Slitherine

It looks similiar. Not that thats a bad thing!

It looks great. Probably the best looking Slitherine/Matrix game out there.

Considering Proxy studio previous game Conquest, and the work they made since, I think it is a custom engine.

edit: Moreover the game use OpenGL and OpenAL insted of DirectX.

Would love to see something historical using this engine. Panzer Corps, or even a Cold War / Modern game.

Conquest was an amazing tactical war game. Unfortunately it had almost no attention at all.
Would great idea would be to expand on the game to have sort of those historical war genre.

The only thing similar is the hex-based system in terms of actual engine. Everything else would have to be redone from scratch.

Yes this is an entirely custom built engine.

With the release being today, I would think I am safe to talk about it as I was a beta tester.

The combat in this game is done the right way, that utilizes hexes and allows to keep your stacks. Selecting and moving single, groups, or whole stacks of your units is super easy to manage. The custom units add a whole new dimension as well. Comparing this game to Civ5 gameplay wise would be a dis service, but quality wise I would accept that. . For what a small team can accomplish, shows that half of the money spent on CIV5 developers was a waste.

This game is a must have if you are a Alpha Centauri/Civ 4 fan.

Pendora can't be similar to Civ5, for this Civ needs Steam.