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Game
Game2006
Space Empires V
Developer Malfador Machinations
Space Empires V (SEV) is a 4X turn based strategy game that was released in 2006. It was developed by Malfador Machinations and published by Strategy First. The game retains many races and technologies from its predecessor, Space Empires IV (SEIV). From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
191 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Sep 12, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
69
Fresh
131 positive · 58 negative
95% range 62–75%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 131 | 58 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
2 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
349 of 480 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 191 · most liked firstHonestly, I wish this game had been given half the love its previous game had. So much of the game has so much wasted potential its painful. Combo that with a clunky, if not broken, interface, and your better off just playing the previous game, space empires 4.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Gentoo Linux of 4X games For those of you not familiar with what Gentoo Linux is, it's an operating system that requires days upon days of pain putting together from the user. Space Empires V is also like a huge template that allows the user the maximum freedom in configuring their game - the modding scene is not only huge for this game, but it is also necessary, since unmodified SE5 is the worst. There is a very niche demographic gamers who want to dig into this sort of thing, and I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is really unfortunate that both this game is left unfinished, that Strategy first inc. filed for bancrupcy, that no games have released in around 5 years and that there is no, and probably will never be a succesor title to this game, or even any other game published by them. I have played it, perhaps not too extensively, but enough as to see a lot of interesting concepts that I wish were incorporated into other games. rather than just purely "oh our stuff is better now", technology goes up…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is awful. It is ancient, buggy, unstable and requires mods to make it remotely playable. It doesn't have half the features Stellaris has. I don't know how I've played it for 600 hours or how the ship design and combat is somehow better then games with 100x the budget and time. This game is a trap. You need to not play it. In fact, you need to run, right now before this buggy crap takes 600 from you too. It's too late for me, save yourself!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of my ol time favs in the 4x space genre, played III and IV a ton back in the day. Still unique for the level and ease of modding and there is a long list of great ones. Notably Captain Kwok's Balance Mod (still being updated, with the last release in June of this year!), Crimson Mod, Un-Named Ai mod, and Nova Mod. I've mostly played Kwok's BM and it's the best place to start (don't waste your time with vanilla game), this guy is a legend of his craft having played these games for 25…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game. Simply put, it is the best space 4X in existence to date (and I have played many).
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still the best game in the genre. Unfortunately it is also very dated and the UI is less than comfortable. If you are willing to get over that aspect though, this is a deep and enjoyable game. Still wishing for a sequal.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Post a game you remember playing that nobody else remembers Space Empires V Insanely detailed and complex strategy game. There's so much stuff and mechanics in this game. It scratches my autistic brain so good.
unlabelledView post →Space Empires V (SEV) was a nostalgic purchase for me. I remember purchasing SE II, III, IV, and V throughout high school and college. Despite my short time playing it on steam, I have logged… hundreds or even thousands of hours playing this series. Space Empires V is, for some reason, utterly unplayable for me and honestly it isn’t for a good reason. The interface is so dated and unworkable. Combined with the slowdown of translating the game from Windows XP, there are a series of half second…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Space Empires 5 was a fantastic game back in the XP days. To this day it stands as my favorite 4x game of all time. And I wish you could play it. But you can't, which is why you shouldn't buy it. SE5 is not compatible with any version of Windows more recent than XP. On a non-XP OS it is plagued with so many crash bugs, graphics glitches and screen freezes that you will not be able to progress very far. Steam no longer runs on Windows XP. Valve needs to remove XP only games from the Steam…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Recommend that you play Space Empires IV SEV has better graphics and a nice treaty system but is missing all empire data SEIV is easier to play, easier to build ships and easier to examine enemy ships, bases and planets.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've gotten 3 copies of this game because it's just that good, two on CD and this copy on Steam. The culmination of the Space Empires series, it's a wonderful game with a lot of depth. Unfortunately, it does come with some bugs and balance issues, most of which can be fixed with Captain Kwok's Balance Mod. Absolutely worth checking out!