Galactic Civilizations® II: Ultimate Edition
Skip · Strategy · 2011
Steam Deck UnsupportedThe verdict
SKIP IT.
It scores 49, under the fair line, at $9.99.
- Cost per hourS
- $0.49/hr
- Reviews▼
- 77% of 1,717
- Critics
- 92 players 15 lower
- Genre rank
- Top 18% Strategy
Holding it back: DRM, Reviews
Watch this gameOne alert at a price you pick.
Time and effort
- Main story
- 20.4h
- To 100%
- 83.8h 4.1x the story
Price and sales
- Sales
- 63 on record
- Typical cut
- 50% off
- Steam low
- $3.99 December 2015
- Sale every
- 43d last June 2026
Players and genre
- Online
- 29 now
- Cheaper than
- 29% of its genre
- Better reviewed
- 68% of its genre
Price and player charts
The value story
The value story
The lowest price on record is $3.99, set in December 2015. It has been discounted 63 times in the 14 years tracked here. The median cut across all of them is 50 percent, about 6 weeks apart.
Its score sits in the top 18 percent of its genre. It is pricier than 71 percent of its genre, and better reviewed than 68 percent. Among the games that feel like it, ZEPHON ($39.99, scores 57) beats it on value, while it beats Galactic Civilizations III ($29.99, scores 46).
More about Galactic Civilizations® II: Ultimate Edition
The press liked it more than its buyers did, 92 against 77 percent.
Of the 216 Steam-purchase reviews this site sampled, none come from buyers who refunded the game, sampled from reviews written March 2020 to October 2026. Inside the two-hour refund window, 51 percent of the 144 reviews written there were positive, against 77 percent overall, and those are 15 percent of everything written about it.
The main story runs 20.4 hours. Doing everything runs 84, 4.1 times as long.
Buy now or wait
What drives the score
Grades: S best, D weakest
S is the best grade and D the weakest, judged as a buyer. ▲ raises the score, ▼ lowers it, ? is an input we do not have, • is a fact this genre's score does not use. How the grades work
What players say
Excellent strategy game. Replay value is very high as there are tons of things you can tweak and alter to change up the difficulty or length of the game.
1 more review
Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition, developed and published by Stardock Entertainment, remains one of the most accomplished and enduring examples of the 4X strategy genre, offering a deeply layered experience that prioritizes thoughtful decision-making over spectacle. By combining the original Dread Lords with its major expansions Dark Avatar and Twilight of the Arnor, this edition represents the game in...
Steam reviews, mixed to its ratio and rotated daily. Opinions are theirs.
About the game
Get the complete GalCiv II saga including Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords, the expansion pack Dark Avatar, and the newest expansion pack Twilight of the Arnor!
Minimum specs
Minimum on the Steam store: 512 MB of memory, 64 MB DirectX 9.0c Compatible Video Card, 2 GB of storage. Windows only.
No data upstream: achievement curve (Steam global achievements).
Cite this score
Galactic Civilizations® II: Ultimate Edition scores 49/100 on the BANG Score (a skip) as of Nov 8, 2026. Price last read Nov 3. The BANG Score rates what a game is worth for the money. Via Steam BANGERS. https://steambangers.com/game/202200/galactic-civilizations-ii-ultimate-editionReviews set the ceiling, and price against real length moves the BANG Score inside it. How it works, and where it is weak → Steam reviews as of Nov 1, price as of Nov 3. A number here look wrong? Tell me and I will check the inputs.