Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2019
Interstellar Space: Genesis
Developer Praxis Games
Interstellar Space: Genesis is a turn-based space 4X strategy game in which you attempt to build a thriving galactic empire. Discover mysteries among the stars, colonize worlds, and engage enemies in tactical turn-based combat on your journey to becoming the ruler of the galaxy! From the Steam store page
195 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Sep 19, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
86
LovedLoved
165 positive · 26 negative
95% range 81–91%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 165 | 26 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
4 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
717 of 851 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 195 · most liked first1. Starting screen before first game has too much reading, too many rules, and too many options. 2. Too small font made it difficult to read and unable to adjust font size. There is setting for this but I did not see it do anything. 3. Redundant and repeat and useless information even on the same starting setup screen and during the game. 4. Lots of typos and wrong info: on White Star, on “Polution”, on “Show where enemy ship is targetable” in battle, but factually not true, etc. 5. Unexpected…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've waited way too long to review this. Some of the best 500+ hours of my 4X gaming in the past thirty years. If you're looking for that elusive proper Moo2 successor, you've found it. Master of Orion (2016) is soulless, over-produced tripe. Stellaris is real time, DLC-bloated garbage, on an antiquated engine with pure vomit for a UI. Endless Space was fantastic until the devs ruined it by not knowing when to stop with the feature-creep. GalCiv 2 was great, GalCiv 3 was a step back, and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a decent clone of Master of Orion 2. If you are really bore of the classic, it will give you a refreshing game or two, but honestly, even though it's much older, MoO2 feels much more more polished and somehow plays much smoother. I understand it's rather harsh to downvote a game just because it's "not as good as a classic", but considering 80% of it is not so much "inspired by" but "literally identical" and my feeling from playing it are worse, I can't really give a positive verdict.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →OK I am one of these old farts that have been playing computer games since PCs came out. Master of Orion and MOO 2 were great back in the day, but games have evolved and there are lots of 4X games out there. We still need that beer and pretzel 4X space game. Some are overly complicated like Stellaris and some overly simplified like the new version of MOO. I just re-tried Interstellar Space Genesis (lame title) looking to scratch that 4X itch, and I think it is a worthy successor to MOO. You…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game tries to be a modernized Master of Orion 2 but unfortunately it just remains an attempt. The game fails at a lot of basic aspects a central one being the user interface is horrible. It is actually an impressive feat to make menus considerably more messy and less readable and understandable than a game that by now is nearly 30 years old. Navigating through the various sections to actually see information and take actions becomes more and more annoying the longer I play. At the same…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a complex board game. It's the same formula as something like Civilisation 2 from 1996 but without any old school nostalgia or as others have said, Master of Orion (1995). I want to like this, I just can't, 16 hours and a couple of play through and I just didn't feel engaged, it's enough for me to uninstall. My main issue with the game - on every planet you own there's a 3-way slider which lets you divide its production output over 3 areas: infrastructure, ecology and construction (for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Having played a lot of Master of Orion II as a kid, I've always thought liking Moo2 meant I liked "space 4X games." So I tried Endless Space 1 and 2, Stellaris, Remnants of the Precursors, and Stars in Shadow. None of them hits like this one does. ISG has all the right pieces in all the right places. I have no idea if it's good on higher difficulty levels. I'm not looking for a huge brain flex these days. My only complaint is diplomacy feels thin. I haven't tried the DLCs yet, but I'm about…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TLDR: This is the best MOO-like I have seen, and I have played them all. Buy the game and expansions and support the devs! Pros: - This is a very faithful improvement upon the MOO genre. It is not trying to be Stellaris. Games take ~10 hours, not 100's. - The UI is very well thought out. Once you learn where to look, almost all info is available right where you want it. - The competing demands of terraforming, infrastructure development, installation construction, etc. force you to make…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the few 4X games I keep coming back to, along with Distant Worlds. It has quite a few interesting ideas making it unique, and every feature seems quite well-designed. I honestly don't know why this game isn't more popular than it is. I like how the tax system reduces production as an effect rather than just morale like other games, and how you can even dump your treasury into research or culture for a sudden boost if needed. The emigration/immigration feature works quite well,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →87 hours so far and loving the game! I'm a 59 yo veteran of 4X games. This game strikes a nice balance between complexity and playability; lots of details and options but without requiring excessive micro-management. It's a nice evolution of the MOO series with a better interface and smoother game flow.