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly this game is kinda bad. The balancing sucks, it's clunky as hell, the AI is braindead, and it's sometimes buggy. It's still got some really awesome stuff in it though. The diplomatic options for the game are crazy. You can make a treaty or alliance with other players which have all kinds of rules/laws set up, including things like banning certain techs or having votes in an alliance be determined by population or number of planets. It's really detailed, but the AI can't handle it at…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First of all folks if you are running a modern OS (anything past XP) this game is going to take some work to get running well. It's very possible on Windows 8.1 and I've done so and am getting a solid FPS of 60+ regardless of all the folks saying the game is "trash" or "don't bother it's broken. Simply put if you don't have the patience to get this game running, then you probably won't have the patience to finish a single game of it anyway. It's a very deep/complex/rather slow paced game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fantastic game, by far one of the best 4x games I have ever played. There are mechanics here that you still cannot find in modern 4x games. Multiplayer is local LAN/Hamachi only however. It goes on sale for the price of a cup of coffee frequently. It's a game worth picking up. SEV does require a decent amount of tweaking to get it to run on a modern Windows computer (Windows 7 and up), When I was starting my multiplayer series, I made a video to help people with their initial setup,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do not buy this game. I thought it was going to be like Stars! and it might be. However, this game is virtually unplayable on my computer (Win10 64, i5-7300HQ 2.5Ghz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050) at native screen resolution. The frame rate drops to 5fps when you go two levels deep on a window. It seems to be a known problem. There are many posts about it and I tried many suggestions and spent many hours to get it to an acceptable level without success.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A classic 4X game that was one of the most moddable games in its time. Users can easily write text mods for everything. Python scripting allowed for non-core game mechanics to be added though significant, lengthy changes could produce end turn lag as they are processed after the core code. Still, want a hyperspace jump drive - script it. Want the ability to create shelled Dyson sphere planets - write the text and introduce it. Combat mechanics are somewhat primitive but given its age…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While I like the complexity of options and the level of control you have over ship design, this game did not age well since I last played it when it was new, and I don't mean graphically. I was greeted by a host of technical issues. At first the game simply refused to even start. Once I figured that out, I still get hit by random crashes that aren't that uncommon, along with times where the FPS of this ancient game drops down really low and it just runs terrible. I have to restart. I have…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Another old and I mean aged old games that only people with nostalgia for it or hardcore enthusiasts can stomach. In 2024 there are so many good and great 4x space games that you don't need this one at all.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I do actually enjoy this game. You can see it in the hours total (which is about only half my total if you include disk version) but I'm recommending against it because, while it's a good blast from the past, the successive 4x Grand strat space games have, by now, far exceeded and excelled far beyond anything Space Empires V could bring to the player. Galactic Civilizations 1 pretty much picks up where Space Empires five leaves off, minus the tactical combat (which I'd say isn't a down side in…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played this game longer off steam, and its a wonderful, if slow game. Far more detailed than stellaris, gal civ, and endless space, you can do so many unique stratagies. Its a real shame that it didn't become more popular.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →MrStealyoWife really covered the game well. I cannot add anything except my own opinion. I have played many hours of this game. I have never got to the end of the tech tree, Mainly because the AI is so stupid, I just didnt need too. It usually starts out a bit challenging. You hope and pray the enemy doesnt find you before you get your production up to speed. So the game is exciting at this point. But the AI lacks sophistication so it doesnt understand that if it sends a ship through a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do not buy this game, it will not work! I played this game back in the day and really enjoyed it. However, it will not work if you try to run it on modern systems. Even if you modify files and download fixes for it, this game will be unbearable. If you buy this game, immediately get a return and admonish Steam for selling something that doesn't work. As of the time of writing this review, Steam is charging $14.99 for something that does not work. Criminal!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game to dump hundreds of hours into. Biggest problem is getting it run correctly on new systems, particular Win10. The game does not create all the folders it needs on install, instead it is supposed to create them as it goes. So save your game the first time? Well, it will then create the save game folder, etc. However, for some reason Win10 will not allow it to do that. Easy fix really, just have to make them manually. Check this thread and scroll down a bit, it should list the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Would be nice if this game worked anymore, not sure why it is still for sale when you cannot run it on a modern OS. I played hundreds of hours of this game back in the Windows 7 days and earlier.