Distant Worlds Universe Review and System Requirements

OS: Windows XP SP3, Vista, Windows 7 or 8
Processor: Pentium 4 @1.5 GHz
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: minimum 1024 x 768 resolution, 32 bit
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Hard Drive: 1 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9 compatible
Additional Notes: Requires Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer&nbsp;

Distant Worlds is the best 4x available today. It's combination of depth and accessibility is unmatched in this genre.

How, you might ask, does it accomplish this feat? Variable micromanagement. If you want to nurture your colonies from day one, to design every strut and gravatic beam weapon on your ships, and ensure that the right espionage agent ends up on a mission to steal operations maps from your dreaded enemy, you can.
On the other hand, if you want the AI to deal with all the micromanagement and to instead cruise around the galaxy in your prototype hyperdrive rocket, look at the ruins of ancient civilizations and run from giant space lobsters, you can do that instead. You can even combine the two -- more or less -- and tool around in the rocket while occasionally changing tax rates, build orders, and spy/diplomatic targets.

Unlike most 4x games, DW is built on the back of a fairly intricate economic simulator. But wait - simulator - does that mean I can't control it??? Not directly. The civilian economy, all those little freightors, gas mining ships, and tourist vessels... that is almost entirely out of your hands. You can set up your military/industrial base to encourage good civilian use, but the civies decide for themselves whether they want to pick up a load of Cason gas and move it to where you need fuel for your next military campaign.

DW:U brings better pathing, improved AI, and expanded mod capabilities to an already great game.

Cons: The game resolution is set to your desktop resolution because it runs in a borderless window. Consequently, the font can be small and hard to read. If this is a problem for you, one solution is to lower your desktop resolution before launching the game.

Verdict: 85/100

System Requirements

Minimum: