Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity®
Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity®
Game
Game2024
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Developer Ironclad Games Corporation, Stardock Entertainment
Sins of a Solar Empire II is a 2024 science fiction real-time strategy 4X video game developed by Ironclad Games and published by Stardock Entertainment for Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is a sequel to the 2008 video game Sins of a Solar Empire. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
358 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy) · newest Nov 4, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
66
Fresh
183 positive · 95 negative
95% range 60–71%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 183 | 95 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 10 | 5 | 57 |
| Lemmy * | 1 | 0 | 7 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
5,208 of 6,226 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
68% recommend · 168 yes, 78 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 246 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (7,373 of 8,828 positive).
Players praise the game as a refined evolution of the original, with improved mechanics and visuals. [1][2][3] Some reviewers criticize the use of AI-generated art, calling it soulless and devaluing the experience. [4][5][6] Others feel the sequel lacks depth and innovation, offering little more than a reskin of the first game. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
The Gameplay is nice, as an oldschool SOS Rebellion player im quite enjoying myself. Except one thing. The AI Art is attrocious. I hoped it would only be placeholder Art until a later state of the game but no. Youre loading into the game? Enjoy the pseudo smooth Ai Main Screen. Picking a Race? here have some AI Pictures for your Commander. It devalues a, in my opinion, good game sooo much. If youre annoyed by the AI …
- [7]
If you're looking for a blast from the past, I'd honestly recommend just playing the original game. More than 15 years ago, Sins of a Solar Empire was an excellent game, and I spent plenty of time with it. I was pleasantly surprised to see it finally receive a sequel. But after this much time, a sequel should be more than a near-copy of the original with a handful of additions. Most obviously, many of the ship …
- [10]
Yeah so, this is probably one of the best real-time space strategy games out there, and I'd totally recommend it to basically *anyone* who enjoys RTS games. For those who haven't played the originals, Sins 2 is essentially a stripped down 4X game that mainly focuses on the military aspect of the genre, yet still includes some small spinkles of the three remaining Xs (exploration/expansion/exploitation). If you're …
- [1]
People are out here complaining that it's not different enough from sins of a solar empire 1- This is a straight improvement and evolution of the things that game did. It's streamlined a lot of features, it's tightened up a lot of the balance, it's unified a bunch of disparate mechanics. I'm not sure why "It's more sins of a solar empire" is ever a downside for someone who liked the first game! This is exactly what …
- [2]
"It's the same game." No, not quite. The mechanics are the same because this is a proper sequel. If you're at all familiar with the first, you'll feel right at home here. Everything is improved upon. Phase lanes are no longer set in stone as planets orbit the stars. Capital ships now require exotic resources to build, so you'll have to scrounge for those early game. The Vasari no longer begin quick-started, but …
Summarised from 34 of the 312 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
68% of the 246 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Sins of a Solar Empire II. The complaint that keeps coming up: overuse of AI-generated art in portraits and UI. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Substantially similar gameplay and the improved engine compared to the original game meant that public response was mixed. The game was also criticized for its use of AI-generated images in the tech tree and character portraits.
