Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2014
The Last Federation
Developer Arcen Games
The Last Federation is an indie strategy video game developed by Arcen Games, LLC, released on Microsoft Windows on April 18, 2014. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
192 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Sep 9, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
80
LovedLoved
148 positive · 38 negative
95% range 73–85%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 148 | 38 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
6 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
381 of 508 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 192 · most liked firstThis game is not for everyone. It's a nonstandard 4X game with heavy emphasis on diplomacy, and is extremely niche in an already niche genre. If you don't think manipulating everything from behind the scenes is fun, then walk away from this game and never look back. However, if you do enjoy that, then this game might be for you. The Last Federation is a well-designed strategy game with a surprising amount of depth. You play as a lone mercenary, and watch as the AI builds its empires. Your goal…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The concept of this game isn't bad. The graphics aren't bad. The sound track isn't bad. Where this game fails is a LACK OF PLAYER CHOICE, and issues with the combat mechanics. What I mean by a lack of player choice is while many options are always presented in a sandbox-type open environment, the simulation mostly plays itself and the effects of you actions are unclear. To win my first game after experimenting with various actions trying to see what I could do I figured out that the most…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very well-put together game of war and politics. I've never been big on Grand Strategy games, but TLF does a good job of introducing the player to everything fairly gradually, and while the sheer depth and breadth of the simulation can be intimidating at first (my first game I often knew my larger goals, but was unsure about what smaller steps I could take to accomplish them) once you get the hang of things, the sheer amount of possibilites means that you could play the game a dozen times and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The BEST worst (or worst BEST) purchases I've ever made. PROLOGUE OF THE REVIEW: After reading a ton of reviews, seeing some gameplay vids, I've concluded those people are just shills trying to make an "avant garde" game sound like something it totally isn't. Why would they do that? Because no one would buy this FRIGGIN' type of game as-is, at-all, ever--if they truly knew what genre it is. UNLESS, they've been duped into buying it cuz others have misrepresented its genre. OR, they're…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Last Federation - a game where you play a space hydra trying to prevent a bunch of alien species from destroying each other. It's like an economic sim but also action sequences are turn based bullet hell?? Never seen anything else like it. store.steampowered.com/app/273070/T...
unlabelledView post →This game has a very cool premise and some interesting ideas. I liked the writing style, but it doesn't really have anything like a story, so gameplay is the primary concern. The big problem of Last Federation is that fighting everything is the fastest way to achieve pretty much any goal. And fighting, while fun at first, quickly gets very stale. There is no tactical depth to it - some cool ideas are there, but you will quickly figure out how to beat a battle (if it is even challenging) and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Last Federation is basically a Sandbox simulation which also is able to play itself without the player intervening. While the massive amount of diplomatic options is pretty neat, all combat sections are absolutely tedious and utterly rubbish, which makes this one of the worst 4x / simulation games I have played in a long while when it comes to armed conflict. I did suffer through those parts for the depth of diplomacy though. Yet again, I won't be able to recommend it to the general…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unite the galaxy, by force, persuasion, and underhanded tricks. But not by building an empire, no, you're going to be manipulating things behind the scenes as the Space Illuminati. A nudge here, a bribe there... I love the concept behind this game and it's clearly a product of passion, but much of it is an exercise in tedium, unfortunately. Combat is repetitive and the learning curve is quite steep. Still, there's a lot to love in the Last Federation. Every race is different, has different…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Heart of The Machine is an experimental strategy game from Arcen (the AI War series, The Last Federation, Starward Rogue) about being SKYNET, or at least some kind of emergent machine super-intelligence. Do you infiltrate, collaborate, overthrow or exterminate humanity? Seems like lots of options!
