Endless Legend 2, Amplitude’s upcoming sci-fi fantasy 4X strategy game, has a new trailer revealing a new playable faction: The Aspects.
The Aspects are a symbiosis of the flesh and machine by way of a shared mind, the Chorus. And they spread the good word through the growth of coral throughout Saiadha.
And at the start of a game of Endless Legend 2, the Chorus has become under threat due to the of the coral that used to span throughout the planet. And players who choose this faction must rebuild the coral and allow the Chrous sing again. Because everything’s all well and good when everyone is part of a harmonious hive mind, as the Aspects are led to believe.
Yes, this is a hive mind faction, but they sure are portrayed all polite and good considering that the faction exists by the rejection of individualism. Which for may folks, should be red flags. But they have coral motifs though! It looks nice and colourful, and their military units are all disparate looking yet are all united under one cause.
Gameplay-wise, the Aspects have an advantage in economy and diplomacy, and this is expressed through its unique mechanic: the coral.
Rather than plopping an outpost to claim a territory that later can grow into a city, the Aspects can place Coral Spores. And over time, the coral can then spread over other tiles, which can be grown into cities of their own. Or just leave them as they are to serve as nodes for further coral growth.
Tiles affected by coral extracts dust (i.e. money in the Endless universe), and military units can find many utility when landing or moving on coral tiles. It can heal, provide faster movement and, allows armies to cross water tiles if they are covered in coral.
The coral spread knows no boundaries as it can grow into tiles where minor and major factions reside. If a minor faction has coral grow in their tile, they’re more likely to join the Aspect Empire as an ally. And if a major faction has been infec-influenced by coral, they are more likely to accept treaties and peace deals.
Being unable to say no to the Aspects’ treaty or truce is a small price to pay when the coral tiles can also provide good FIDSI yields (think of all the dust!) as other factions can benefit from the coral tiles. And the Aspects can offer really good treaties that buff the other faction to incentivise other factions letting the coral roam free in their borders.
The Aspects are essentially Endless Legend 2’s resident diplomat faction, similar to the Drakken in Endless Legend 1. But instead of a diplomacy prompt jumpscare appearing at the start of each game, The Aspects has more subtle ways to influence other factions. And as insidious as it may sound, they are actually incentivised to be in good terms with others, at the very least so that they can keep growing the coral around the world.
More details on how The Aspects play and designed are posted on Amplitude’s forums here.
Endless Legend 2 is set on a new planet, and so far there has been two new factions revealed.
But the sequel to the influential 4X game seems to still carry the design ethos of making each faction play very different, asymmetrically as some might say, with each having different mechanics that facilitates different playstyles.
Previously acquire by Sega, Amplitude has went independent again. This game is their first game since going indie, teaming up with indie strategy/sim publisher Hooded Horse.
Endless Legend 2 is releasing in Early Access sometime this year.