Home / Games / Horizon
Horizon
Horizon is a turn-based space strategy game of galactic exploration and conquest in which you are in control of humanity’s destiny. You will explore deep space, find new frontiers and discover alien artifacts hidden on long-abandoned planets.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-26 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-13.
What reviewers agree on
45 of the 100 reviews raise this.
“FINAL REVIEW: Let's start with the pros: PROS: That triumphant feeling of conquering an enemy Alien races have good design However, that's where the good ends. And now, for the cons. CONS: With the governor system, city…”
“Horizon is a very good space 4X game similar to Master of Orion. Unlike Endless Space, there are no star lanes. Ships have unlimited range and the game is more open. There are up to 10 enemy species, and they act…”
“It took me two weeks and 94 hours to finish this game and it was absolutely captivating. The learning curve was steep at first and leveled out nicely as the hours went by. The reward for sticking with it and learning…”
12 of the 100 reviews raise this.
“Horizon reminds me of the old game pax imperium only much more fleshed out and in a turn based style. Its a great game that is a bit different from the normal space strats. True it doesnt have an insane tech tree like…”
“Horizon is a bit like Master of Orion 2.5, but in a good way. My recommendation: buy it when it is on sale, that'S what I did. Otherwise it is overpriced. Pros: - Very Realistic Research System: - Each Tech can be…”
“Recommended at <=$10.00 USD, and not a penny more. This is a simplified 4x game. + Good second-screen experience. + Easy to pick up and play. + Diplomacy engine is actually half-way decent (e.g., giving things to other…”
11 of the 100 reviews raise this.
“This game is the small cousin of "Endless Space" and "Galatic Civilization II" and big brother of "weird world: return to infinite space". For the first game from this diligient Indie Studio it's not bad but it's still…”
“Horizon is a bit like Master of Orion 2.5, but in a good way. My recommendation: buy it when it is on sale, that'S what I did. Otherwise it is overpriced. Pros: - Very Realistic Research System: - Each Tech can be…”
“Old school 4x game with a few twists. For 4x veterans who like Masters of Orion or for those new to the genre who enjoyed Endless Space or StarDrive (or even didn't- since it's different enough). I like the simplified…”
10 of the 100 reviews raise this.
“It took me two weeks and 94 hours to finish this game and it was absolutely captivating. The learning curve was steep at first and leveled out nicely as the hours went by. The reward for sticking with it and learning…”
“I like this game. As far as 4X games go, it has most of the desirable features available in other games of the same genre. The Technology Tree is expansive enough to keep you researching new techs forever it seems. The…”
“The game is great. Not that great as it could be. Still the tech trees, starship construction , economy system is quite simplified and makes you focus on the main thing like quests and world dominance. There are several…”
8 of the 100 reviews raise this.
“Horizon is a very good space 4X game similar to Master of Orion. Unlike Endless Space, there are no star lanes. Ships have unlimited range and the game is more open. There are up to 10 enemy species, and they act…”
“It took me two weeks and 94 hours to finish this game and it was absolutely captivating. The learning curve was steep at first and leveled out nicely as the hours went by. The reward for sticking with it and learning…”
“Recommended at <=$10.00 USD, and not a penny more. This is a simplified 4x game. + Good second-screen experience. + Easy to pick up and play. + Diplomacy engine is actually half-way decent (e.g., giving things to other…”
46 of the 100 reviews raise this · 11 of them still recommend the game.
“This is a seriously weak 4x game, along the same lines as galactic civ, and definitely a far cry from MOO 2. The interface is seriously clunky, not even having basics like side scrolling. The tech tree is pretty weak,…”
“FINAL REVIEW: Let's start with the pros: PROS: That triumphant feeling of conquering an enemy Alien races have good design However, that's where the good ends. And now, for the cons. CONS: With the governor system, city…”
“I am a big fan of space empire games and was hoping for this to finally break the spell of bad luck I have been having trying to find a game I can really enjoy to play (I think I am about 7-8 games and £100 down now…”
20 of the 100 reviews raise this · 8 of them still recommend the game.