unlabelledView post →This game has many good concepts but doesnt deliver. You get to play as a ship and upgrade technologies and help other races. You do not have a planet of your own and do not get to make any real decisions. Despite everything you do for a race they may choose or always be peaceful and never do anything other than sit at their home planet making the game drag out for long periods of time. You have no real control over what happens other than harming or helping other races and hope your allies do…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has lots of numbers. The player can change the numbers, but the numbers don't affect anything. I can help a civilization achieve a superb economy, but this economy does nothing. The citizens might get happier but happiness also does nothing. It will give me influence with that civilization, but influence is only good for changing other numbers (which also do nothing). For example, the civilization with the great economy might become involved in a war with another race. Can they use…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is, in many ways, rather like dwarf fortress in space, though the learning curve is far easier and obviously it's far superior graphically. If you're on the fence about this game, I'd say this: Even if you never really get into it and it never fully clicks with you, there is literally no other game like it, and playing it just once would be worth the price of admission. It isn't that I think it doesn't have replay value - it actually has an insane amount of replay value and is very deep…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →George Soros simulator on a galactic level. You got many options to manipulate empires but most choices are irrelevant. In the end it boils down to selecting the same choices over and over again. The real-time twinstick shooting mini-game gets annoying after a while. Good concept, average execution.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've won this game on steamgifts platform. My first impression was quite negative. First it was, what?! I've chosen the race and I'm this? The 2nd was, ok, where is my planet, no planet? And the last was, where is my fleet, only one ship? What the? And this battle screen, what is going on here in first place? A 2D combat with average graphic and something between real-time and turn-based? So in short this is not a regular 4x space strategy, if you are looking for some kind of the ancestor of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a game I desperately wanted to like, but I simply could not figure it out. The way you influence the star system is so obtuse and the feedback from your actions so poorly conveyed I could never get anywhere in the game. I usually love games like this, but the interface, mechanics, and feedback are so bad I absolutely could not even learn the basics.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very boring combat ruins what could have been an interesting game. I normally like turn based stuff but this is just awful. Combat is common in this game but there is just nothing to it. Often I'm just clicking as fast as possible to get through it. Awful.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Last Federation is a sorta-but-not-really 4X game that is also sorta-but-not-really space action turn-based combat game with sorta-but-not-really sci-fi RPG mechanics. Let me explain. TLF pretends to be a 4X game with extremely deep diplomacy and subterfuge. But after playing a single playthrough of the game I have realized that it is basically even lesser than something like Master of Orion 2. maybe more akin to the first game to be entirely honest. Heck, even that would be a stretch,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Last Federation is my favorite Arcen game. It's a combination of Drox Operative and SPAZ, except with far more complex and intricate mechanics. It's surprisingly approachable and accessible despite its depth and complexity, due in part to the excellent tutorial. (If only Paradox games had tutorials like this one, introducing concepts in a casual tone at a manageable pace...) Like most other Arcen games, The Last Federation has myriad gameplay customization options to tweak your experience…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've tried hard to like this game. The problem is that is too black box in my view. I never quite not how what I'm doing effects the overall grand picture. There's insufficient feedback to understand the impact of your decisions. Great concept though.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do you like 4X games? Do you like grand-stragedy simulators? Do you suck at them, though? Are you always losing out on the big game? Do you wish you could just watch other people play a 4X game instead, but like, maybe you could just move one thing around, and get to tell everyone what to do, but not have to tell people what to do when you don't wanna? That's Last Federation. You're a thrillingly-erotic hydra who's kind of watching a bunch of people play a 4X game, but you aren't playing a 4X…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Here is why you shouldn't buy it-- it's boring! Why is it boring? It has a steep learning curve and little replay value. This means it is bad when you first get it, and bad when you learn how to do everything. Steep learning curve? You are greeted with text walls explaining how you do things. There are so many things going on and the player must search to figure out what they are. Your ship gets 1 hit KO'ed if you don't know what you are doing (and they don't tell you, of course!) Little…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've had my eye on this game for a while now. Only bought it during sale because it had been 75% off in the past. For my first game, I decided I would simply observe (there's an observer mode). I wanted to see what would happen without my intervention. Here's what I recall happening: > First thing of note was that the communist space owls (the weakest race), had their homeworld right next to the ravenous hive mind (strongest race). Nature took its course and the poor hooters were devoured…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best case for this game is the stories that happen within it, so i will ask you to watch the animated series of the co-optional podcast called "The Biscuit Federation" And I will present the story of my first full playthrough. How my game of The Last Federation ended: I accidently created 2 galactic empire and they both decided to kill me, and continue on with their war against each other…. RIP Acutians, Andors, Boarines, Evucks, Peltians and Thoraxians All tragically killed by the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh man, how do I rate this game...... The core of the game is unique and interesting. It may look like a 4X strategy game, but it's really more of a simulation/management game. Your own power doesn't increase that much over the game (and you shouldn't try to minmax your personally owned resources). Instead, this game is about picking who will form your Federation (which is as close as this game gets to your own personal empire), and investing in making THEM strong. This game is about them, not…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Maybe this is just the kind of game that appeals to a person like me, but I've had a lot of fun with it. It's extremely detailed, and you can spend forever getting lost in all of the stats if you like (like I do, sometimes) but you don't need to focus on all of the tiny details to be able to do well. Some pretty fun stories can be told through the course of a game - for instance, the dramatic tale of how the Obscura were somehow defeated after gaining more than half of the planets and with all…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To express my mixed impressions of the gameplay and Steam's overly simplistic rating system, I'll leave a positive rating but also explain why the game fails at its intended concept. You see, for a game where you supposedly work from the shadows to shape the world order you want, your most effective actions by far are the most direct ones. Unless you play as a pacifist, it's incredibly easy to just buff the races you want with technology and massive fleets, and eliminate the troublesome races.