Drox Operative
Drox Operative
Game
Game2012
Sins of a Solar Empire®: Rebellion
Developer Ironclad Games Corporation, Stardock Entertainment
Command a space-faring empire in Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, the new stand-alone expansion that combines 4X depth with real-time strategy gameplay. From the Steam store page
190 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Mastodon, Bluesky) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
94
LovedLoved
175 positive · 11 negative
95% range 90–97%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 175 | 11 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
10,495 of 11,124 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
96% recommend · 172 yes, 8 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 180 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (15,243 of 16,360 positive).
Players praise the game's scale and depth, blending 4X empire-building with real-time combat. [1][2][3] Many highlight the strong modding community, especially for Star Trek, Star Wars, and Halo mods. [4][5][6] Some criticize the dated graphics, bugs, and poor multiplayer netcode. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [1]
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is one of those games that I keep coming back to years after first playing it. On paper, it sounds like a fairly straightforward space RTS: build your empire, research technologies, expand across planets, build fleets and eventually crush whoever stands in your way. In practice, there is a surprising amount of depth hiding underneath that simple formula. What I love most is the …
- [4]
The definitive version of the original Sins of a Solar Empire, so get this instead of Trinity. This expansion adds all kinds of new content, such as minor factions, new planets and ships, random events, and more gameplay variety with different factions. With a solid foundation, the modding community have made this into one of the best space strategy games out there. The best Star Trek mod is Star Trek Armada III, …
- [2]
Absolutely recommended. *Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion* is one of those rare strategy games that still holds up after hundreds—or thousands—of hours. It blends 4X empire-building with real-time fleet combat in a way that feels massive without becoming overwhelming. The pacing is slower and more deliberate than a typical RTS, but that is part of its strength. Building an economy, expanding across gravity wells, …
- [3]
Genuinely one of the best RTS I've ever played, It blends real time strategy into 4x beautifully. There's a certain charm permeating the entire game, whether it's because it's older, or an indie title, or both, I don't know. (I poured 47 hours in it over the course of about 5 days.) That all being said, it's a niche embedded IN a niche, an RTS combined with the 4x genre attracts a certain kind of audience. The kind …
- [5]
An outstanding game which is eclipsed in every meaningful way by its sequel, Sins1 / Rebellion still has a few major things going for it. The mods. While ST Armada 4 will (or has, depending on when / if you read this) come out, ST Armada 3 rocks. Ages of the Federation is even better. The numerous sci-fi franchise mods (Star Wars, Battlestar, Babylon 5, more) are bonkers good in terms of visual quality and …
Summarised from 30 of the 184 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
Sins of a Solar Empire®: Rebellion sits at 94% positive across 186 opinionated reactions from 3 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 190 · most liked firstSins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is one of those games that I keep coming back to years after first playing it. On paper, it sounds like a fairly straightforward space RTS: build your empire, research technologies, expand across planets, build fleets and eventually crush whoever stands in your way. In practice, there is a surprising amount of depth hiding underneath that simple formula. What I love most is the scale. You aren't controlling a handful of ships in a small battlefield — you're…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →lots of replay-ability and mod prospects
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought Sins of a Solar Empire 4 times in total. I own it on disc twice (once as the trilogy and once as rebellion), once on steam and once on GOG. Don't ask why I got the GOG version, I'm still not sure myself. My total playtime since the game came out in 2012 and I got my launch copy is much higher than the 120.4 hours indicated as of my writing this. This game is the apex of the old-school RTS genre, despite its flaws. It's scale is still unmatched by any other strategy game out there and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oldy but very goody - tight, polished, intense wargame. Almost no fluff, yet still enough of strategic and tactical depth to keep the player on edge. One more hidden advantage - it's a very portable game as it runs nearly on everything today, so you one can play it on an office-level laptop when travelling.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this game in a target in 2008 for $7, back when it was a single CD, since then I hop on it every so often when I want a game to turn my brain off and have passive fun, while SOSE2 is out and many people may prefer the updated graphics and no late game lag, SOSE1 is still a solid game, it also has one of the best modding groups out there who supply mods that make modern RTS games look like a sad joke, if you care about what I have to say then please buy this game it is alot of fun and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Another one of those games where I have basically only eever played mods (star gate/trek/wars). Holds up even today, fairly easy 4x to get into.