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Disappointingly buggy - actually that's far too much an understatement. This is CRAWLING with bugs. 1000's of them. Completely unnacceptable. Malfador Machinations, did you do "Quality Assurance"? Or did you just take our money and s♥♥♥♥♥♥ off to the bank? No wonder you abandoned all support for this game years ago - even God himself could not iron this one out! Especially after SE4 which did appear to pretty much do everything as it claimed in the game's texts etc correctly. SE4 did seem to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Obtuse, over complicated, hard to learn impossible to master, the vanilla AI is crap, FPS dips on a modern high end 20xx system, it's a pain to setup and did I mention the "official manual" has 298 pages that help jack squat? Yet this is a no-brainer: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for all 4X enthusiasts. Don't touch it with a 10 foot pole if you're not willing to waste some 20+ hours getting the hang of it. Space Empires IV might be the better game of the two, but it just lacks... something; some 'savor…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Best 4X game ever but REALLY OUTDATED DRIVERS ,I meant ancient. How to play space empires V with better fps Guide (windows 7) https://steamcommunity.com/app/1690/discussions/0/846947320625372516/ https://steamcommunity.com/app/1690/discussions/0/846960628430680543/ https://www.isunshare.com/windows-10/turn-off-or-on-clear-type-text-in-windows-10.html https://steamcommunity.com/app/1690/discussions/0/846960628430680543/ https://steamcommunity.com/app/1690/discussions/0/357284131801091127/ I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best Space 4x game I know of. Customizable races (or play with the premade ones like the "Terrans" )-some with proprietary technologies. Customize traits, appearance/ships, names used etc. Save them, reuse them, or populate future games with custom races Customizable games- customize the galaxy you play in, # of races, set racial trait limits, intelligence/espionage, technology research rate, etc.(if you want to get to Dyson Spheres and Ring Worlds without taking ages turn Tech rate…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →literally just stellaris before stellaris
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Old but interesting with still one or two active modders keeping things fresh.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Older game with good ship design and decent AI. Turn based.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A lot of fun if you like 4X and are interested in a deep tech tree and ship design (ship, station, fighter, platform, satellite, troop, drone, mine design...). The latest Balance Mod (from Captain Kwok) is a must, and follow the Captain's game setup recommendations, and you will not be disappointed. Logistics is king, as it should be. This is not Stellaris - this is just a cluster of stars not a galaxy, but it will challenge you to play smartly.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Underrated space classic. Would supernova my buddy's home star again.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still one of the best 4x games out there, always play with balance mod.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game has great potential but is buggy and impossible to finish because of crashes. I have 32 hours logged into this game and 90% of it is trying to get out of crash loops. Save your time and hair play something else.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do you remember when the world was still good? Do you remember when the past was around? Do you remember when this game worked? Do not bother buying it as it doesnt work on modern systems, is unoptimized, basically lost in space, waiting for a return which will probably never happen.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a serious retrograde step. SEIV was clear and concise. This is covered in dancing salami. Nothing is clear. It may be an improvement in game play, but I'll never know as I can't be bothered to play this cluster.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Superb (with issues) 3x game. Not real time but us grognards are not after instant gratification (pah youths) Simple cheap space exploration game (with battles economy and tech choices galore!) V (Five 5) is a positive step forward from IV (and Deluxe IV) with better space battle/controls - moving to 'real time (speed and pause are options). Many issues do remain - on windows in steam there seems to be a memory leak - it gets slower and slower till for all intents and purposes it stops -…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The building blocks for the greatest 4X game ever made, in a pile on the ground. Sadly too rough to fit together. Mods help and this is still a game worth playing. I only wish the devs had made a significant expansion overhauling the UI and such. Also I bet Space Empires 6 will be great in 2124.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →access violation at address 00475c63 in module 'SE5.exe'. It's an interesting game, but way to buggy. Finally figured out how to get it playable due to literally 1-2 FPS! Then today I get the above error message on both the steam and GOG copy (I bought both for $3 seperate). Uninstalled and reinstalled, verified files 5+ times. wont fix it... searched online and tried several solutions suggested, but none worked. There is a hidden gem hidden under this smoking ruin, if only you could…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For such an old game it packs a lot of features. I like the multiplayer mode. One can try out a lot of items like space and land battles. It sucks one in. Time just flies with the need for "Just One More turn".