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a game where you basically play as one of the game ending events that happen to stellaris player, except you are benevolent and just want everyone to get along.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can't get into the game, the tutorial is clear, but I don't understand the federation building thing. Space battles are nice, but going on a mission means hitting the fast forward button and waiting for the end of the mission. Quite boring. Watching the different races evolve must be intersting for someone, provided they understand what is happening, which I don't. You don't really build, you try to influence. If you like spreadsheets and graphs there are a ton in game, I don't particularly…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I had a good time with it (played many years ago). I agree with the criticism that accomplishing the main stated goal of the game (having all surviving species in the federation) leads to a playstyle that leaves most of the mechanics on the floor, but as a kid I had a great time imagining the political intrigue, the technology, and the species while playing the game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I find the concept of this game to be extremely interesting, and I've had a lot of fun playing it, but, to be honest, I still don't understand how most of the mechanics work. :P
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a very original game where you are the last of your very advanced kind, in a solar system of other races doing their own things. The only game that I can think of that has a similar mechanic is Drox Operative but that is an action/RPG. Your goal is to form a federation with the other races, which you do by helping, manipulating or hurting the other races. Each race is different, with a different leadership structure and different attitudes. The Burlast are very warlike, the Evuck…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really don't know how to begin to describe this game. The only thing I really can say is that it's very unique and very awesome. it's got this weird mixture of simulating political tensions between different races and their war for control. Your basic goal is to influence this war from behind the scenes by pulling strings and trying to get on the winning side/trying to get your side to win. It's also got actual semi-arcade-semi-turn-based-tactics combat, yeah I know that's kind of weird.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very unique game, quite one of a kind. You play as a Hydral - lone survivor of your race, now responsible for managing lesser, younger races. Depending on game type, your goal may be either unifying them against common foe from outer space (invasion), creating a federation to ensure your own survival as a god-master of this federation (classic) , or betraying already existing federation (betrayal). The spice is , that you can't directly manage other races, and you are no god. All you have is a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not your typical 4x. (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) You are an observer; the last of your race. You've taken it upon yourself to keep the other races from wiping each other out, with the ultimate goal of creating a federation for all to exist in harmony. To stop the 4x from happening. This is easily the best 'anti-4x' I've ever played.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I hate to trash a game after 20 minutes of gameplay but this is an exception. First of all, I can't read the font. This isn't a computer problem. This is a tiny, weird font problem in odd colors (which hurts if you have problems seeing certain colors). So the description of what is going on and most of the instructions are simply not legible and therefore I haven't the slightest what's going on. Arcen, if I can read the font in Distant Worlds but not this you guys have really gone over and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An oldie but a goodie. When I first picked it up, I was a little worried that it was going to be a spreadsheet game, balancing one set of numbers against another, mixmaxing the right formula to convince the AI to do what I wanted. Luckily my fears were unfounded. There are a lot of numbers, but you don't have to dive any deeper than you want to--while the AI races are simulated to a deep level, you only need the surface stats to see what's going on. And while a lot of the gameplay requires…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a 2D 4X/Grand Strategy space empire building game (but limited to one solar system). Control a weird alien race that's bent on destroying all the other races inhabiting the solar system. There's a grand strategy component and a fleet combat component that's like a very micro-managey game of turn based asteroids... which is even less fun than it sounds. Convoluted stats that don't mean much are plastered on everything. There's 4K support but no interface scaling so the text is too…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worthless!! Cannot find instructions or a manual anywhere. I guess we are suposed to guess how to play.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game with great Linux port
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An impressively deep political-social sim. Imagine a game like Civ or MOO, but where you're dropped into the midst of affairs rather than controlling a faction (although that is possible with DLC, it's definitely not the focus of the game). Distinctive factions, engaging mechanics and just enough humor to keep things from getting too serious combine to create a game that's like no other I've encountered. It's technical, though, and the learning curve is steep. Still, if you're interested in a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you liked the combat system of Space Rangers, the political intrigue of Paradox games and well written aliens with good lore, this is for you.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just under 10 hours into the game and i still have no idea what i'm doing. 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pick this one up on sale. I only spent 14 hours on this game before deciding I'd seen everything there was to see. But there was a lot there! The artwork, world-building, and wry humor are all great. The actual game mechanics are unique and interesting, but not at all well balanced. Most of the mechanics are irrelevant most of the time. Generally, it seems like you can win pretty easily if you have a plan and put it into action early. After that, there's a lot of grinding. The battle…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the best turn based shmoop 4X game I've ever played. Also, thanks for the linux support.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →6. The Last Federation is a marvel of game design, a small scale intrastellar 4x game where you play 9 different games of realpolitik to unite 9 different species to space travel and annhilate the rest 7. Analogue: A Hate Story is a deeply upsetting visual novel with a Linux prompt jump scare
