It boggles me why Civ: BE sits at mixed reviews. I guess the core Civ audience is all about history and realism, which is fair enough. But as a sci-fi fan, I spent many happy hours with this one, and playing it now with the added content — the game still feels great. A sequel would be nice.

Our collective space-race attitude have changed a lot since the game released. The tech evolved, the ideas and goals evolved (degraded, rather) too. We have celebs in space now, Moon colonization became more clearly outlined, and our overall space knowledge has doubled — maybe tripled.

I can easily imagine some great new Sponsors based on our current societal landscape:
- a Musk-like power-obsessed crazy idiot (Techno-Messianic Oligarch)
- a Bezos-like ruthless, money-fixated bully (Hyper-Capitalist)
- an AI-led expedition (Algorithmic Technocracy)
- good-guy environmental bloc; underfunded and destined to fail (Climate Survival Collective)
- a Jared Isaacman–based charismatic reformer with real ideals but operating on a government leash (Benevolent Proxy)
- a Trump-based sponsor fueled by nationalism, money, and dumb impulse that sacrifices both resources and people to reach the goal (Populist Expansionist)
- and of course a paranoid autocrat obsessed with control and an invented “legacy” who lands and immediately starts the first space war. Surely I don’t need to name who this Sponsor is based off — let’s call them something like the Legacy State.

I could go on like this forever, because the current geopolitical scene basically writes the story itself. Let’s do it, Firaxis. Give me a call — we’ll figure out a deal.

v0.5 review

We’re halfway there, and the technical side of the game is starting to shape up nicely. The physics is very detailed and driving is pure fun. Optimization has improved massively with DLSS 4.5; the game loads nearly instantly and the UI isn’t as freezing anymore. I enjoy browsing and tweaking cars, hotlapping, taking screenshots. Let’s imagine the AI will be at least ACC-level “good” and I’ll be able to add the occasional race to this list of "diverse "activities. But what’s the endgame vision? The latest economy system removal was communicated really poorly, and nobody seems to have any idea what Kunos’ vision for this project even is. The game is progressing fast in terms of driving, physics, and visuals - but as a complete product, it’s degrading even faster at this point.

v0.4 review

Now you can finally see the game taking shape. It's not a bunch of half-baked systems wired together with some UI - you can safely call ACE a game. And also, which is more important, a sim. The physics model now resembles a package. The cars are fun to drive, they have character, they differ. And there's a damage system now. It's not too deep: you have scratches, you have bits losing shape and wiggling, and you can wreck your suspension in a very realistic-looking way.

UI does not go ballistic on your system anymore and you can navigate the menus without bringing your PC to a crawl; though I know it's still bad for most people.

Sound is pretty bad for the most part. You have cars that don't sound like their counterparts at all, you have levels mismatched, you have TC sounds suddenly dominating or sounding as prominent in the chase camera as it sounds in the cockpit, and so much more weirdness.

Oh, and the AI is just not there; you can't race in single player at all. AI cars just form an orderly queue and stay in it forever. Even if you vacate the racing line - they don’t care and just keep going at the same speed, seemingly unable to make a decision to go by.

To sum things up - stuff is still broken in ACE, a lot, but it's finally fun to drive, which makes you interested in exploring the existing content and experimenting.

v0.3 review

This is more of a review for encouragement - a bit of positive reinforcement, I guess. You can feel the ambition, but that's kind of it for now. Though I love the track selection so far, love the unconventional car choices, and love the early commitment to single player content (driving academy).

What I don’t love is the TDU2-esque vibe seeping through the game - all that rich-man, playboy, crypto-bro gloss, spotless dealerships, eternal sunshine, etc. I like my racing games gritty and a bit down to earth.

Physics are unimpressive too; you can tell Kunos started from absolute scratch with this game. The systems are there, you can see and feel them calculating things, but to a degree where it does not come together into anything solid.

UI is, classically for Kunos, busted. Menus are laggy and freeze the game constantly. The UX overall seems pretty OK until you're in settings (especially controls); that's where it hits you with a big wrench right between the eyes: it's hard to find things, the structure is all over the place, tooltips are scarce, and even when they are there and tell you stuff - it's incomprehensible.

And yet, I'm willing to not roast the game, because Kunos set an impossible task for themselves with a goal to have a racing platform, a serious (yet accessible) simulator, and a free roam mode (still not sure what it will achieve in a sim game but sure) along with multiplayer. It’s ambitious as heck, their biggest game to date. But let’s see what will happen. Assetto Corsa is a giant among sim-racing franchises - the pedigree is there, the tech and know-how too - so I’m, let’s say, cautiously optimistic.