4x space strategy game New Stars hits Early Access

Are you a fan of titles like Stellaris and other space strategy games? You may want to take a look at New Stars, which just entered Early Access with Linux support.

"New Stars is a 4X strategy game, on a galactic scale. Explore new worlds, build mega-structures, and found prosperous interstellar colonies. Go head-to-head with alien empires and build the greatest empire to survive the test of time, or be the last remaining in the galaxy to succeed."

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When asked on Steam about differences to the likes of Stellaris the developer gave a little explainer:

1) Relatively fast-paced - Each games last a few hours on average.
2) Straightforward mechanics - (Should be) Easy to learn with a new tutorial system.
3) Graphics - galaxy has improved since screenshots, with optimization for low-end devices.
4) UI - unique with elements inspired from a wide range of games.

There are similarities to Stellaris, such as the fleet management and fleets in general, however the gameplay, mechanics, and pacing is a lot different. Civilization and Stellaris were originally the main inspirations for the game, but New Stars is it's own game.

Explaining more in the release post it seems the length of Stellaris games was quite the sticking point for this developer noting:

One reason I made this game is because Stellaris games took me 100 hours on average, and every time I wanted to start a game, it was a major life decision - do I sacrifice 1-2 weeks just to finish this?

Really sounds like a game designed for me, and anyone else who loves the idea but doesn't have endless hours to dedicate to just one game. Nice to see more like this.

Check out New Stars on Steam.