4X RTS Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is finally coming to Steam this summer with a new faction and modding tools

GamesRTSSins of a Solar Empire 24X RTS Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is finally coming to Steam this summer with a new faction and modding toolsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.Update:Publisher Stardock has clarified that Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is an “ongoing service” rather than an early access game now. This does feel a bit like a matter of semantics, though, given that the Advent faction is still to come and the game is yet to be put in the hands of reviewers. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell notes, however, that the goal was to leave early access when it had as much or more content than the original game at launch—a milestone he says was achieved last year.“Our goal on Epic was to release Sins of a Solar Empire 2 1.0 with the same or more content as the original release of Sins of a Solar Empire 1.0,” says Wardell. “Once we hit that milestone in early 2023, we turned off the early access flag and began working on what amounts to Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion feature/content parity which we will reach this summer and is the version being released onto Steam and as part of a massive free update for Epic users. We are aware that most people who have played Sins of a Solar Empire think of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion as the definitive version which is why we have waited until we had reached that level of content to begin our larger public awareness campaign.“Original story:I was beyond excited when I chatted to developer Ironclad about the imminent arrival ofSins of a Solar Empire 2back in 2022. With its simulated celestial mechanics and modular ship design, it sounded like a significant step up from its brilliant predecessor. But like so many in-development games that launch exclusively on the Epic Games Store, it soon left my brain. Even with all its discoverability issues, Steam simply makes it easier to keep track of games. So it’s good news, then, that Sins of a Solar Empire 2’s exclusivity is coming to an end, heralding its arrival on Steam this summer.Worth emphasising is the fact that Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is effectively in early access. This isn’t remotely clear from the Epic page, nor its Steam page, where you could be forgiven for assuming the game is complete. That said, the Steam launch will come with a bunch of new features.The Advent Unity faction, including two sub-factions: the Advent Reformation faction and the Advent Reckoning faction.Updated VO and dynamic music that’s specific to factions.The official release of modding tools.A visual UI refresh that lets you select custom UI themes tailored to each major faction.Enhanced AI, taking advantage of more advanced strategies, scheming against you and making diplomatic offers.A damage FX system that makes combat damage visible on large units and structures.More environments, planets and maps.That’s what’s new for the Steam release, but more broadly Sins of a Solar Empire 2 introduces a whole heap of new things that make it quite a bit different from the original game.The aforementioned celestial mechanics simulation is the one that made me most excited. Planets don’t have a fixed position, you see, instead orbiting their stars at different speeds, altering the map continually. Depending on a planet’s position, then, it might be easier or more challenging to conquer, forcing you to tweak your plans on the fly.Ship combat has a more sim-like element, too, where ships have turrets that acquire targets, move and fire in real-time, and they act independently rather than all of them having the same firing solutions. Missiles are also physically simulated, and you can use tougher ships to move in front of weaker ones to body block the projectiles, as well as using their point defence turrets, which spin around and try to track and destroy any threats.You’ll be able to check all of this out on Steam this summer, though we’re still waiting for a specific date.More about rtsFormer Age of Empires developer says the RTS genre’s stuck in a rut: ‘you’re still playing the same game’Creeper World IXE breaks the RTS mold and adds a dash of Noita’s alchemy to the gooey warLatestToday’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12See more latest►Most PopularToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in AprilLords of the Fallen publisher embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its gamesEpic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo videoSquare Enix launches new anti-harassment policy to protect its employees and partners from abusive fansThe Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcementsPath of Exile 2 numberlord spends 16 straight days killing rare monsters to prove that a stat that makes loot better makes better lootPalestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 NakbaPiranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’Marvel Rivals’ latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod sceneHARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Update:Publisher Stardock has clarified that Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is an “ongoing service” rather than an early access game now. This does feel a bit like a matter of semantics, though, given that the Advent faction is still to come and the game is yet to be put in the hands of reviewers. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell notes, however, that the goal was to leave early access when it had as much or more content than the original game at launch—a milestone he says was achieved last year.“Our goal on Epic was to release Sins of a Solar Empire 2 1.0 with the same or more content as the original release of Sins of a Solar Empire 1.0,” says Wardell. “Once we hit that milestone in early 2023, we turned off the early access flag and began working on what amounts to Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion feature/content parity which we will reach this summer and is the version being released onto Steam and as part of a massive free update for Epic users. We are aware that most people who have played Sins of a Solar Empire think of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion as the definitive version which is why we have waited until we had reached that level of content to begin our larger public awareness campaign.“Original story:I was beyond excited when I chatted to developer Ironclad about the imminent arrival ofSins of a Solar Empire 2back in 2022. With its simulated celestial mechanics and modular ship design, it sounded like a significant step up from its brilliant predecessor. But like so many in-development games that launch exclusively on the Epic Games Store, it soon left my brain. Even with all its discoverability issues, Steam simply makes it easier to keep track of games. So it’s good news, then, that Sins of a Solar Empire 2’s exclusivity is coming to an end, heralding its arrival on Steam this summer.Worth emphasising is the fact that Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is effectively in early access. This isn’t remotely clear from the Epic page, nor its Steam page, where you could be forgiven for assuming the game is complete. That said, the Steam launch will come with a bunch of new features.The Advent Unity faction, including two sub-factions: the Advent Reformation faction and the Advent Reckoning faction.Updated VO and dynamic music that’s specific to factions.The official release of modding tools.A visual UI refresh that lets you select custom UI themes tailored to each major faction.Enhanced AI, taking advantage of more advanced strategies, scheming against you and making diplomatic offers.A damage FX system that makes combat damage visible on large units and structures.More environments, planets and maps.That’s what’s new for the Steam release, but more broadly Sins of a Solar Empire 2 introduces a whole heap of new things that make it quite a bit different from the original game.The aforementioned celestial mechanics simulation is the one that made me most excited. Planets don’t have a fixed position, you see, instead orbiting their stars at different speeds, altering the map continually. Depending on a planet’s position, then, it might be easier or more challenging to conquer, forcing you to tweak your plans on the fly.Ship combat has a more sim-like element, too, where ships have turrets that acquire targets, move and fire in real-time, and they act independently rather than all of them having the same firing solutions. Missiles are also physically simulated, and you can use tougher ships to move in front of weaker ones to body block the projectiles, as well as using their point defence turrets, which spin around and try to track and destroy any threats.You’ll be able to check all of this out on Steam this summer, though we’re still waiting for a specific date.More about rtsFormer Age of Empires developer says the RTS genre’s stuck in a rut: ‘you’re still playing the same game’Creeper World IXE breaks the RTS mold and adds a dash of Noita’s alchemy to the gooey warLatestToday’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12See more latest►Most PopularToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in AprilLords of the Fallen publisher embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its gamesEpic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo videoSquare Enix launches new anti-harassment policy to protect its employees and partners from abusive fansThe Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcementsPath of Exile 2 numberlord spends 16 straight days killing rare monsters to prove that a stat that makes loot better makes better lootPalestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 NakbaPiranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’Marvel Rivals’ latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod scene