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To be fair, it's not necessarily a bad game. I just found it to be tedious. There are a lot of turns spent just clicking next, next, next, while waiting for things to be built. The process to improve a planet is tedious. The research needed to improve a planet takes too long. The amount of planetary building that you can actually build is too few. The game is just, well, boring. Master of Orion, to me, is a better game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Take a few good ideas from Stellaris and Master Of Orion then take a few bad ideas from Stellaris and Master Of Orion, mix them together, and you get Interstellar Space. - The game drops Stellaris' horribly over-engineered planetary management nightmare in favor of a slightly more understandable and manageable system. However, Interstellar Space then screws this great idea up by severely limiting the number of structures the player can have on a given planet. - Graphics in Interstellar Space…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fairly traditional space empire building turn-based strategy game. It's quite ugly. If you know anything about the genre you probably don't expect anything from this game. It's very much a Master of Orion 2 clone, with mechanics copypasted. Some things are removed, and plenty of things are added on top, but the essence is there. And the essence is so good. Really, it's depressing to think that so many right solutions for the genre were found so long ago, and many modern designs miss…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The essential parts of this game are lifted directly from Master of Orion 2, but the devs have brought in some new features, more or less a sprinkling of Stellaris-inspired stuff without being as complicated as Stellaris. The interface is familiar to any 4x player. Essential information not only exists on pages where it's logical to have it, but almost always provide very detailed information on mouseover, essentially an entire breakdown of how the number was calculated, what are the stats…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Short version: adequate. $1/1hr rule doesn't really apply here because it takes about a hundred turns for the action to happen. Loosely (very) I'd compare to a single-player-only, heavily stripped down base GalCiv2. Overall, get on sale if you have an itch to scratch. Else, skip. I'll be frank. The closest comparison I can draw to this one in recent times is probably the much more artistically simple (arguable) Stars in Shadow. I'm basically teetering on the edge of falling into the pit of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a very good game for its price point, and an excellent space 4X game. It places itself in the lineage of Master of Orion, and is one of the better games in that style. IS:G has some clever innovation in game design. The tech tree is particularly good, the tier system allows you to skip techs and research what you want while still having a sense of progression. I was skeptical about the production triangle eliminating the food mechanic that nearly every 4X game has, but after I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm in love! I have looked for over 20 years to find a game that catches the spirit of master of Orion 2. After hearing about this games a few times on reddit I finally bought it and was instantly hooked. If you want a game that feels and plays like a modern version of master of Orion 2 then this is it. There is no higher praise for a 4X game that I can think of.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game doesn't have anything unseen before in this particular genre, but is very well put together and quite fun to play. It has just enough depth and complexity to make it challenging but not overbearing. What I like: - clean and useful UI, easy to find information - intuitive gameplay, didn't have to google how stuff works - sleek ship design tool and engaging combat system - you are encouraged to use focus on planets depending on current priorities - good diplomacy system What I don't…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very impressive game. Inspired by “Master of Orion 2”, but this version is superior in my opinion. The graphics are beautiful, the soundtrack sublime. Too bad the game isn't available to those who don't understand English. There's a lot of work here. The details, the user interface, the ease of access to information with a simple mouse-over... No bugs, solid. A little gem. ... The difficulty of the game can be precisely adjusted. For example, 100% for all players, whether in production or…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Distant Worlds for dummies :p All joke aside, this is a little gem in the 4X genre, both being the real successor (revival?) of the legendary Master of Orion (1&2), and a solid and robust, and an easy to grab (not so) hard to master Sci-Fi 4X. Wich is both ideal to introduce for newbies to the noble 4X sci-fi genre, and a must-have for any 4X serious fan.