Crafting the sequel to a beloved game is no small task. Derek Paxton understands this; as game director for Amplitude Studios’ upcomingEndless Legend 2, he’s responsible for delivering the newest game in a beloved strategy franchise, a title that CEO Romain de Waubert de Genlis wants to be “the best in the series.” After playing a demo build, I had a chance to speak with Paxton about what that might look like.
The Endless series also includes Endless Space 1 and 2, making Endless Legend 2 the fourth 4X strategy title thus far. There are also two dungeon crawlers, Endless Dungeon and Dungeon of the Endless.
How To Follow A Legend
“There’s a couple of core strengths to everything that has been an Endless game,” Paxton says. “The big one is faction asymmetry. In most 4Xes, you get to play as a faction or a civilization that… may have a couple of special units, a couple special abilities, but Amplitude really took that to the next level with all of their Endless games, to say, ‘not only are you a little better in one area than another, but you fundamentally play this faction differently than you do others.’”
Making sure that all of the factions that you play give the player a very different experience is a key part of making a great Endless game.
In keeping with the series' tradition, every faction in Endless Legend 2, including the demo’s Kin and Aspects, has a unique design philosophy, narrative, and gameplay mechanics. It’s immediately apparent that Paxton is very proud of the game’s new faction roster, even if he can’t share them with me just yet. He did, however, tease that we’re going to see some “familiar faces” alongside newcomers like the Aspects, and that they would all offer exciting possibilities. “Making sure that all of the factions that you play give the player a very different experience is a key part of making a great Endless game.”
Of course, making a new Endless title is only half the battle; Endless Legend itself is one of the most groundbreaking strategy games of the 2010s, and its sequel has some big shoes to fill.
“We wanted to verify that all of the things that people loved about Endless Legend are still there,” says Paxton, “Endless Legend had winter, something that was new to the 4X genre… the player had to adapt and change… it was largely punitive, and it was something that came and affected the player for a little while, and then went away. For Endless Legend 2, we wanted to keep that seasonality there, the fact that the world was changing, but we wanted it to be rewarding for the player, and we wanted it to change the world forever.”
Written In Dust
Despite being 4X strategy games, the Endless titles all have very strong narrative elements that gives them a deep sense of immersion. Exploring the new world of Saiadha and its inhabitants - both indigenous species and visitors from the greater galaxy - gave Paxton and his team new opportunities to see how narrative could follow gameplay, and vice versa.
He points out that even details like having each player start on their own small island, and ensuring the landmasses become connected as Tidefall expands the world, lean into that.
The biggest narrative change fans will notice is that events are presented as dialogue between heroes and other characters. It’s intended to give players a greater connection to the important people within their empire, but as Paxton points out, it’s “honestly a very dangerous line to walk, because we are not a roleplaying game.” He doesn’t want players coming to the game expecting a new Baldur’s Gate, because they’re going to be disappointed.
“We want the player to see [their Heroes] as more than this tough unit who has these particular perks and equipment,” he continues. Presenting each faction’s storyline through interpersonal dialogue was one way to make this happen. The other was implementing Council positions, making every recruitable Hero have something unique to offer if given a government post.
“It’s not like a civics system, where you have the same choices every time you play a game. Instead, those choices are driven by the characters that you’ve met and befriended.” Not only does it offer more customization over a player’s build, but Paxton also hopes that it will lead players to value characters even more. “I like that character, not just because he’s a tough Hero, he’s a great archer, but also because he’s the one that’s helping boost Approval in my cities.”
The Lessons Of Humankind
Amplitude’s last big strategy launch was 2021’sHumankind, which adapted many of the Endless series’ strengths to the historical genre dominated byCivilization. Now, with Endless Legend 2 on the horizon, the roles are reversed, and the new Endless title can learn from Humankind.
We don’t want players to go and spend thirty minutes in a battle; we want them to be focused on their strategy at a high level, but we still want that battle to be significant and fun and tactical.
“Lessons were learned through Endless Space 2 and Humankind that we wanted to make sure were brought into Endless Legend 2, and I think for me, the biggest one was the combat system,” Paxton tells me. “Endless Legend 1 kind of had a hands-off version of the combat system, where your armies would fight each other with some small direction from the player, but with Humankind you had a lot more direct tactical control over the battles, and we brought that into Endless Legend 2.”
The trick, of course, was making sure the player didn’t get bogged down in battles. There are plenty of 4X games, likeAge of Wonders, where tactical battles are just as much a part of the gameplay as the strategic layer, but Endless Legend isn’t one of those. With feedback from players in Amplitude’s Insiders Program, Paxton and his team created a battle system that was fun and quick-playing. “We don’t want players to go in and spend thirty minutes in a battle; we want them to be focused on their strategy at a high level, but we still want that battle to be significant and fun and tactical.”
As the conversation is winding down, Paxton reiterates what makes Endless Legend 2 so special: “It is a fantasy 4X set in a roleplaying game world, where your Heroes do live out their lives… it’s something that makes it unique to Amplitude and 4X games.” He’s also still deeply excited to talk about the new factions once they’re revealed, and given the series’ track record when it comes to designing playable civilizations for their games, I can’t wait to see what he and his team have been cooking.
