3) Sins of a Solar Empire

Sins of a Solar Empire is a 4x strategy game series inspired by space operas, science-fiction stories such as Star Wars that focus on epic scale and high stakes. The player leads any one of various factions in an attempt to establish a galactic empire and rule over the other competing races of the game. The gameplay in the title reflects this inspiration beautifully: it is known for its intensity.

Like in the aforementioned Total War series, the battles in Sins of a Solar Empire are huge, loud, and exciting. So many things go on at once, and the void of space is lit up endlessly by explosions and cannonfire and the burning of colossal engines as great spaceships and elegant starfighters weave around each other, violently duking it out for the sake of their peoples' futures.

 
Creation through destruction.

If that description makes Sins of a Solar Empire sound epic to you, that's because it is. Battles are cinematic, action-packed, and look like something out of a high-budget sci-fi film. But battles are hardly the only focus of the game. Sins is proud of its 4x heritage and incorporates very intricate and diverse systems of resource collection, population management, and research trees, just like Civ 5. For its intricacy and well-designed action, this game earns a definite 5/5 score from us.