Master of Orion Preview

The story behind the inception of Wargaming.net’s revival of classic 4X strategy title Master of Orion is an unusual one. The World of Tanks creator’s CEO, Victor Kislyi, has always been an intriguing character largely due to his personable attitude towards public relations and his clear devotion to the Wargaming.net brand. This Master of Orion reboot exists purely because of his own gaming fantasies. Wargaming’s Frazer Nash explains how this new title came to be: “Atari (who owned the licence beforehand) ended up needing to have a fire-sale. So when they did that, Victor flew to Los Angeles about as fast as he could and put in the biggest bid he possibly could to win this IP, because he loves it; it’s a passion project for Victor.”

If that’s not a golden stamp of dedication to a title then I don’t know what is. So now with the rather hefty backing of Wargaming.net, Master of Orion is soon to be back in action in a reboot that will be very much in keeping to the style and feel of the original title from 1993. Saying that, there are sure to be plenty of folks who aren’t sure what that actually means. The original Master of Orion was a very early 4X space strategy game (in fact, 4X as a term was coined in relation to the game) that many at the time likened to Civilization in space. Considering that series’ continued domination of the strategy scene, the reference still holds strong, although with games like Galactic Civilizations now knocking about it’s certainly a more contested market to break back into.

Rather than any of the World of... teams, Master of Orion is being developed by the Argentinian studio NGD - a relatively unheard of team that has previously only dabbled in a free-to-play MMO and a couple of licensed titles like an Adventure Time action adventure game. It certainly seems like an odd choice, but then Wargaming has been keen to emphasise that NGD has been bolstered by various pivotal members of the original Master of Orion development team. The idea behind that move is to capture the “essence of the original” and other marketing slogans that essentially mean Wargaming is aiming to appeal to the same players who loved the game back in the ‘90s. Although Nash also emphasised that they are also targeting the wider 4X strategy crowd that enjoy the aforementioned strategy titles.

The actual gameplay in Master of Orion is very familiar stuff; certainly a deliberate move on the part of NGD. You begin a game as one of the 10 alien races with one lonely planet, from there you must grow your empire across the stars either through diplomacy or military aggression; the four Xs in 4X all taking a leading role (that’s eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate). The gameplay shown at this year’s gamescom demonstrated a tidy UI built around a good-looking game that should satisfy most strategy gamer’s need for endless information. Diplomacy looks to be the best feature so far; with some options that aren’t your typical strategy fare like baiting other nations to declare war on one another. Seeing the diplomatic view actually reminded me a little more of a Paradox grand strategy title rather than something like Civ - that, by the way, is a very good thing.

The diplomacy comes in alongside other classic strategy fare like an extensive tech tree, buildings that can be constructed on planets and of course military production and warfare. Based on what’s been shown so far, there’s nothing especially original about Master of Orion, but that’s perfectly OK. Considering Wargaming.net is aiming for those already familiar with the series (or stuff like it), then all NGD need to do is provide a fun and engaging 4X title that fans of the genre can easily sink into. The hardest part, in reality, will be getting the word out - but with Wargaming’s incredibly deep pockets, that may not be much of an issue after all. Nash explained that the game will be highly accessible for new players, but I’m not sure if that will even be necessary.

Master of Orion will release as a digital download on Steam and GOG some time in the future. It’s worth mentioning that the game won’t follow the same F2P model as other Wargaming.net titles, but rather a standard ‘pay once’ release. There’s certainly a risk of Master of Orion blending in amongst the raft of space titles releasing in the near future, but for fans of the original games, and fans of space 4X at large, it looks to be an excellent modern revitalisation.