Neptune's Pride II: Triton released, promises more strategic scheming in space

Good news for fans of galactic conquest, bad news for fans of having and keeping friends: Iron Helmet's real-time multiplayer space strategy Neptune's Pride is back with a sequel. Neptune's Pride II: Triton sports a shiny new HTML5 engine - adding tablet and phone support to the browser-based game - as well as an overhauled UI, and new tech and research options. A short tutorial video explains how these new features can help you to betray anyone you've ever cared about.

Neptune's Pride was an odd one. It's both really good, and a game I swore to never play again. Your in-game actions are relatively simple - you research tech, build fleets, trade, and fight with your opponents to own the majority of stars in a galaxy. Every action takes hours in real time, so a big enough game can last weeks, even months. That means most of the game takes place outside of your moves: in messages and chat clients. Alliances are formed, schemes schemed, betrayals inevitable.

When I played, it was with a group of friends, and I still remember the reaction of my flatmate as he returned home from work and discovered my triple-cross had left him with a handful of stars and no hope of a comeback. He wasn't annoyed or angry, just... sad. Stretched out over months, your actions in the game take on a weird significance. I felt horrible. It was probably only the third-worst thing I did in that campaign.

My tale of shame, regret and occasional cackling triumph was far from the exception, judging from the PCG vs RPS war diaries. You can read how that galactic struggle unfolded over at our old home at CVG. Here are parts 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 and 7 .

You can play Neptune's Pride 2: Triton right now, here . It's free-to-play, so the only cost is that of the friendships you sacrifice.

Thanks, RPS .

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.

Latest in Strategy
Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the Ice Queen of Kislev
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
Civilization 7 Great Britain - Modern Civ art (via YouTube)
As Civilization 7 struggles to keep up with Civ 5 player counts, a new patch is coming tomorrow with still more UI changes and gameplay tweaks
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
King wielding his axe against would-be assassins in Norland.
Medieval colony sim Norland is getting a 'damn big update' that completely overhauls the game's mechanics: 'We're rolling out some radical changes to the core gameplay'
Age of Empires 2
Former Age of Empires 2 dev claims Microsoft demanded its first expansion should have a Korean faction, because 'StarCraft sold 3 million copies in Korea'
Endless Legend 2 Kin faction reveal
It's turtle time: Endless Legend 2's first faction is the fortification-loving Kin of Sheredyn
Latest in News
Two brightly colored stormtroopers dressed like Run-DMC stand in front of PAX Australia's WELCOME HOME banner.
Tickets for PAX Australia 2025 are on sale now
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again