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →When you look at the hundreds of hours of playtime I have on this game, an important thing to know is that I have thousands of hours on the DRM free version. This game has to be my hands down favorite 4X game so far, rivaled only by Galactic Civilizations. This is one of the most detailed games I've seen, and is wonderfully robust in its options. This game has everything from destroying planets to creating ring worlds to designing your own ships to the most in depth diplomacy options I've…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →-------GAME FIX----TURN PROCESSING LOOP ISSUE FIX----------------- For starters, I want to say I love this game, even with its flaws. It was very mod-friendly, and for its time had some very interesting 4x genre features not seen until recently. BUT, this game simply does not work anymore unless you have an older Windows OS. The game gets stuck in an endless processing loop at every turn. Steam should be held accountable for sponsoring these older games that don't work without some creative…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While I am giving the game a negative review, it is not due to any fault of the game itself. I used to love this game as a kid, and Captain Kwok's Balance mod makes it great fun even these days, although you do have to do some finangling to get it to run smoothly on modern systems. The game's steam discussion section has guides for that. No, the reason I am not recommending buying the game is because, quite simply, it's Steam incarnation is riddled with issues that make it unplayable. Some,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I like this game. Space Empires 3 was my first introduction to space 4X games way beck in the mists of time before steam, I played the hell out of Space Empires 4 and even had a copy of Star Fury somewhere... So Space Empires 5; understand that the rose tinted glasses and nostalgia play a part. This game has issues: - The AI empires aren't all that competent. Generally don't make use of the variety of unit or ship options or research avenues. - The graphics and resolution are set…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DOA. Not compatible with modern operating systems, and it's horribly optimized. A one man operation that bailed on it, after it didn't sell enough. Nothing to recommend here, at all. Everything in this game is done in other games, and often better.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fantastic game, but ridiculous to get running properly on Windows 7 and even worse to do on windows 10 due to abandonment of the developer a couple years after release. Newer OS features and drivers don't play nice with this older software. While the game is amazing, due to the many issues now surrounding it (the last OS it worked really well on was XP) I recommend trying Endless Space 2 instead. It isn't the same experience, but you may find it to be a good alternative as I did.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am a long time RTS player since I was 5 years old (2000), and I found this game as fascinating as Red Alert 2, Age of Empires II, and Rise of Nations. I played this game for many-many-many hours about year 2007-2013. But today is 2018, I've just bought myself a new laptop beginning of this year. I install a lot of games--mainly old games for nostalgic reasons--include this Space Empires V. I hope this game will run smoothly, except it didn't. Been struggling for almost an hour in-game and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Truly a loss when Strategy First bought out this developer only to kill one of the best strategy games out there because it was a threat to their game Gal Civ, we went from having true strategic and tactical combat to command to attack and watch pretty lights. I played this game so much even before I got it on steam and honestly wish they would bring games like this back. I love the different ways you could play this game, you wanted to be a true isolationist then that was possible in this…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very detailed, granular game - too much for me. If you love placing each component on each ship design (and hand-crafting all the upgrades) you will enjoy. Having spent several hours on the tutorial, I was determined to play a regular game through, to give the game a chance to grow on me, but in the end I was quite relieved when it crashed.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is dope. Its Space 4x games for smart people, or less pertentiously people that want a more grounded experience and like to role play
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Although this is an older game, I enjoy the turn base function of this game. While not as complex as some of the more modern games, I don't need or want complexity when playihg a game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →New buyers do not buy this unless your familiar with running in linux and the hassle this can include. Apparently runs well with Proton so should be simple to run on Linux, another good old windows game thats now a Linux only game. This game no longer works on latest windows 10 release. I also just tested the GOG version, and same issue. This seems to be a windows change thats killed the game, could be an AMD driver issue to (not tested on intel or nvidia yet) It has some kind of gpu…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game. I have been playing the series since the beginning. It is a very challenging game RPG and strategy on an Empire scale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My favorite part of this game is the space battles, as I can control individual ships and tell them who to attack, and pause the clock to figure out where I want to allocate ships to. The battles are real-time with pause. The weakest part of the game is the AI, which is brain-dead stupid. According to people in the forums, there's a balance mod out there that helps the AI to a small extent, and if you design your games well by putting the AI in stronger teams you can find a challenging game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good: -Greatest 4x of all time -Extensive tech tree -Fantastic ship design options -Real time combat that allow you to take advantage of your ship designs. Bad: -Will stop working when the game is getting good for no reason whatsoever. -Will never be a SE VI that actually works consistently with modern systems
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Almost as good as any other 4x space game. The graphics are a little dated and a few details seem to be missing for the game, such as trade routes, etc. Still fun to play for awhile, I really like the ability to turn on the AI ministers to automate portions of the game-play.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love Space Empires! Played it since the 90s when the first one came out! Space Empires 4 is the best but this is also a treat! You have real time combat AND turn based combat to choose from this time! I love it! Its got more than the 4th and 3rd one I love it but I still recommend getting Part IV!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great combo of RTS and Turn based strategy
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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