“Our goal on Epic was to release Sins of a Solar Empire 2 1.0 with the same or more content as the original release of Sins of a Solar Empire 1.0,” says Wardell. “Once we hit that milestone in early 2023, we turned off the early access flag and began working on what amounts to Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion feature/content parity which we will reach this summer and is the version being released onto Steam and as part of a massive free update for Epic users. We are aware that most people who have played Sins of a Solar Empire think of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion as the definitive version which is why we have waited until we had reached that level of content to begin our larger public awareness campaign.”

Original story:I was beyond excited when I chatted to developer Ironclad about the imminent arrival ofSins of a Solar Empire 2back in 2022. With its simulated celestial mechanics and modular ship design, it sounded like a significant step up from its brilliant predecessor. But like so many in-development games that launch exclusively on the Epic Games Store, it soon left my brain. Even with all its discoverability issues, Steam simply makes it easier to keep track of games. So it’s good news, then, that Sins of a Solar Empire 2’s exclusivity is coming to an end, heralding its arrival on Steam this summer.

Worth emphasising is the fact that Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is effectively in early access. This isn’t remotely clear from the Epic page, nor its Steam page, where you could be forgiven for assuming the game is complete. That said, the Steam launch will come with a bunch of new features.

That’s what’s new for the Steam release, but more broadly Sins of a Solar Empire 2 introduces a whole heap of new things that make it quite a bit different from the original game.

The aforementioned celestial mechanics simulation is the one that made me most excited. Planets don’t have a fixed position, you see, instead orbiting their stars at different speeds, altering the map continually. Depending on a planet’s position, then, it might be easier or more challenging to conquer, forcing you to tweak your plans on the fly.

Ship combat has a more sim-like element, too, where ships have turrets that acquire targets, move and fire in real-time, and they act independently rather than all of them having the same firing solutions. Missiles are also physically simulated, and you can use tougher ships to move in front of weaker ones to body block the projectiles, as well as using their point defence turrets, which spin around and try to track and destroy any threats.

You’ll be able to check all of this out on Steam this summer, though we’re still waiting for a specific date.

More about rtsFormer Age of Empires developer says the RTS genre’s stuck in a rut: ‘you’re still playing the same game’Creeper World IXE breaks the RTS mold and adds a dash of Noita’s alchemy to the gooey warLatestToday’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12See more latest►

More about rts

Former Age of Empires developer says the RTS genre’s stuck in a rut: ‘you’re still playing the same game’Creeper World IXE breaks the RTS mold and adds a dash of Noita’s alchemy to the gooey war

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Former Age of Empires developer says the RTS genre’s stuck in a rut: ‘you’re still playing the same game’

Creeper World IXE

Creeper World IXE breaks the RTS mold and adds a dash of Noita’s alchemy to the gooey war

LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12See more latest►

Latest

Today’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12

Wordle today being played on a phone

Today’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12

See more latest►

Most PopularToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in AprilLords of the Fallen publisher embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its gamesEpic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo videoSquare Enix launches new anti-harassment policy to protect its employees and partners from abusive fansThe Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcementsPath of Exile 2 numberlord spends 16 straight days killing rare monsters to prove that a stat that makes loot better makes better lootPalestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 NakbaPiranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’Marvel Rivals’ latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod scene