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great MoO2-style space empire 4X! Nice as the standalone base game, the DLCs add more layers of complexity. Decent AI that makes the other empires do stuff that makes sense, higher difficulties make them do more of it. Also, different opponents realy behave in different ways. Ship design: Lots of weapon options, fine-tuning. The tech tree is pretty linear, but can be randomized (not yet tried). Has all the good stuff from MoO2, plus some niceties from SiS - though no mixed pop colonies. A…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow! I'm on my 2nd game now. The game starts extremely slow! I think it's at least 50 or maybe even 100 moves before I can build a decent ship. And there's a space dragon on the next system, and it just sent one of its offspring to one of my systems, so now I have a planet that is being blockaded by this baby dragon. My frigates have HP of 12 while the baby dragon has HP of 60, for comparison. On earth I'm building a battleship which will take another 30 turns, and the real question is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a simple yet interesting 4X space game, quite like Pollaris sector, but with several isues fixed. You explore the galaxy, colonize planets, improve them, research, build spaceships and, eventually, fight other empires if you want, thought there're other ways to win. A whole game last only a few hours, so you can improve your tactics without spending too much time on it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am baffled by the positive reviews for this game? Nothing happens. Like nothing. I clicked Next Turn for over an hour, and nothing changed. I built nothing because the build que was 99 turns long. I explored a few systems but couldn't expand at all because I couldn't build another ship for a couple more hours. I have no idea how anyone gets to the types of events you see in the videos for the game? Nothing happens, at all.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A modernized, better version of Master of Orion 2. Highly recommended. Can't wait to see what they do with the next DLC, it's been in development for some time now. One small complaint: I wish we could generate even larger galaxies; and two extra races would go a long way.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Definitely a thumbs up - IS:G is very clearly based on MOO2 but with some really nice additions and tweaks. The "remote exploration" mechanic can actually change the map, the leaders are more capable/interesting than vanilla MOO2, and there are more victory mechanics available - giving you more choice on how you want to play. Standard tech tree and ship design activities work well, too. If you're looking for something casual that has you clicking "one more turn" - this is a good choice.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Exquisitely done. Better and beyond masters of Orion. Rich intricacy and broad strategic overview at once. well thought through. Great in game information. Lots to discover. make it multiplayer!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A worthy succesor to MOOII. One more turn can easily turn into two nours later. I have yet to master all the mechanics of the game but I look forward to the process. I can foresee many hours spent among the stars looking for dark matter!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best successor to Master of Orion 2 available on PC. The developer frequently updates the game. I'm eager to try out the DLCs next time I play!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game. I really enjoy it. The duration of gameplay is short to medium (you can finish the game within 1 day, basically the same pace and length as MOO2). But the replayability is very high because the game mechanics disallows exploring & inventing everything in a single playthrough. It depends on the race as well. You will have multiple games to try various tactics and it's still enjoyable. It's like lift and shift of MOO2 with some extra stuff that modern 4x like Civ, Endless Space 2 or…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was wary of this game for a long time by things like basic graphics and some reviews that suggested it takes ages to build anything. I'm sorry now that I waited so long to try it. The graphics have been much improved and whilst initial production is a bit slow, you can get 3 planets going pretty quick. Everything is well thought out and fits together as a whole really well. Things like research, combat, UI are great. It has quickly become one of my favourite games.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It plays fun at first but then you realize how shallow it is and how easy it is to abuse mechanics .. never really reaches like real 4x space drama status ... it all feels kinda dull and not as exciting . Lacks drama. I am looking forward to the next DLC which might improve things but as of now it is not as good as precious games but has the potential to be better than them all if developed right.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is good. It remembers it's a game, not a simulation, so it actually comes to a conclusion and you may actually play it from start to finish. Has a good atmosphere. No real bugs that matter that I can see. Tactical combat- if you like that, it's in the game- I wish maneuverability was higher in combat, or matters a bit more, and that I could set my fleet arrangement, but it's not bad. Overall, I'd say it was worth buying.