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The definitive version of the original Sins of a Solar Empire, so get this instead of Trinity. This expansion adds all kinds of new content, such as minor factions, new planets and ships, random events, and more gameplay variety with different factions. With a solid foundation, the modding community have made this into one of the best space strategy games out there. The best Star Trek mod is Star Trek Armada III, and is one of the most awarded mods of all time. The Star Wars equivalent is Star…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely recommended. *Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion* is one of those rare strategy games that still holds up after hundreds—or thousands—of hours. It blends 4X empire-building with real-time fleet combat in a way that feels massive without becoming overwhelming. The pacing is slower and more deliberate than a typical RTS, but that is part of its strength. Building an economy, expanding across gravity wells, researching tech, and finally sending a capital-ship-led fleet into a decisive…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Getting 100% was good in this 4x game. approximate amount of time to 100%: 20-40h ~ (Again, Depends at what speed you feel comfortable playing since speed X8 Exists.) Estimated achievement difficulty: 4-7/10 (Depends a lot on your skill at this type of game) Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 6+ (likely more), Multiplayer achievements: Everything can be gotten in multiplayer, Can be boosted. Missable achievements: yes. Researching the wrong thing can disqualify some achievements. Plan…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Genuinely one of the best RTS I've ever played, It blends real time strategy into 4x beautifully. There's a certain charm permeating the entire game, whether it's because it's older, or an indie title, or both, I don't know. (I poured 47 hours in it over the course of about 5 days.) That all being said, it's a niche embedded IN a niche, an RTS combined with the 4x genre attracts a certain kind of audience. The kind who don't want the sporadic micro-management and faster pace associated with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An outstanding game which is eclipsed in every meaningful way by its sequel, Sins1 / Rebellion still has a few major things going for it. The mods. While ST Armada 4 will (or has, depending on when / if you read this) come out, ST Armada 3 rocks. Ages of the Federation is even better. The numerous sci-fi franchise mods (Star Wars, Battlestar, Babylon 5, more) are bonkers good in terms of visual quality and worthwhile gameplay. For the retail experience Sins2 all the way. For modding, this…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Definitely better than Sins 2.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel like I've committed a grave sin spending 1300 hours in this wonderful game. It is truly a game worth spending time playing
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow, talk about memories lol. Sins of a Solar Empire was easily one of the best space-based RTS games of the early 2000s, with Homeworld being the only other real contender, and I've easily sunk hundreds of hours into the series throughout my life. In fact, I think SoSE Trinity was one of the very first physical copy PC games I bought as a kid... simpler times. Anyway, these days you're better off just picking up Sins of a Solar Empire 2 - it's got much better performance, subjectively…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game for duking it out in space, RPG style. I used to play multiplayer with some close friends on a local connection. Always was a good way to hang and pass time together.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Never even played the base game. The modding scene is great and worth it just for star wars, star trek, and halo mods.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really fun space RTS and a good time if you’re into strategy games. Definitely one I enjoyed and would recommend giving a shot.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the longest standing Solid space RTS games out there. Loads of mods for star wars, halo, star trek and more.... why ever buy another game? :P
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best strategy games ever. Really love how everything in this game is real-time unlike Civ or TotalWar, it gives a totally different felling like your empire is a real living breathing thing
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is one of my favourite RTS games of all time. I effing love this game, it's epic and has some AMAZING mods from a very dedicated community. It's straight up better than its sequel, 8/10 game. (Wish the sequel had just refined the downsides of Rebellion instead of ruinining the good things)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Been Playing this title for years and years.... So many variations, so many different ways to win the game. Very fun for a RTS, highly recommend
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of my favorites. Don't forget to scale the U.I. up in the settings menu, at the bottom of the page.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →good game well balanced runs well and is not a one sided mess like the sequel
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Enjoyable RTS, pretty straightforward gameplay, I comeback and play a hundred hours throughout the year.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →my favorite space RTS :D
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Graphics are bad (even for the time of release) its buggy as heck, and the ai basically cheats so it's unfair on harder difficulties and the easy mode is so easy that it's unfun.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Sins of a Solar Empire II] Playing this godly game again! www.twitch.tv/aperturegami... www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvuE... So I can't stream DOOM The Dark Ages until I get myself a new video card. Here's this game instead! #Sins2 #vtuber #Sinsofasolarempire #Sinsofasolarempire2
neutral · AI labelView post →One of my most favorite games. There's nothing else like it in the market. I pirated it when I was broke as ♥♥♥♥. Sank thousands of hours into it. The moment I got money to spend, I bought the game with all the DLCs. P.S. Ragnarov mogs every other Titan
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is showing its age and not in a good way. I cannot speak for vanilla because I have only ever played modded but I think my issues apply to vanilla, as they apply to the mods. Without Sins of the Prophets this game would have been forgotten to time. This game is not a 4X, as much as it like to pretend its like stellaris, stellaris does everything better. An argument could be made for space combat but its incredibly shallow across all mods. Everything which makes this game a 4X rather…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good strategy game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →best space based empire builder out there currently