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 358 · most liked firstThe Gameplay is nice, as an oldschool SOS Rebellion player im quite enjoying myself. Except one thing. The AI Art is attrocious. I hoped it would only be placeholder Art until a later state of the game but no. Youre loading into the game? Enjoy the pseudo smooth Ai Main Screen. Picking a Race? here have some AI Pictures for your Commander. It devalues a, in my opinion, good game sooo much. If youre annoyed by the AI BS dont buy.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Finally, I figured out why I have hard feeling about this game, and I couldn't find what's wrong. Like: it's all there, basebuilding, spaceships, battles, empire, jumps, lots of pew-pew. And either I didn't play game enough or missed some key elements of gameplay. If game is about combat and no resources (like Warno) the key element is deckbuilding, army composition, and micromanagment of your units and tactical moves: line of sight, flanking, using terrain. There is lot to do, and lot's of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Alright, let's get right into it. Lets go through each part of this review piece by piece. PERFORMANCE: Got a beast of a PC, it plays well the majority of the time I'm playing it. Before this, my 2020 beast of a PC had trouble handling it. I think its fine for now and the game has options to reduce performance demands. VISUALS: The game utilizes AI assets in its artwork. Given that its still early access, I can understand using these as placeholders for future artists to come in and make…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're looking for a blast from the past, I'd honestly recommend just playing the original game. More than 15 years ago, Sins of a Solar Empire was an excellent game, and I spent plenty of time with it. I was pleasantly surprised to see it finally receive a sequel. But after this much time, a sequel should be more than a near-copy of the original with a handful of additions. Most obviously, many of the ship designs look almost unchanged, and even the unit voices are extremely familiar.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Solid mechanical basis undermined by ignoring the UI/Aesthetic. AI Art in particular sticks out to me. I'd love to put more time into the game but one of the things I loved about 1 was that the art was simple, but evocative. When I'm getting a game to play solo I'm looking for something that looks and feels interesting. Rebellion's design made me imagine things around the game rather than just focusing on the mechanics. All I feel in Sins 2 is mechanics. At best I would describe it as…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →They sell Sins of a Solar Empire II: Harbinger for 30 euro's without the discount which is more than half the price of the main game. The faction doens't contain subfactions, nor does it have a dreadnought. Do developers not feel shame anymore? Even if the new faction is cool and adds new ways to play, it is a complete rip-off from a value perspective.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the games alright but it really is just a soulless new release with pretty mediocre art and a barely improved graphical quality, also the baked in mod.io manager is beyond horrible and their excuse to avoid steam workshop is really silly and makes no sense. Also all the DLCs should've been base game, They're horribly overpriced and feel slapped together with minimal additions for a lot of $
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was a massive fan of the original games, the games were massive in depth and the dlcs had plenty to offer in new ships, mechanics and features, while i was majorly hyped for this game for such a long time and was excited when it was announced. im not really satisfied with it at all, im deeply disappointed. First, i was expecting major improvements and advancements, the developers are not new by any means to developing a variety of games and have over a decade of experience ONTOP of having…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yeah so, this is probably one of the best real-time space strategy games out there, and I'd totally recommend it to basically *anyone* who enjoys RTS games. For those who haven't played the originals, Sins 2 is essentially a stripped down 4X game that mainly focuses on the military aspect of the genre, yet still includes some small spinkles of the three remaining Xs (exploration/expansion/exploitation). If you're looking for a Stellaris-like experience then this probably isn't the game you're…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Loved the original of this game. Love this game too. But, in 2026 this game is not enough. A few minor mechanic changes to the original title are interesting but the game massively lacks the depth and variety you get in other 4X space titles. In terms of depth it's nearest competitors are the likes of empire at war, gal civ 3, and of course SoaSE I. That level of depth for a 4X was great over a decade ago, but compared with the likes of Stellaris which has a similar play time it's just not…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sins of a Solar Empire II on Steam.
neutral · AI labelView post →People are out here complaining that it's not different enough from sins of a solar empire 1- This is a straight improvement and evolution of the things that game did. It's streamlined a lot of features, it's tightened up a lot of the balance, it's unified a bunch of disparate mechanics. I'm not sure why "It's more sins of a solar empire" is ever a downside for someone who liked the first game! This is exactly what I wanted, not a dramatic overhaul or reimagining of the concept, I wanted the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm mostly disappointed in the AI. They keep forgetting large parts of their army to never ever move them again for the rest of the game effectively playing without several hundreds supply worth of units. They also often get their entire armies stuck in a gravity well, most often a sun for some reason, when their enemy has garrison planet augment that trickles in units one by one. I've seen 5 AI have all of their maxxed armies stuck on a sun killing straggling garrison ships while the rest of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sins of a Solar Empire II - Coming to Steam this Summer.
