ENDLESS™ Legend - Symbiosis Review Summary

Mykara's visuals and lore are engaging, but they're underpowered while Urkans are overpowered, and the DLC introduces many bugs.

Mykara faction is well-received: Players consistently praise the new Mykara faction as interesting, fun, and unique. The faction's distinct playstyle and creative design are highlighted as major positives.

Mykara visual design loved: The aesthetic of the Mykara, including their bioluminescent theme and unit designs, is highly praised. The visual style of overgrowing opponents is considered a creative and cool concept.

Mykara story and lore engaging: The Mykara's storyline and quests are considered interesting and not bothersome to complete. The lore and final quest rewards are also praised, adding to the overall experience.

Mykara fungal bloom mechanics praised: The Mykara's fungal bloom system, which allows resource generation, teleportation, and territory expansion, is a standout feature. Players enjoy the strategic depth it adds to the one-city playstyle.

One-city playstyle is unique: The Mykara's restriction to a single city is seen as a unique and enjoyable challenge. It allows players to focus on different game elements and is compared favorably to the Cultists.

Mykara are underpowered and weak: The Mykara faction is repeatedly criticized for having weak units, low damage output, and being generally underpowered compared to other factions. Players find them tedious and not fun to play.

Urkans are overpowered and unbalanced: Multiple reviews consistently describe the Urkans as extremely powerful, unbalancing the game, and overshadowing all other units. They are noted as nigh-unkillable, dealing insane damage, and breaking game balance.

Urkans are frustrating and poorly implemented: The Urkan mechanic is seen as frustrating, poorly implemented, and requiring guesswork. It adds nuisance skirmishes and makes the game a slog, with no real counters.

Mykara expansion mechanics are flawed: The Mykara expansion mechanics are criticized for being slow, easily destroyed, and not allowing the faction to keep pace with others. Fungal blooms take too long to build and are easily destroyed.

DLC introduces many bugs: The DLC is reported to have numerous bugs, including pathing issues, crashes, and balance problems. Some bugs from the base game remain unfixed, and new ones have been introduced.

Mykara limited to one city: Multiple clusters highlight that the Mykara faction can only have a single city, making them a unique one-city faction similar to the Cultists. This is a core design constraint that shapes their entire playstyle.

Urkans tamed via resources or combat: Urkans can be tamed either by spending luxury resources or by defeating them in battle. This dual method provides players with multiple ways to acquire these powerful units.

Urkans provide regional buffs: Urkans are new units that can be settled in neutral regions to provide buffs to adjacent allied cities and debuffs to enemy cities. They can also be used as normal army units, offering flexible strategic options.

Performance issues persist across versions: Players report ongoing performance problems in the base game that remain unfixed, and the latest expansion has further degraded performance. This includes lag, slow interface loading, and freezes after downloading the expansion.

Possible memory leak causes lag: Players suspect a memory leak in the game, as lag becomes noticeable after about an hour of play. This indicates a technical issue that degrades the experience over time and may require a restart to mitigate.

Recommended for hardcore fans: The DLC is recommended only for the most dedicated Endless Legend fans, especially those who own other expansions. Casual players are advised to skip it.

Better alternatives exist: Reviewers suggest getting other Endless Legend DLCs instead, such as Shifters, Tempest, or Guardians. The new faction is considered inferior to existing ones like the Necrophages.

Community fair range: $15.00 - $25.00.

The DLC content is widely reported as tedious, boring, and buggy, making the game less fun rather than more, with no point at which it becomes enjoyable.

Friction: tedious faction gameplay; underpowered faction; bugs; boring spying mechanic; Urkans disrupt progression; overpowered and boring content.

Mykara Devotee: Build tall with a single city, focusing on mycelium mechanics, often in solo or coop games. Motivation: Exploring the unique Mykara faction and its unconventional playstyle. Stance: buy.

Competitive Multiplayer: Plays multiplayer, optimizes strategies, and evaluates faction viability. Motivation: Seeking balanced and fair multiplayer matches. Stance: no buy.

Veteran Amplitude Critic: Experienced 4X player, likely plays all factions and expansions, evaluates content critically. Motivation: Maintaining quality and balance standards across Amplitude's catalog. Stance: no buy.

Mod reliance: The reviews indicate that some players consider the Endless Legend Community Patch (ELCP) necessary for fixes and balance, but no specific game-breaking bugs are mentioned. The language is strong ('only usable', 'avoid if not planning to use'), yet without concrete bug reports, this is classified as a preference rather than a true mod tax.

Outsourced development concerns: The DLC was developed by NGD studios, an outsourced third-party, which raised concerns about quality and support. Similar issues were noted with the Inferno expansion and Endless Space 2 expansions.

Mykara faction is fungus-based: The Mykara faction is a fungus faction that spreads mycelium across the world, offering a unique playstyle. It is compared to the Fungus from The Last of Us and other factions like Cultists.

Urkans compared to other game units: Reviewers compare the Urkan war beasts to units from Battlefield 1, Endless Space 2, and Civilization 6, noting their overpowered nature. This highlights balance concerns.

New faction and Urkan mechanic: The expansion introduces the Mykara faction and the Urkan tamable creatures, adding new gameplay elements. This is a core feature of the DLC, mentioned in multiple clusters.

Urkans can be disabled: Players can turn off the Urkan mechanic in game settings, either through the ELCP or a later update. This allows players to enjoy other DLC content without the controversial beasts.