Blending the international conflict, politics, and grand strategy of Civilization 6 and Crusader Kings 3 with the interstellar exploration of Stellaris, all wrapped in the sinister setting of an XCOM style alien threat, Terra Invicta is one of the most interesting early access games on Steam right now, and it’s just been given a quite literally world-changing update. The latest major patch for the sci-fi strategy game makes a huge number of changes across its map, tech tree, and more.
Terra Invicta comes from developer Pavonis Interactive, the creators of the fantastic XCOM Long War mod, and indie strategy publisher Hooded Horse. It’s one of the more unique and ambitious grand strategy games around, starting you as one of seven factions, each with its own distinct ideology. Unable to unite on an approach to deal with an imminent alien threat, you’ll have to first compete for control over Earth, working from the shadows to spread your political will, before launching out to the stars, exploring and colonizing planets as you tackle the intergalactic threat head-on.
The headline feature of Terra Invicta update 0.4 is a complete reorganization of that early game geopolitical layer. The regions across the Earth map have been altered dramatically, with several new countries such as Switzerland now making an appearance and other larger nations being broken up into more regions. The game’s tech tree has also been given a substantial overhaul, with similar techs being consolidated to remove potential redundancies.
Spaceships have also been given some additional features, with new modules and the ability to unlock officers. Meeting certain conditions will earn you officers of the corresponding specialty (such as a gunnery officer for destroying enemy units with gun-type weapons), and they’ll gain promotions as you fulfill more such tasks. The internal damage mechanics for ships have also been given an update, along with a redesign for particle weaponry.
There are plenty more changes to discover in the patch, too. The way greenhouse gas is generated has been reworked, you’ll now discover comets that can be explored and developed much like asteroids, and terrestrial warfare has seen some tweaks as well. That means there are plenty of reasons to jump in, and a big Steam sale discount means that now is a great time to do so.
Terra Invicta update 0.4 is out now via Steam, GOG, the Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store in early access. Note that because of the dramatic changes made in the update, saves from version 0.3 will not work after the new patch, although you’ll be able to access the old version via the beta branch menu of Steam indefinitely if you have a game in progress.
To celebrate the launch, Terra Invicta is available on sale at a 30% discount until Sunday April 28. That means you’ll pay just $27.99/£24.49 if you buy it now, down from its usual price of $39.99/34.99. It’s also recently been made available as part of the Xbox game library for subscribers to PC Game Pass, joining other Hooded Horse names such as Against the Storm and the upcoming Manor Lords on the service.
Looking for more of the best space games to satisfy your need to explore the unknown? We’ve got you covered there, along with all the best strategy games on PC you need to try in 2024.
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