neutral · AI labelView post →There's no campaign, it's basically the same thing as the first games version of random battles galactic conquest. The graphics are a bit better, there's some different ships. Buy the first one instead, this one has nothing new to really add.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's no reason to buy this game, just go play the old one, it's basically the same with mild changes to the UI and graphics. Basically an update for full price with no frills. I guess they think they can split a full game into three parts and have us pay full price for them all. Gaming companies sure have gotten scummy with how much money they ask compared to how little they give.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a good game, don't get me wrong, but the devs know what people love about Sins: Rebellion and stuck with it. That is to say, mods. Most of their updates have been focused around modability and such, and while they have done a good job of balancing things so that their game still has its own unique identity rather than only being a vehicle for some of the greatest RTS mods known to man, you are going to be missing a large part of the experience simply due to the fact that the majority of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I clocked around 1000 hours in the original Sins game but, after realizing this game is just a remaster and not a true sequel, I waited to buy it until it went on sale. And my concerns were valid. 90% of the game is like the original prequel with some new things added, such as equipable capital ship items, planetary items and that the planet's relative position change over time. However, the reason I cannot recommend it, is that the AI is arguably worse. I played on the higher difficulty…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm surprised to see the "mixed" reviews at the time of posting this. I love this way better than SOSE 1. They've fixed so many issues and made so many improvements since the first game. That being the ability to rejoin a multiplayer match at ANY time, if your system should crash or if you just want to take a break. AI will take over for you in your absence. There aren't any syncing issues anymore with multiplayer and the interface in which you can upgrade and control fleets has significantly…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sins of a Solar Empire II is a confident and largely successful modernization of Ironclad Games’ long-running “RT4X” formula, blending real-time strategy with the scope and pacing of a grand 4X game. Rather than reinventing the concept, the sequel focuses on technical renewal, deeper systems, and improved usability—choices that will resonate strongly with series veterans while remaining approachable for newcomers. The game retains the franchise’s defining identity: large-scale empire building…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I hate being that guy with tons of hours and then leaves a negative review. It's a super fun game, but since launch I've had regular performance problems, particularly in late game. I'll play for a few hours, but can't finish a game. I play plenty of other PC games, including games that are infamous for poor performance (eg, Monster Hunter wilds), but this is the only game that hard crashes. I also really don't like the balance as a PvE player. The AI is bad, there's been attempts to improve…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't care how "ethically" you source it. the ai art looks like ♥♥♥♥ and manages to completely undermine a key aspect of the storytelling. I'd rather replace it with emojis at this point just take it out
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"It's the same game." No, not quite. The mechanics are the same because this is a proper sequel. If you're at all familiar with the first, you'll feel right at home here. Everything is improved upon. Phase lanes are no longer set in stone as planets orbit the stars. Capital ships now require exotic resources to build, so you'll have to scrounge for those early game. The Vasari no longer begin quick-started, but arrive in the beginning at a ferrous planet with a capital ship and small fleet.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm fairly mixed on this one but sadly I cannot recommend the base game for full price. The base game doesn't add enough content. What are the main new features? 1. Orbits - Cool new feature 2. Empire management via customising planets and ships. Long sought feature of the original finally added. 3. New exotics resource for building capital ships. Those are the three big ones for me. Everything else is too similar to the first game and makes Sins 2's base game not feel different enough to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am leaving a negative review until all the souless AI art is removed and they stop using AI for everything. AI is destroying environments. We already have an entire city about to be out of clean drinking water due to AI. People are losing their jobs. So I can't support it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Why do developers keep making strategy games that are basically solitaire? Sins of a Solar Empire II is, at first glance, a very good strategy game. It looks good, it feels good, its economic and military systems are satisfying to learn, and for quite a while it creates the convincing impression that there are several other powers in the galaxy pursuing their own goals. Unfortunately, the better you understand the game, the more that impression collapses. After a couple of hours in a match, I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's like if they took Stellaris and made it into an RTS. One of the too few good RTS's on the market, at the moment. They took out all (?) of the AI generated imagery, too, if you care about that stuff, and seem interested in keeping game development going for a long time, going off their roadmap. Definite recommend, don't let the mixed status of recent reviews throw you off. They're just mad about some modding nonsense and their prior use of AI for portraits.