Sword of the Stars II: Enhanced Edition released, but does it fix the bugs?

As is aggravatingly common for Paradox releases, Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter has had a lot of updates. A hell of a lot of updates in fact. It's aggravating not because of the new content and balance tweaks - they're all great to see - but because of the unbelievable number of problems and bugs that made it into its initial release.

Now though, they've released Sword of the Stars II: Enhanced Edition , a fully updated version of the game, bundled with the new End of Flesh content pack. In thanks to all the fans who have "stuck with the game" (read: put up with its flaws), the new content is being rolled out for free to all its current owners too.

End of Flesh adds a new race, the Loa, as well as new technologies, weapons and expanded ship building options. Perhaps more importantly, titling this bundle the Enhanced Edition is a pretty strong indication that Paradox feels like it's finally wrestled the numerous gremlins out of the game.

Last year, Tom Senior's review criticised the many crashes, bugs, and design issues that affected what could have been an interesting 4X strategy. Has anyone kept up with the flood of updates? Is SotS2 finally the game it always should have been?

Thanks, Strategy Informer .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.