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have several space 4x games in my library, including stellaris, MOO, endless space, GC4 Supernova, etc. While I like Supernova the best, I do enjoy interstellar space. The big thing that interests me in 4x games is whether the game provides the opportunity for relatively short term planning. (All such games require long term planning) For example, in my current game relatively early I was dodging space monsters. After sending a small fleet to kill a baby monster, I got a quest for one…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very polished space 4x. It feels like a MOO remake but done very very well (much better than the actual MOO remake - Conquer the Stars). I encountered zero bugs. Fantastic hover/bubble help, unlike other games where you can't see the game mechanics and have to research on the web. The space exploration element is great. I love the turn based combat, which has been dropped by most modern games. It creates a mini-game inside a game. Or I can automate battles if I'm not interested. Everything is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Only worth purchasing when on sale. The game is an OK clone of Masters of Orion II but it lacks a lot of quality of life features that newer 4X titles have so it's only really good for one solid play through before it gets too tedious to want to go back. What's missing. 1. No waypoints for newly built ships so you have to scour the map looking for your new ships. 2. Combat fleet strength estimations are wildly off. Often when it says you have a 99% chance of success you fail and when it says…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you liked masters of orion you will love this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very fun game so far. I will write a more complete review later, but for now I wanted to include a few things I wish the devs would include: 1. The option to play with an incomplete tech tree, such as in the original Master of Orion. That is, every race only has access to 50% of the techs in any given game and needs to either trade for a missing tech, steal it, or wait until the next higher option in the tech tree to supersede it. 2. A planet like Orion. That is, a very good planet that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I thought it was easy. It was, on easy. First game on average difficulty, looked as if I had the run of the galaxy. First in everything. Then started a war with my neighbor. My oh-so-powerful Death Rays, instead of devastating the enemy, did paltry 10% of their damage because my enemy had neutronium coating with apparently lots of neutronium coming in. So...that didn't go well. Guess I need to up my game in the next round.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fun MOO2 clone. My only big complaint is the colonization and relocation restrictions on the "other" (non player) species. Even taking terraforming into consideration, not being able to freely leverage conquered or liberated species as a strategy feels like a large hole and a missed opportunity in the design of the game, especially since the developer went to the trouble to create various planet biomes to start with.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game. I am hoping that the developers read these reviews as I did encounter a bug they might like to address The AI for a friendly race (Nova Vida) decided to cede me a planet. I developed that planet in the manner suiting Nova (i.e. Desert ideal) and created a new planet in the same system from a gas giant which I then proceeded to colonise using colony base, but the race who originally ceded me the planet quickly colonised this planet before me (despite the region being…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is such an amazing game, this is in a shortlist of games I return to again and again. This is the best Space 4X that I've played, it beats the pants off of Galactic Civilisations or Stellaris. Its a very fun game, that's well designed and comes together super well. Its efficient, in that you play quickly and get a lot out of it, as opposed to tedious or time-consuming. For decades, Master of Orion II was the best Space 4X, I feel like this is finally the superior game, though this is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As a 4X fan, making the music for this game was a pleasure. The team at Praxis are wonderful people. As I am making more music now for an upcoming expansion (!!!), I have started a new game to get back into the ISG zone. Instantly addicted again. Just one more turn!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL/DR: Reminds me of earlier GalCiv. I enjoyed it though it has some rough edges. You might like it too, but be willing to try it for a bit and restart once or twice to really figure out how the game plays. I'll admit that I bought this game when it came out, looked at it for 13 minutes, decided I wasn't into it, and dropped it. For six years. But then I went browsing my library after those six years, looking for something I hadn't played and discovered this still had good reviews (impressive…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A great re-do of Master of Orion 2, but with some unique additions. The dev does a great job of communicating with the players, too.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is the spiritual succsessor to MoO series in my opinion. I dont recall how much i paid for it ~ full price or discount, so i will say i got my time/money's worth. Hell i even played it few years later when they did the big updates. Recommend. Esp if you enjoy a relaxing thoughtfull game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A 4x *game* first and foremost, where other 4x lean more toward being a sim (Distant Worlds 2) or an experience (Stellaris). It feels like playing with cards and tokens on tiles, featuring grid-based MoO2 style tactical combat. It feels good to replay, with events and what you find not quite being predictable - unless you tell it to do so.