18. Master of Orion II. 20 Best Classic PC Strategy Games

Although today the second part of Master of Orion does not impress with graphics, it still remains one of the best games in its genre.

The 4X genre is experiencing its second youth these days, as evidenced by the fact that Stellaris was the winner in our most recent compilation on modern strategy games, and other representatives of this genre were ranked quite high. However, it is likely that none of these game would ever have been developed were it not for Master Of Orion II.

In 1996, the second part of this space saga redefined what is now considered the standard of 4X strategy games. The player's task was to create an empire that would become the dominant force in a vast galaxy. In doing so, we had to manage literally every aspect of our nation – from economy, to research and politics, to military conflicts.

FOUR TIMES X

The term 4X is an acronym of "explore, expand, exploit, exterminate". Interestingly, we know exactly who used the phrase for the first time. It was Alan Emrich, an editor of Computer Gaming World magazine, who used it to describe the first part of Master of Orion in his review. The year was 1993, two years after the releases of the first Civilization.

We could not only decide what kind of political system we would adopt, or who we would form alliances with, but even what the ships in our star flotilla would look like. The game was uncompromising, difficult and unforgiving. There was no room for amateurs there, every decision had to be considered a few times and it think real good whether we should raise taxes right now or cut diplomatic ties with our troublesome neighbor.

To top it all off, the game contained a lot of numbers and statistics describing the consequences of our decisions. All of this has made Master Of Orion II an extremely difficult, yet devilishly addictive generator of true space operas.

The class of this title is evidenced by the fact that even today it is a benchmark when assessing subsequent games of its genre.