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So, where to start? Sins of a Solar Empire II does not exist in a vacuum - it follows what I believe is one of *the* best space RTSes on the market, one that has an expansive and vibrant modding community and which I have played for nearly 500 hours as of writing and I will still return to. However, Sins 1's age is starting to show through the limitations in its engine - several mods necessitate that the player lower their settings *heavily* to avoid frequent crashes, and even then there are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an extremely fun little space RTS. The amount of modability and the support for modders on this game is absolutely fantastic. My only complaint, if I had to dig to find one, would be that planet's role in building your empire seems a little lackluster and has huge potential to be greatly expanded. Things like industry, anti-orbital surface defenses, planetary politics, commerce and unique ship components production that (for instance) only an industry on one planet can accomplish (Gauss…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just play Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. It's the basically same game with fantastic overhaul mods that costs less money and doesn't have generative AI slop smeared over the UI. What a massive disappointment from a series I used to genuinely love.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sins of a Solar Empire 1 was launched back in 2008. It was faithfully supported by Ironclad Games for 16 years, which is more than most developers can claim. This sequel, SoaSE II was released in 2024. This game is essentially the same (but better) as the original. I am not complaining, because it would be stupid to change what is definitely one of the best games of its genre (looking at you, civ vii devs). Ironclad has updated the graphics and the game engine. The engine definitely needed an…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While it's overall good, I have a huge problem with the main game loop, that being that by the time you get to mid game, every planet and location from the AI empires, even on easy AI all have star bases at EVERY location, taking each one down is time consuming and costs a lot in ship units that end up getting sacrificed, now this occuring at key locations would be fine but at all locations is too much, this forces the player to abandon all tactics and just mothball a fleet with max supply to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sister gifted me the Premium edition. The game bakes in most of the previous DLC of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion into the base game, the mechanics are enhanced, the graphics are stunningly beautiful. I love this game, so will you if you like space 4x RTS. After nearly 300h and every achievements, I cannot recommend it enough. Hell there's even a discord where you can find peoples and the devs to discuss with! Cheers to Ironclad Games, they make a good game series with Sins.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This isn't exactly bad but i cant recommend it the voices don't sound as good as they did in rebellion just look at the kol battleship it just dosen't sound as good as it did. The game music and audio in general just isn't as good either it honestly just feels like they were phoning it in on alot of it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Spaceships are cool, follow if you agree. (This is from the game I work on, Sins of a Solar Empire II)
neutral · AI labelView post →I think the game is good and I want to recommend it. In fact I do recommend it for casual players. The gameplay is relatively simple and there isn't much reason or motivation for me to continue to play it. Except for the achievements. And this is where we run into problems, the game is 2 years old and the achievements are broken. I have fulfilled the criteria for the rarest achievement two times without obtaining it. For completionists and achievement-hunters, this is just not acceptable. And…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll have to hesitantly say that I cannot quite recommend this game. While the game itself is OKAY and rather fun, many of the finer details really bog it down. Firstly.. AI art. The description says it uses their art as a base an AI to enhance it so I figured it would be fine. God no. The art is horrendous and it shows in every corner of the game. I wish they would have just done it themselves or gone with none of the AI art. Secondly, the balancing is questionable. TEC can absolutely DECIMATE…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Best described as a mix of Stellaris with the Endless Space, and in a good way. Less complex than Stellaris yet with more options than Endless Space does offer. Love the combat, the visuals and the progress path. Definitely worth getting, even Eve online players will enjoy this one. 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like the first one, which is IMO one of the top 5 games of all time, this is basically a pretty reskin with quality of life functions. So, in short, since this is the same game, it is one of the top 5 of all time.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ai gone to ♥♥♥♥, rebellion has better ai. even on high difficulty setting ai just stops does nothing. at this point the game is just a cash grab every new update you gotta pay
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As good, if not better than the first one. Its only flaw IMO is that the DLC does not represent value for money. Edit. I would like to add that if your playing multiplayer that only 1 player needs to have the expansions. Any play who joins their server/hosted game will have access to the additional content that they own. That adds a good bit of value to the group IMO.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sins II feels like a solid callback to Rebellion, but it doesn’t quite hit the same level of AI depth or strategic personality the old game had. The core gameplay is still fun, but the AI logic just isn’t as sharp, and that takes some of the magic out of long matches. Visually, it looks cleaner, but I can’t say the graphics or models feel dramatically improved in a meaningful way. It plays more like an expansion or a refined version of the first game rather than the huge leap I spent years…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Started a game at 6 o'clock in the after noon now its 7am and work starts in an hour yep this game is a must.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Extremely fun game! My only complaint is the extreme overuse of AI "art" (slop) used in place of standard art. I've been playing SIns for a veeerrrry long time, and this is a very strong sequel :) (Please... just do away with the AI... it isn't cool) Do note that I have received practically every DLC for free because of the preorder bonus I have.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Spent three hours playing a big Sins of a Solar Empire II game against the AI only for the AI to intelligently mass and overrun our home system while the bulk of our forces were stuck fighting in another system. Kinda sad to lose after that much time commitment, but a good sign for the AI I guess.
