YonanThe fourth DLC and third race pack for Distant Worlds 2 after the Ikkuro and Dhayut and Quameno and Gizurean packs, the Atuuk and Wekkarus pack is set to release on April 3 and it’s just as high quality as the previous packs. The trend of one good and one evil race sort of continues with the naive optimist Atuuk and the secretive, ancient worshipping Wekkarus who aren’t quite the eat your face Gizureans, but does anyone that resembles Cthulhu get the benefit of the doubt?
Each race has entirely new shipsets, unique storylines and mechanics that are even more involved than previous races. Alongside the DLC is the free Control update that came with updates to the Zenox and Boskara races to bring them in line with the feature rich designs of the newer races. It’s been an excellent refinement of what was already the top space 4X game that was admittedly a little rough around the edges at launch.
It’s impossible to not like the optimistic, if foolhardy Atuuk. They’re just so cute! This is actually represented mechanically in Distant Worlds 2 with flat bonuses, buildings that provide more bonuses, and through their story missions and their unique mechanics that all improve their diplomatic ability.
They are however about as smart as they look and this shows in their slow research. They can however choose to speed it up by focusing their society on it should they choose – at the cost of the other Great Direction options, all of which provide substantial bonuses to a single area.
By the way, their ships occasionally blow up. Ok moving on!
Ships
Atuuk ships have a smooth low-tech Jetsons style look about them, using an an interesting staggered, asymmetrical design with many 45 degree angled mounts providing for a narrow forward arc but extended coverage of the sides.
Not a fan of fighter-craft, the Atuuk do not get any hangar capable ships until cruisers and even then it’s only a single hangar and they have no race-specific combat tech.
The Wekkarus are a mysterious octopoid race whose resemblance to Cthulhu is purely an unfortunate happenstance, there is no worshipping of elder gods happening here. Completely unrelated, the Wekkarus worship their ancestors and can manifest them in reality as ghost-characters or ghost-ships. To reiterate, this is totally not due to Cthulhu.
Moving on again as though all is well, the Wekkarus are a reclusive race that lives at the bottom of oceans, favoring espionage over war and speed over brawn. They are more defensively oriented than offensive, with a flat bonus to stealth on all their ships, ground combat and bombardment resistance and more. Cthulhu spawn Ghost ships can have a surprising impact on combat in early game
Ships
Easily the most beautiful in the game and clearly displaying their oceanic heritage, the Wekkarus ships and structures all look as though they’d be at home under the ocean with sleek hydrodynamic lines. Their ships vary substantially in weapons layout, from the frigate with one weapon in each cardinal direction to the star destroyer-esque battleship with layers of angled forward facing batteries at the front and many covering the rear. When the Wekkarus *do* deign to meet you in combat, they’ll bring their A-game.
As with the Atuuk, the Wekkarus are not a fighter craft oriented race. What they do have, is a more powerful, unique racial Pulse Wave Cannon that blocks off research of the standard pulse weapons, plus a unique ion shield called the HydroCore Capacitor, and a high-powered Constrictor tractor beam to get their tentacle on.
Any Distant Worlds 2 player should easily get enough value out of this DLC to justify the price. If you like one or both of the races, then that is of course the most value as the race has a substantial impact on gameplay in Distant Worlds 2. Even if you don’t however, adding them as potential friends and enemies in your games definitely spices things up as there’s more variety each game – are you neighboring the Atuuk as a federation builder? Easy allies and a good head start. Or are you neighboring the secretive Wekkarus who want nothing to do with you and they constantly target you for espionage, making you have to choose between war, tolerance, or a difficult to obtain ally. The unique mechanics of both races are fun, but the Atuuk take the crown here with their Great Direction and unique leaders. The Wekkarus however have beautiful ships with a weapons layout that’s very appealing… decisions decisions…
This review utilised keys provided by Slitherine. The Atuuk and Wekkarus DLC are available on Steam for $AU14.50 ($US9.99) or the publisher’s website as of April 3, 2025, and Distant Worlds 2 is available on Steam for $AU73.50 ($US49.99) currently discounted 50% to $AU36.75 ($US24.99) with similar discounts on the other DLC.
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Chris Inglis
