Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
4X games have come a long way since 2011, when Space Empires 4X was released, and while many of these games contain deeper backstories, more complicated systems, and elaborate plastic miniatures, for me the pencil, pad and cardboard counters of Space Empires remain the gold standard of 4X. With GMT Games sending me the final expansion, fittingly titled All Good Things, I was excited to get the game back to my table to see if it still holds up after all these years.
Don’t Fix what isn’t Broken
There’s been a recent trend to update older titles with more modern elements, beyond just artwork and theme–games like Skymines and Brass: Lancashire come to mind–and that can sometimes be a mixed bag. Caylus is a masterpiece but was in desperate need of a visual refreshment. Caylus 1303, while it looks great, also fundamentally changed how the original game plays, for the worse in my opinion, in its attempt to cater to a broader audience.
GMT and designer Jim Krohn understand what makes Space Empires 4X special and are able to revamp while avoiding these kinds of pitfalls with each new expansion. Much like the previous expansions, Close Encounters (which added variable player powers) and Replicators (introducing co-op play and event cards), All Good Things continues the tradition of implementing mechanics and elements found in more contemporary games without messing with its solid core of 4X gameplay.
Where My Crew At?
Along with the usual inclusion of new terrain, fleet, bases, armor, and other outer space oddities to discover, All Good Things’ biggest addition comes in the form of Crew Cards and Missions. Crew Cards, which are added in every even-numbered Economic Phase, allow you to have a crew on specific ships for extra power or abilities, but which ships they are on remains hidden from other players until the ship is revealed (usually proceeding combat) or their ability is used.
You can have up to five active Crew Cards at once (two max per ship) so this becomes a sneaky way to switch up your strategy. Is that single ship traveling alone just a decoy, ready to be picked off, or is it hiding a Destroyer with a couple crews on board? It makes encounters that much more tense, and has every player second-guessing the decision to engage. For such a small change, it had an outsized and entertaining effect and I can’t imagine playing without it now.
The Mission Cards, as you might expect, give you certain rewards for accomplishing objectives. Smartly, they are combined into the Resource Card deck (added in Replicators to provide events or extra Construction Points) and act as a more powerful version of those cards, so rather than simply applying the event effects, you have to earn it.
When you satisfy the mission, the standard D10 is rolled to determine your reward, which is also a ton of fun. In one playthrough, I received the benefit of sneaking a peak at 4 unexplored system markers and flipping to reveal them, if I so chose. Of course, I did not, which led all other players to obsess over where I was travelling around those areas. Just one more layer of unpredictability in an already capricious game.
The Devil’s in the Details
While these elements altered the game the most, there were also plenty of other optional setups and rules included in All Good Things that allows for a ton of variance for every playthrough. While some are better than others, it all backed up my initial impression of the expansion: the designer and publisher are really paying attention to the people who already love this game. This is evident in so many ways and I think it needs to be highlighted.
In my review of The Quest for El Dorado, I lamented that the new version, while a visual upgrade in every way, changed the size of all the cards, making it incompatible with all the previously released expansions. GMT Games does the exact opposite. Even though the base game and previous expansions had recent printings released to match the brand new, beautiful box art and component quality in All Good Things, your old versions will work perfectly with the latest. They aren’t forcing you to purchase the new edition of the base game (which is necessary for the map and standard pieces) to enjoy this final expansion.
Additionally, by releasing All Good Things in a box that’s about twice the size needed for its components, you can now fit the base game and all expansions into one box. No more lugging around 4 separate boxes or trying to Frankenstein them into one overstuffed mess, held together with rubber bands and hope. The rulebook included in All Good Things also acts as a master rulebook for the entire series, so you don’t have to search through several different ones to play everything together. In fact, they even highlighted the sections that pertain specifically to All Good Things, so experienced players can easily learn or clarify just the new content. I’ve never seen any other game series pay this much attention to its loyal fans, while also making it easier for new players to grasp.
Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate, Excel
Compared to the previous expansions, I would probably rate All Good Things below Close Encounters but above Replicators, in terms of what it adds to the actual gameplay. The full production, on the other hand, makes this so easy to recommend, especially for longtime supporters of the game. The fan service committed from designer Jim Krohn and the team of developers, rulebook writers, and artists at GMT Games can’t be overstated. Not only does the new expansion look great on my shelf, it’s been refreshed to make the entire series easier to get to the table and onboard new players. If Space Empires 4X indeed ”must come to an end”, it certainly went out with a big bang.
Space Empires: All Good Things details
- Designer: Jim Krohn
- Artists: N/A
- Publishers: GMT Games
- Release Date: 2025
- Player count : 1 - 6
- Age range : 12+
- Time range : 180 minutes
- Mechanism(s): Auction/Bidding, Dice Rolling, Grid Movement, Hexagon Grid, Income, Movement Points, Paper-and-Pencil, Secret Unit Deployment, Simulation, Solo / Solitaire Game
- BGG Geek Rating: 9.09646 - converted to Meeple Mountain scale: 4.5.
- More articles about Space Empires: All Good Things.