neutral · AI labelView post →TLDR: Don't buy. Deathballing and a doubling-down on GenAI iconography has tarnished a once solid series. Longer read: I've been a fan of the franchise since Sins 1, before even Entrenchment or any of the other expansions were released. I bought this over a year ago in the hopes that they'd improve the game and gameplay, and while there've been advances over time, the systemic issues that've plagued it since the start haven't been improved upon or fixed. Mainly that it's too easy to deathball…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My second game has decended into a situation where I have tons of resources, throw ships at the enemy and build many as the game will allow, and they do the same. And I need every ship in my "allowance" gathered in the same place just to successfully attack one enemy planet. In my opinion, the game is not the strategic masterpiece it is often billed as,
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Uses gen ai to generate most of the in game pictures, unlike what the ai disclosure claims
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this is an amazing game i have over 1,200hrs in rebellion this has the same voices and is just a fancy upgrade slapped together with a boat load of AI. Now don't get me wrong it is still a fun game but it is not even a contender to the raw power of rebellion. sins 2 lets you have a much bigger war and fresh looks if you like AI stuff. but the mods you can get in the OG are 1st off... MORE 2nd we got them all HALO, STAR WARS, STAR TREK and much much more. this sins has a STAR WARS one and my god…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So. The new Sins of a Solar Empire II is gooooooooood. Having fun playing the TEC all over again. The graphics are slick, and the QOL updates are *chef’s kiss* And this is tonight’s reason for just getting to bed at almost 1 AM.
positive · AI labelView post →I'm going to give it a thumbs up if not because i know that the devs will fix the big issues with this game but i would warn people of those issues before buying still. I have yet to find satisfaction in a single game. The AI just spam ships and sends them at you and has the overall capabilities of a potato. In short? The game is overpriced for what it is. Plain and simple. I don't recommend buying at full price whatsoever. The content is too little both in quality and quantity and has too…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sins of a Solar Empire II is an amazing RTS and a worthy successor to the first game. Not only is it visually satisfying to watch, it’s also a ton of fun to play. The game engine performs astonishingly well with huge number of ships, especially when compared to the first game which ended in a slog fest in late games. Not so with Sin 2 which remains fully fluid all the way to the end. The tech tree is expansive and interesting to go through. You really feel the increase of power of your ships…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was playing Homeworld and thought, I want something with a little more depth. I always thought Sins was more of a 4X game. Did my research and finally decided to pull the trigger. I worked through the tutorial which was a little off putting because there just seemed like quite a lot (I'm more used to games like DoW or at most SupCom). I jumped into a game and it took me about 30 minutes to realise what I was supposed to be doing. What a game! I quickly realised it's an RTS with 4X elements.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I very much dislike the AI art, but other than that it's the same as the first game but better. The fact I can have bigger maps and bigger battles and the game still runs at 144fps is amazing, while the first game dropped to 10fps on my very same PC, the optimisation is better than great.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sins of a Solar Empire II Ironclad Games Corp and Stardock Entertainment. Steam disclosure -y
neutral · AI labelView post →Elite Dangerous is my poison of choice, although Sins of a Solar Empire II has been beckoning to me for a while.
neutral · AI labelView post →Incredibly disappointed with this game. While I'm sure that people who played the original game(s) ages ago are able to appreciate this game and its mechanics, having a blast in the process, the unfortunate truth is that this game is just not very good - the settings, mod menu, and more are half baked and feel archaic in a way that a game of this price should never. The art is almost all AI and looks like sh!t, the core gameplay loop (which can never, in my opinion, be called a strategic one)…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →with many hours in RTS games, I've always struggled with managing large territories and armies. leading me to have a very passive/ turtle playstyle. Sins 2 however, does "scale" right, the UI is adaptable and efficient enough to run a huge, diverse army while being able to also grow your influence on the map without just murdering everything in sight. the fleet system is MY FAVORITE part of the game, being able to mass group, ungroup, give orders, and create units from a simple yet powerful…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is like adhd meds for 4x games, its near perfect to just kill time and enjoy every moment but my only complaint is that the power scaling means you don't really need to make much of the ships below capitol class after getting a few planets. I think the older games were paced better in the series as it would force you to actually have to diversify your fleet and trying to win without titans starbases or anything more than a few capitol ships. I think the cost for capitol class an up…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Firstly, if you liked the first Sins of a Solar Empires game, then this is an obvious buy. Everything has been improved from the first game and now with the bounty system in place, it feels like there is nothing left behind. Multiplayer is a breeze, with the ability to drop in and drop out. The space battles look great and they added an empire management screen to let you manage all your planets, and a fleet version where you can manage all your capital ships. you can reinforce your fleets…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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