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good update to MoO2. Graphics not great but acceptable. Some touches that show the makers played MoO and loved it then thought about what they could do a bit better. I don't like fleet management - A bit clunky. When on sale an absolute steal for people who like turn-based 4X, worth grabbing. Its better than MoO: Conquer the Stars in that its more faithful to MoO in general. Conquer the Stars has mods which make it much better but the combat in that game remains awful. Because this sticks to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very, very similar to Masters Of Orion. Not enough interesting differences to make it worth buying, just play MOO.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Relatively quick and easy to learn for a 4X. Pretty solid, still in development so looking forward to future content. I think ground combat could be expanded on. I'm simply notified I either lost a planet or repelled an invasion on my turn. The back stabbing is a little over the top on higher difficulties too. Had a lot of fun though and it's good overall.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Best space strategy game I know, better than graphically humble Stellaris, half-baked Galactic Civilisations III or too much combat-focused Sins of Solar Empire...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Interstellar Space: Genesis delivers a satisfying 4X experience for strategy enthusiasts. It captures the essence of classic titles while offering innovative features like the multi-layered exploration system. The core gameplay loop - explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate (or cooperate!) - is well-executed, with satisfying depth in each area. Exploration feels meaningful thanks to the constant discovery of new resources and anomalies. The combat system is tactical and engaging, while the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty impressive game overall! If you like 4X games this is a gem! Pros: -Game design overall is solid, and not overly complex. Start off with a race, and a planet, with various bonuses or minuses and proceed to try and win the game. Research tech, develop planets, explore, exterminate, etc... -Tool tips on almost every mechanic so you can see under the hood -AI is decent in both combat, diplomacy, and developing it's empire. It will declare war on you, and multiple AI's as well. Sue for…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is different from other empire games. It seems to present problems that can only be solved by taking unique paths. I think the random events and random galaxy keep the player out of balance. Keeps me adjusting my Strategy and Tactics.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First to lay some background. I'm a former Master of Orion fan(especially MoO2). ISG is one of the rare 4X games that captures the spirit of MoO. It is even a better version, because more modern with more options and a streamlined interface. ISG is a very good 4X strategy space game. Is it perfect ? No, the computer doesn't have the most logical strategy, but that is a problem encountered in all game. So, yes I highly recommend Inerstellar Space : Genesis, especially if you are a 4X and MoO…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Interstellar Space: Genesis, developed and published by Praxis Games, is a turn-based 4X strategy title that deliberately channels the spirit of classic space empire builders while introducing modern refinements to systems design and replayability. It stands as both a homage to genre-defining predecessors and a carefully structured experience in its own right. At its core, the game invites players to guide a fledgling interstellar civilization from a single homeworld to galactic dominance…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is a ok game. Generation of map, some ship handeling, some economic handeling, it is all pretty good. You explore and expand. To compare with other games, it is pretty small in content. Closest one is galactic civilization. It is actually alot like that game, but with fewer dlc:s, and the setup of the map work better in Interstellar space. Interstellar space is also, perhaps, more free with player options. Some other ppl doing reviews dose not like that this spiritual successor have added…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm giving this a "meh" review. It's essentially Master of Orion 2 with a modern facelift and a bad case of MOAR STUFF disorder. If you're not familiar with MOAR STUFF, it's where a game is enhanced by piling additional stuff on in an effort to add depth. If not done well, it just adds noise. While MOO2 had simple "increases X, costs Y", IS:G has tons of stuff that applies modifiers to tons of things, and presents the lists in ALL CAPS DESCRIPTIONS +10%. In MOO2 you could specialize your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Feels very much like an updated Moo2. I found it easy to navigate through and start to understand how the game works. Ship design is dealt with well and not overly complicated as is combat. I am generally not keen on games with DLC but so far this is very playable without them. Bought it on sale and enjoying the game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very disappointed As someone who has loved 4X games from MOO to Stellaris I was really looking forward to trying this. Sadly I cannot recommend this game as its just dull. Game mechanics, music, meta game, interface all meh Thumbs down
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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