The wait for Endless Legend 2 is no longer without end. Developers Amplitude and publishers Hooded Horse have announced that the 4X strategy game will release into early access on 7th August 2025.
As you hopefully learned from my hands-on earlier this year, Endless Legend 2’s key differentiating factor is that it takes place on a procedurally generated waterworld that gradually dries out as you grow your civ. The water pulls back at intervals to reveal new tiles. This is helpful when the tiles harbour precious resources, and less helpful when the tiles form a causeway to your awful shithead neighbours. Shoo shoo!
Leaky ocean floor aside, the sequel also introduces a cleaner turn-based combat system in place of the original game’s divisive method of having units move automatically based on initiative, after you’d given them orders. Beyond that, the broad strokes are as in Endless Legend 1. You plump and fortify your cities while training up hero characters with RPG-style skilltrees. There are NPC villages to befriend or beat into submission; adding their units to your construction options is part of how you’ll tailor your civ to overcome your dastardly neighbours. And there are terse yet colourful quests that dig into your faction’s backstory.
The game will offer five major factions, according to the latest press release. We currently know about three: the Kin of Sheredyn, aka Greco-Roman wall-builders, the Necrophage, aka ravenous bastard insects, and the Aspect, aka manipulative and insidious coral people. If I were a betting man, or alternatively a person capable of recognising familiar iconography on key art, I’d say Amplitude are also bringing back the Cultists from the first game. Their signature quirk was that they could only found one, gigantic city and were reliant on brain-washing NPC villages to extend their reach.
When they announced the game, Amplitude promised us six factions by the end of early access. Perhaps the Necrophage cannibalised one of other civs? Perhaps they’re struggling for development resources? I guess I should do a journalism and ask. Amplitude bought their independence back from Sega last year – here’s my interview with CEO Romain de Waubert de Genlis about how that happened. Since then they’ve scrabbled together $13.5 million in funding, which isn’t Ubisoft money, but not to be sneezed at. I try not to sneeze at money, regardless of quantity.
