When does Master of Orion get good?

Give it 10 hours. In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (55%); after 35h it's 1 in 6 (17%). Fully opens up by hour 35.

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Strategy

Master of Orion

Aug 25, 2016 Steam: Mostly Positive

Give it 10 hours

Gets good by 10h then rated almost like by veterans

Fully opens up by 35h rated like by long-time players

Started playing 86% of owners

Steam reviews 77% positive of 8,208

What the data shows

In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (55%); after 35h it's 1 in 6 (17%).
Fully opens up by hour 35.
The opening is criticised more than in 84% of games we track.
The game has no story achievements, so drop-off points can't be measured.
86% of owners got the first achievement.

When it gets good

Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.

before it gets good opening up fully opened up

Based on all 8,202 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 300 reviews: 77.7h for positive, 36.2h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.

Where players quit

Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (85.5% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.

This game has no story achievements, so we can't tell where players quit.

All achievements (102)

story milestone ending side

One Small Step Colonize your first planet 100%
In a Hurry Colonize the first planet your Colony Ship visits in a match 96%
Real Time Commander Command and win your first Tactical Battle 87%
Business is Business Successful trade with another Race for the first time 87%
Hungry Game Develop a Colony that yields 20 Food Points per turn 83%
Duty Calls Build 2 Marine Barracks 81%
Classified Build your first Spy Center 80%
War Never Changes Declare War for the first time 74%
No Vacancy Have 2 planets fully populated 72%
Royal Navy Destroy 15 Pirate ships 68%
This Ain't Cheap Have a fleet that costs more than 30 Command Points 67%
Peronism Don’t have strikes in any of your colonies for 80 turns 66%
Terminus Have a Colony yielding 70 Research Points 58%
One more turn! Play 1000 turns 52%
Alien Roommate Have a colony with at least 1 Population Unit of another race in a match 50%
Scavenger Discover 3 Anomalies and Bombard 2 Pirate bases in a match 47%
eXpand Colonize every planet in 5 systems 44%
You Shall not Pass Block all warp points to your home planet before turn 20 43%
Crunch Time Research 8 Technologies before turn 50 38%
The More the Merrier Engage in combat using a fleet of 20 or more ships 38%
Get Smart Successfully gather information on 5 Colonies in a match via espionage 36%
Science! Complete the entire tech tree for the first time 32%
Off With Their Heads Kill 5 spies 30%
Master of The Universe Have at least 1 colony on 20 different stars 30%
Exodus Use at least 15 Civilian Transports in a match 30%
So Say We All Establish 100 colonies 28%
Megalomaniac Build 20 Ships before turn 100 27%
Conqueror Invade 10 colonies in a match 27%
Turns are Relative Buy 30 ships in a match 26%
Where we're going, we don't need Starlanes. Build 15 Jumpgates in a match 22%
Get Off My Lawn Deport 5 spies 20%
Collector Colonize a planet in each possible biome in a match 18%
Wild, Wild West Colonize at least 5 Desert planets in a match 18%
Populous Reach 15 Population Units before turn 35 17%
Top of the Class Win by Excellence Victory for the first time 17%
Wolf of the Galaxy Win by Economic Victory for the first time 16%
Transcendental Win by Technological Victory for the first time 16%
Still here Play 5000 turns 16%
Curious George Spy on all races during a match 15%
The Creator Convert 10 Asteroid Fields / Gas Giants into Inhabitable Planets 15%
Terror from the Deep Colonize at least 5 Oceanic planets in a match 14%
With Quill and Word Win by Diplomatic Victory for the first time 14%
None Like It Hot Colonize at least 5 Volcanic planets in a match 14%
Shopaholic Buy 1000 structures or ships 13%
Monster Hunter Eliminate all Space Monsters in a match 12%
Jumper Use your Jump Gates 100 times during a match 12%
eXplore Visit all systems in the galaxy during a match 11%
Warren Buffet Win by Economic Victory with 80% or more of the outstanding GMF Shares. 9.9%
Kill many, and you're a conqueror Win by Conquest Victory for the first time 9.6%
Attila Invade 100 planets 9.4%
That's no star Destroy an opponent's Homeworld using the Doomstar 8.4%
Obsession Play 10000 turns 7.8%
Unscathed Win by Conquest without losing a single colony 6.9%
Dangerous Minds Completely research the Tech Tree and win by Conquest 6.7%
Moby Dick Destroy 5000 ships 5.4%
Rush Defeat Orion's Guardian before turn 150 5.3%
I Like it Small Win by any victory with only 5 planets colonized including your homeworld 4.4%
Backstabber Break 150 pacts 4.4%
Area 51 Spy on the Humans as a Psilon 4.3%
I Am Become Death Destroy 20 planets with a Doomstar in a match 3.7%
Manifest Destiny Win by Economic Victory with Humans 3.5%
Right in the Heart Successfully Incite Revolt on a Darlok Colony 3.4%
"007" Have 7 spies on 7 different races 3.3%
It is me, Your Brother! Win by Diplomatic Victory with Meklar 3.0%
The Nash Ultimatum Win by Economic victory with Psilon 3.0%
Dinner’s ready! Win a match in less than 100 turns 2.8%
Cave-dweller Turn 20 planets into Cavernous 2.7%
Where Credit is Due Watch the credits in full 2.7%
Resource Maniac Build 10 Asteroid mines inside your empire 2.7%
Iran-Contra Incite Revolt in 3 different opponents' colonies 2.6%
Your Neutrality Ally with all Races 2.5%
This Is Just the Beginning Win by all Victory types with any race 2.3%
Feline Paradise Turn 20 planets into Grassland 2.2%
Trade Winds Win by Economic Victory with the Alkari 2.0%
Brazil Turn 20 planets into Tropical 2.0%
Marxist Dystopia Win by Economic Victory with Klackon 1.9%
Old Grudge Eliminate the Alkari first while playing as Mrrshan 1.9%
Flower Power Win the game without building a single military ship 1.9%
First Among Equals Win a multiplayer match 1.9%
Hell-O Turn 20 planets into Inferno 1.9%
Group Therapy Win by Diplomatic Victory with Silicoid 1.8%
Itch to Scratch Win by Technological Victory with Mrrshan 1.6%
Homeless Get your capital planet blown up in a super nova 1.5%
Secrets of the Earth Win by Technological Victory with the Bulrathi 1.5%
Rule of the Many Win by Diplomatic Victory with Sakkra 1.4%
Unseen Blade Win by Military Victory with the Darlok 1.4%
Galactus Destroy 100 Planets 1.4%
Reptilians! Win by Technological Victory with Sakkra 1.3%
A Rose By Any Other Name Rename 100 Blueprints 1.1%
Alkari Mastery Win all original victory types with the Alkari 0.7%
Human Mastery Win all original victory types with the Human 0.7%
Meklar Mastery Win all original victory types with the Meklar 0.7%
Mrrshan Mastery Win all original victory types with the Mrrshan 0.7%
Psilon Mastery Win all original victory types with the Psilon 0.7%
Silicoid Mastery Win all original victory types with the Silicoid 0.7%
Bulrathi Mastery Win all original victory types with the Bulrathi 0.6%
Darlok Mastery Win all original victory types with the Darlok 0.6%
Ironman Win the game with all races at least once in Hard difficulty 0.6%
Klackon Mastery Win all original victory types with the Klackon 0.6%
Sakkra Mastery Win all original victory types with the Sakkra 0.6%
Master of Orion Win all victory types with all races 0.5%
Can't Make Up Your Mind Scrap 600 Blueprints 0.5%

Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.