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have no idea how long ago I got it for free, but somewhere around 2021, I bought the DLC for it so I could get 100% of the achievements and then left it in my backlog for another five years. I finally got around to playing this game only two days ago. Well, it's a nice strategy game. I expected way less, to be honest. Yeah, it leaves you desiring something more, especially in the diplomacy tab, but then again, the game is old, and I heard the sequel actually improved in that department.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I do like this game, however, it can get upsetting at times. The pirates are so freaking annoying. Especially, when the enemy waits until the last second to screw you. Ugh, that can get rough. You can get rid of the Pirates but it feels off when you remove them. I think that should have been thought out a little more. The rest is same ol' same ol' when it comes to games like this. Collect resources, build things, attack the enemy, and so on and so on. This may sound like a negative reveiw, but…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →one of the most amazing games i ever played . i got very low end pc {not gaming pc} it it run just fine , i highly recommend this game . wish i had better pc to play the second one but all in due time .
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its actualy one of the best stratagy games i have played and its old haha
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still better than Sins of a Solar empire 2
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →tons of great mods!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got it for the Star Trek Armada 3 TCM. Great game!!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good for Cats to Play
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i wanted to play star trek armada 3 and stargate invasion but it looks like they turn of the mod functionality to force people to go over to the sequel
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly, this game is one of the best 4x rts games in this platform, if you like space, huge battles, and simple economy this game has it. And the mods the game has to offer is vast, with things like star trek and star wars.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Best old school 4x RTS on the market
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☑ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☑ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☑ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Game Size…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't think I have ever heard of, much less played, a multiplayer match in this product that did not desync. It doesn't tell you it desyncs, it'll happily march along as the players act out entirely different ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ realities, but as sure as the setting sun it will desync. It's actually worse than Supreme Commander in this respect, another product I had the misfortune of playing extensive multiplayer matches in - without ever a single one reaching completion in a sensible fashion because the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →runs well and the base game is great the modding community makes it even better
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For a game now old and overshadowed by its predeccesor, it still shines and is massively enjoyable - especially in light of mods like Star Wars Interregnum. What an amazing community.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →still some crashes and dialogue boxes opening up to-date.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I enjoy the flexibility this game provides. I can become familiar with 1 method of play or many. the difficulty has been clearly balanced. I often play long stretches of hard/epic. Yet the building of your forces and countering various offenses is very stimulating.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think I beat the tutorial !
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great strat game. Keeps you on your toes
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Friend bought it for me to play a star wars mod. I didn't play it much since then; I don't really do strategy games as much. But, it was still fun!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a really fun space RTS. An absolute classic. 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still slow and cumbersome, but increased variety makes it more interesting than Trinity. A bummer it doesn't have any campaign but its worthy for zoning out.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the better RTS games. There are lots of mods that make it even better.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nothing like a good ol space RTS .. it's fun for sure and can get quite a time consuming .) Nuff said
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Go and buy Stellaris instead
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →fun game in Trek mode
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →RTS game with huge scale and scope. So many possibilities. Plus, commanding a huge fleet and watching them crush your enemies is so satisfying.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's kind of like if GalCiv IV was an RTS. And I think it's more accessible than Stellaris or even Distant Worlds 2. NOT A FAN OF PIRATES Pirates are not fun to me. For whatever reason they seem to spawn unrelenting numbers of ships out of thin air and they seem to target the player while mostly ignoring others. Thankfully there is an option in settings to disable pirates. CREATE CUSTOM MAPS FOR SANDBOX MODE FUN I do like that you can create your own maps in the Galaxy Forge program that is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →amazing game i love it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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