“This is a seriously weak 4x game, along the same lines as galactic civ, and definitely a far cry from MOO 2. The interface is seriously clunky, not even having basics like side scrolling. The tech tree is pretty weak,…”
“tl;dr: broken in many ways. "Playable" at best. Worst thing for me was painful planet micromanagement starting from middle or end game (depending on overall number of stars/planets). Custom build templates are…”
“In theory this game is great. Lots of options for customization and what not. The problem is that the interface isn't very intuitive and the combat is extremely tedius. I enjoyed playing it until an enemy declared war…”
19 of the 100 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“This is a seriously weak 4x game, along the same lines as galactic civ, and definitely a far cry from MOO 2. The interface is seriously clunky, not even having basics like side scrolling. The tech tree is pretty weak,…”
“FINAL REVIEW: Let's start with the pros: PROS: That triumphant feeling of conquering an enemy Alien races have good design However, that's where the good ends. And now, for the cons. CONS: With the governor system, city…”
“I am a big fan of space empire games and was hoping for this to finally break the spell of bad luck I have been having trying to find a game I can really enjoy to play (I think I am about 7-8 games and £100 down now…”
12 of the 100 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“This game is the small cousin of "Endless Space" and "Galatic Civilization II" and big brother of "weird world: return to infinite space". For the first game from this diligient Indie Studio it's not bad but it's still…”
“tl;dr: broken in many ways. "Playable" at best. Worst thing for me was painful planet micromanagement starting from middle or end game (depending on overall number of stars/planets). Custom build templates are…”
“For a 4x game this isnt to bad. Not high on graphics but in a 4x game thats usually not a big deal. But game mechanics is. Without doing the tutorial ( which i will later on for the achievements part ) this game is easy…”
12 of the 100 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“The strategic element is decent, but the tactical combat requires major overhauls. Also, there need to be better controls for turning ships. Quest system is excellent, offers an option other than massive gifting to…”
“In theory this game is great. Lots of options for customization and what not. The problem is that the interface isn't very intuitive and the combat is extremely tedius. I enjoyed playing it until an enemy declared war…”
“The GUI is pretty. That is the only positive thing I can say about this game. Everything else about this game, from the sound to controls to the ship design system to the system management system is horrible. I've heard…”
Counted across 100 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 59.4% positive rating · as of 2026-05-13
“Horizon is an imperfect product. It's better than many of the generic half-baked 4X games which are flooding the market as disposal-ware, but there are some very real drawbacks which limit the enjoyability of the game. For newcomers to the 4X genre who are looking to sink their…”
— a player, Steam review · 15 hrs played“Horizon is a nice mid-core 4X space game. Is it worth the price? For me, definitely. For you, quite possibly. Why? In short, because under the simple interface there's a quite deep and engaging gameplay. Not MOO2-level deep, but, please, it's almost twenty years old, let's try…”
— a player, Steam review · 249 hrs played“From the screenshots and video, I was excited to see another entry into the 4x genre, however, after playing for 20+ hours I have come to the conclusion that this game is not really ready for "non-beta" release. There are just so many things that are not ready, not implemented,…”
— a player, Steam review · 21 hrs playedAchievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-26.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-08-12. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-25). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Horizon [1.0.2.156] release notes
January 25, 2024 v1.0.2.156 We have a small update to refine a couple of things based on feedback and also shed some light on how the game difficulty settings affect the game, which we hope will help
Horizon [1.0.2.155] Winter Notes
Wishing everyone peace and happy holidays! We have a small update for Horizon (notes below). Also if you haven't already got the Horizon Deluxe DLC and interested you can view it here DLC Page . Decem
Help Nominate Horizon for the Steam Awards in the "Labor of Love" category!
Open frequencies... Hailing all Commanders! The Autumn Seasonal Sale is here and along with it the year's Steam Awards nominations. Horizon is eligible for the "Labor of Love" award this year for our
Horizon [1.0.2.154] release notes
October 15, 2023 v1.0.2.154 This update optimizes the game textures footprint in system and video memory, reducing usage by up to 30%. Tactical Combat (QOL) * A selected ship's weapons status are now
Horizon [1.0.2.153] Hotfix
October 8, 2023 v1.0.2.153 This Hotfix should address a crash when viewing/engaging certain quest mobs in tactical. Our apologies, this bug was inadvertently introduced with yesterday's optimization u
Games like Horizon
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
Interstellar Space: Genesis
84.7% · 706 reviews
shares 4x, Grand Strategy, Turn Based, Replay Value
ENDLESS™ Space - Definitive Edition
79.3% · 5,885 reviews
shares 4x, Grand Strategy, Turn Based, Replay Value
Shadow Empire
83.2% · 1,545 reviews
shares 4x, Grand Strategy, Wargame, Turn Based
Xenonauts 2
83.0% · 3,153 reviews
shares 4x, Grand Strategy, Wargame, Turn Based
Breachway
80.2% · 954 reviews
shares 4x, Grand Strategy, Turn Based, Replay Value
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
84.5% · 3,124 reviews
shares 4x, Turn Based, Replay Value, Turn Based Tactics
Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War
80.1% · 9,238 reviews
shares 4x, Grand Strategy, Wargame, Turn Based
ZEPHON
84.6% · 1,119 reviews
shares 4x, Grand Strategy, Turn Based, Turn Based Tactics
Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Adventure, Indie, Simulation, Strategy, Free To Play |
| Player tags | Strategy · Grand Strategy · Space · 4X · Simulation · Sci-fi · Exploration · Sandbox · Singleplayer · Turn-Based · Turn-Based Strategy · Turn-Based Tactics (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Steam Trading Cards · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * , German * , Polish * , Spanish - Spain, French, Russian * |
| Achievements | 42 |
| Official site | http://www.HorizonGame.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows XP SP3 Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 64 2.0 GHz Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: 512 MB Video Card w/Pixel Shader 3.0 Support DirectX®: 9.0c Hard Drive: 10 GB HD free space Sound: DirectX 9.0c-compatible