1] Rock Paper Shotgun 's critic Adam Smith wrote, "It's a solid example of the form but too simple in execution to live up to the more ambitious and unusual aspects of its design." [2] Although he recommended the game to 4X enthusiasts, Rob P. of Digitally Downloaded cautioned fans of Firaxis' games that the game has a stronger focus on war than its inspirations. [7]
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is a 4X video game, considered a spiritual sequel to the Civilization series. Set in a science fiction depiction of the 22nd century, the game begins as seven competing ideological factions land on the planet Chiron ("Planet") in the Alpha Centauri star system. As the game progresses, Planet's growing sentience becomes a formidable obstacle to the human colonists.
Sid Meier's Civilization is a 1991 turn-based strategy 4X video game developed and published by MicroProse. The game was originally developed for MS-DOS running on a PC, and it has undergone numerous revisions for various platforms. The player is tasked with leading an entire human civilization over the course of several millennia by controlling various areas such as urban development, exploration, government, trade, research, and military. The player can control individual units and advance the exploration, conquest and settlement of the game's world. The player can also make such decisions as setting forms of government, tax rates and research priorities. The player's civilization is in competition with other computer-controlled civilizations, with which the player can enter diplomatic relationships that can either end in alliances or lead to war.
Brian Reynolds is an American videogame designer. Reynolds has designed at SecretNewCo, Zynga, Big Huge Games, and MicroProse and has been chairman of the International Game Developers Association. He has played a major part in designing a number of multi-million selling games including Civilization II, Rise of Nations, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and FrontierVille. He has also founded or co-founded three game companies, SecretNewCo, Big Huge Games, and Firaxis Games.
4X is a subgenre of strategy-based computer and board games, and includes both turn-based and real-time strategy titles. The gameplay generally involves building an empire. Emphasis is placed upon economic and technological development, as well as a range of military and non-military routes to supremacy.
A crossfire is a military term for the siting of weapons so that their arcs of fire overlap.
Civilization IV is a 4X turn-based strategy computer game and the fourth installment of the Civilization series, and designed by Soren Johnson under the direction of Sid Meier and his video game development studio Firaxis Games. It was released in North America, Europe, and Australia, between October 25 and November 4, 2005, and followed by Civilization V.
Civilization is a series of turn-based strategy video games, first released in 1991. Sid Meier developed the first game in the series and has had creative input for most of the rest, and his name is usually included in the formal title of these games, such as Sid Meier's Civilization VI. There are six main games in the series, a number of expansion packs and spin-off games, as well as board games inspired by the video game series. The series is considered a formative example of the 4X genre, in which players achieve victory through four routes: "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate".
FreeCol is a 4X video game, a clone of Sid Meier's Colonization. FreeCol is free and open source software released under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later. In 2023, the FreeCol project reached its 1.0 release, after twenty years of development.
Sid Meier's Civilization V is a 4X video game in the Civilization series developed by Firaxis Games. The game was released on Microsoft Windows on September 21, 2010, on OS X on November 23, 2010, and on Linux on June 10, 2014.
Slitherine Software UK Limited is a British video game developer and publisher founded on 25 June 2000. It is responsible for the production of a range of over 200 strategy and war video games. Slitherine developed and/or published a number of licensed games with brands including Battlestar Galactica, Warhammer 40,000, Starship Troopers, Horrible Histories and The History Channel. It also produces rules for a series of tabletop wargames called Field of Glory.
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is a turn-based strategy, 4X video game in the Civilization series developed by Firaxis Games, published by 2K Games and released for Microsoft Windows on October 24, 2014, the Mac App Store on November 27, 2014 and for Linux on December 18, 2014. A spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri, Beyond Earth shares much of that game's development team, as well as some concepts which were introduced in the 1999 title. The game's setting is unique to the Civilization series in that it takes place in the future, with mankind traveling through space and founding colonies on extraterrestrial planets after Earth becomes uninhabitable due to an undescribed disaster known as "the Great Mistake".
Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution 2 is a 4X turn-based strategy video game for portable platforms, developed in 2014 by Firaxis Games with Sid Meier as designer. It is a spin-off of the Civilization series and a sequel to Civilization Revolution.
Worlds of Magic is a single-player fantasy turn-based 4X strategy game developed by Wastelands Interactive and published for Microsoft Windows in 2015. In late 2015 it received a PS4 and Xbox One ports under the name Worlds of Magic: Planar Conquest; which has been sometimes described as an improved sequel. In 2016 Worlds of Magic: Planar Conquest was also released for PC, iOS and Android as Planar Conquest. In 2020 Planar Conquest was ported to Nintendo Switch.
Shadow Empire is a strategy video game developed by French studio VR Designs and published by Slitherine Software. It combines gameplay from computer wargames and 4X games in a setting of post-apocalyptic conquest.
Distant Worlds 2 is a 4X video game developed by Code Force and published by Slitherine Software. It was released for Windows on March 10, 2022 and is the sequel to the 2010 video game Distant Worlds.
Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War is a turn-based strategy 4X video game developed by Proxy Studios and published by Slitherine Software for Windows and Linux on July 12, 2018. It is based on Games Workshop's tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000.
Master of Magic is a single-player fantasy turn-based 4X strategy game developed by MuHa Games and published by Slitherine Software, in which the player plays as a wizard attempting to dominate two linked worlds. From a small settlement, the player manages resources, builds cities and armies, and researches spells, growing an empire and fighting the other wizards. The gameplay of the game, both the original and the remake, has been compared to the classic video game Civilization, enhanced with features like heroes and magic.