The Last Federation

Screenshots of The Last Federation will inevitably draw comparisons to the classic Master of Orion: same low-resolution stylized 2D skybox filled with ideograms instead of ship models. However, in an attempt to be more than just another half-assed attempt to recapture the magic of 1993 (we had Beanie Babies!) The Last Federation has you filling the tangential role of an interstellar diplomat.

And really, is there any among us who did not grow up dreaming of the glamorous profession of a reasonable mediator? I think not.

In any case, it turns out all the NPCs are playing a 4X game and it's your task to talk them out of it, ensure the unification of your solar system by something marginally less than complete omnicide. As the last member of a formerly megalomaniacal race, you flit from planet to planet doing favors for each alien species, facilitating development and trade by keeping the pirate population to a minimum and trying to bribe, flatter, blackmail or force whomever you can into your eponymous Federation... and exterminating all who don't. Like if Captain Picard was a mafia don. Capisci my phasers?

Aesthetically, the game's not much to speak of. Visuals, sound, writing, all range from sparse to dull to nonsensical, though at least they never get annoying enough to interfere with actual gameplay. Combat rapidly grows repetitive through a lack of variation in enemy ship types (especially pirates, which are also the most common encounter.) But the interaction between the various races is where this game really shines. Where in most games the choice of race is either purely cosmetic or defined by a minor bonus here and there, The Last Federation's eight choices were each designed to function differently on a basic level. Some can be bribed and some cannot, some trade and some don't, and the range of pacifism and warmongering ranges from flower power to Waaaaaagh! Take a look at this late-game situation:

Tutorial messages include the phrase "the Thoraxians are terrors" in reference to the planetary invasion capabilities of your resident gigantic insectoids from beyond the moon. In this game I'd managed to federate or obliterate all of the other seven races, and the Thoraxians' pre-existing wars with some of my Federation members led me to simply write them off and wipe them out. It took longer than the entire rest of my campaign. In fact I took this screenshot when I realized that despite being under a state of constant invasion by three to five other species, the Thoraxians still outnumbered the rest of the system put together... and were still growing! That's them on the bottom of the list. Amazingly enough, this does not make them overpowered. Their spacefleets are mercifully mediocre, so they can be contained, and they're difficult enough to get on your side that you're usually better off investing in some more reasonable allies.

The Last Federation is slightly underdeveloped and overpriced, but easily worth picking up just for daring to bank on a novel playstyle with meaningful player choices in an otherwise stagnant industry.