unlabelledView post →Now LIVE 🔴 Checking Out A New-To-Me Game Called The Last Federation I do as the Wheel wills, and the wheel says I play this game 😅 I've never heard of it, but somehow at some point it found it's way into my Steam library, this should be interesting 😆 youtube.com/@kittsgame twitch.tv/kittsgame
unlabelledView post →It plays more like a Grand Strategy Lite rather than a 4X game. The objective is to form a federation of up to 8 different races, each with their own specialty and their innate biases against everyone else. You try and build up your own influence with other races and help foster the races influence with each other. There are several ways of accomplishing this, by helping build up their economy and ship armadas, cooperative research, forming trade routes with each other, etc.. all the while…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of my all time favorite hidden gem games. Play as a superpowerful alien, the last of of his species, and manipulate all the other alien species into forming a federation so that the atrocity that destroyed your species won't be repeated. I love the core gameplay because basically a big simulation is running as the aliens trade and treat and go to war with each other, keeping track of their economy and their fleets and technology. What you can do is come in and put your thumb on the scales,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Vastly underrated space kindergarten simulator. Kids are vicious and cruel, and you are not exactly a good role model as well. And babysitting is the very definition of a thankless job. What do you do here? Try to keep kids from killing each other, mainly. Killing you as well, if you're playing on hardcore mode. Kids have wants, kids have needs, and you want to keep them in line. Or maybe keep other kids from killing your favourites. Or, perhaps ward off a strange man on the premises that looks…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not a bad game, but I didn't enjoy it that much. So, I can't recommend it. It does seem like a well built game. It has elements of grand strategy and basic 2d space combat. I mastered the combat fairly quickly. After a while though, I was just clicking around and waiting for things to complete. It was a balancing act, but I just failed to get 'hooked' by it. Cheers!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →- Plays like a combination of text adventure and excel sheet. - Boring and repetitive. - The tutorial shows unimportant things and not how to play the game. - You won't know what you should be doing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An incredibly unique game unlike any I have ever played, but with enough familiarity that it is easy enough to learn. This seems to be an Arcen speciality. It essentially allows you to play the rule of the ultra powerful Alien Illuminati, and pull the strings of multiple, VASTLY different civilizations across the solar system. You don't directly control a planet by default (the expansion gives the option), but instead you subtley influence the actions of every single planet... either for your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DISCLAIMER: This is a first impressions review, and NOT a full review The Last Federation is a game developed and published by Arcen Games, LLC This is a very different strategy game to others, and that makes it unique! Combat is asymmetric: the AI has a huge empire that's not focused on you and you start out really weak. With time you learn some new unit designs from the AI by conquering planets, but you always have to weigh aggression against attracting too much notice There are a lot…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Maybe I just can't figure out how to play the game correctly. But for me it's been like a simulator that you press play on and wait for the results. I get to fast forward time and watch what happens as the game plays itself. I need a little more interactivity in my games than this seems to offer. Not sure how many hours I need to put in for it to feel like I'm actually playing the game or for me to figure out how to play it. Ultimately wasn't enjoyable.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a weird game. It is a really unlique take on space strategy, with many new ideas and other genres mixed in, but that still works. It is really cool how you don't directly control any faction, but manipulate them by helping here, pushing here, pitching one against the other. So instead of building structures and training units like most strategy games, you have a somewhat complex simulation of each planet and its faction and you interfere through diplomacy, subterfuge or just by…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game. It's a little slow, conventionally. But as a manipulator who works from the shadows, I can appreciate scheming to bring the races together, through different tactics and strategies. It's really fun, the space combat is fun, the music for each race is great, and it gives a good sense of long time passing. And no matter what you do, your AI companion snarks at you constantly, which is amazing. Also with the DLC you can become a evil tyrant and crush everyone under your draconic…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First game: Quick start, Easy. Here we go. 37 hours later and eradicating two races, I won the game because every race still alive was in my federation. yay! Got the game for 10€ on chrono.gg and I can totally recommend it for anyone who likes turn based strategy/tactics games. Combat was changing over time through getting more options and special skills. Learning the politics strategy parts was fun, too. Edit: After playing it a bit more, I think it's pretty weird how some of the random…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Probably the best niche game I have ever played. For a one man team, it is incredibly deep and complex, with each race having its own mechanics for interaction, politics and diplomacy - the Burlusts only respond to bribes, blackmail and duels, while the Acutians are ruled by several diferent corporations, and if you want them to do what you want, you will need to influence what corporations are in charge by building certain buildings in their planet, for example. It is also very content rich,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like it...but just couldn't. It has a solid concept and idea but the actual gameplay felt limited and more like nothing but small bursts between long waits.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Last Federation is that game that will make you clock in the hours. It will also end up in your favorite games catergory for sure. Story is great, gameplay is addictive and challenging, and the recent updates and DLC have made the game even more fun. Looking forward to more content! 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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