Stellaris

Fantastic sci-fi 4X game. Ignore recent reviews; they are by Chinese players who are whining about a new DLC for a completely different game.

Keep coping West Taiwan -10000 Social Credit
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Stellaris is an outstanding game that I've spent countless hours playing. Its highly replayable content, combined with the vast array of choices available, keeps every playthrough fresh and engaging. On top of that, the modding community is one of the best I've ever been a part of, adding even more depth and variety to the experience.

I love my super tall empire, Taiwan. It really helped me with these great game features so I was able to beat out the larger empire next to me and turn it from Bhina into Greater Taiwan. Was good stuff.

I've got too many hours in this game. Too many. I don't agree with Paradox's DLC policies, they have a lot of interesting tactics. But you know what, I still love this game, even if I'm too dumb to figure out how to play properly.

And fuck West Taiwan.

Game is good, battles can work a lot better though but that is paradox for you. Also the Chinese players are salty because of HOI4 update go cry some more Commies!!

I don’t even remember when I first picked up Stellaris, but now, with over 400 hours played and all the DLCs, I can confidently say this game is incredible. It offers a deep and immersive strategy experience, though it does come with a bit of a learning curve.

For anyone who loves grand strategy games, empire-building, and the thrill of exploring the galaxy, Stellaris is a must-play. Highly recommended!

10/10 – Endless possibilities, infinite fun.

Stellaris is a very fun game with a lot to do. You can rule your interstellar empire, engage in both diplomacy and war with other empires. There is even multiplayer so you can play with friends. The downside of course, like many similar games, is a large amount of DLC. If you are picking the game up for the first time, I would recommend researching what DLCs are worthwhile to pick up. I think the earlier ones like Utopia, Nemesis, and Overlord are well worth it, since they add a lot of features that mods depend on. You can also try the subscription just to see what all the DLCs have to offer. Alternatively, have a friend with the DLCs host a multiplayer game and join them. You'll be able to experience what the DLCs have to offer.

Speaking of mods, the modding community is very active, and Paradox Interactive has made it very easy to mod the game personally. There are some really great mods that add an entire expansions worth of content. Also if you look at the achievement stats, most people never play unmodded. Of course this could also be they simply don't play with the Iron Man mode on, but eh.

Be warned though, late game performance is notoriously bad, especially on older machines. This is largely due to populations and colonies, however that is an issue that can be solved with... Xenophobic actions. You could also look for mods that clean up the code and improve performance, but come on, just crack a world or ten, its fine. NOTE: as of writing this review, the developer has showcased changes to the pop system, some late game performance may be better.

Very complicated game that requires a little bit of research on youtube before you really know what you are doing, but once you get a vague idea it is a super fun game.

I've been a long time Stellaris player, I have had some great games and lots of memorable moments playing! That being said, all of these happened before it's current build of many DLCs overlapping and constant AI "tweaks" that make it feel so very different to the amazing game I've played in the past.

Some things that have annoyed/frustrated me to the point of no longer playing:

1. Vassals near holy fallen empires will routinely colonize their holy worlds, the fallen empire will declare war on me to "purge" the vassal planet, then promptly ignore said planet and decimate my core worlds on the other side of the galaxy. This has happened in three separate games now, I just stopped trying to get vassals near holy fallen empires.

2. I've noticed AI fleets will often retreat to their systems a few jumps away after a few months following a defeat within their territory, health mostly intact around 60-80%, while my own fleets take vastly longer amounts of time (sometimes years) within my territory and are usually around 20-40% health. This makes it to where even when I win fleet engagements handily, I usually have to retreat for repairs or lose the next time I fight the same fleet a few systems over.

3. Not as often, I've attacked a reinforced capital system and before I took the station, I had to defeat their main fleet twice, once when I first attacked the system and again when they returned from MIA. Which leads me to think the AI just has reduced MIA times in general and feels very unbalanced when the player fleets can frequently take multiple years MIA.

4. Probably the rarest to occur but mechanics overlap from all the different DLCs, really breaking immersion and fun in general. It's gotten progressively worse with special events in particular, sometimes an event will trigger and then years later the opposite effect will happen. An example: The main one I have trouble with, to the point I contemplate restarting whenever I get this pop-up. You find a subterranean civilization on one of your worlds, do a preemptive strike against them and "wipe them out," event completes, wait a few years and then get a pop-up "the subterranean civilization sends a delegation of minerals to the surface or asks us to share our weapons with them" then followed a few years later by "your excavators explore the ruins of the subterranean civilization and find the treasury" or I've even gotten the "refugees fleeing political persecution" pop up, years after I destroyed their civilization. Also off the top of my head small events that explore the ocean beneath an ice planet double triggers and one where you excavate poor quality minerals for higher quality minerals. There's no shortage of little quirks and overlaps with events that are pretty minor individually but they pile up and make role playing way less enjoyable then it used to be.

In short, I would've recommended Stellaris a few years ago to anyone who would listen but now I don't think I could.

I cannot stop playing this game, I even play it during important meetings. This is probably one of my most high rated games ever! I love it. Hate end game Empires.

I remember playing this game some years ago. It was quite mediocre, not bad, enjoyable but not great, and not worth a replay. Came back few days ago: and it became quite great! They seem to constantly update the base game every year and it gets better and better. I have only one dlc as I had before. Some say that the base game is not worth it without dlc. Well, not anymore. Actually I don't even suggest playing your first game with all dlc-s enabled, it is just too overwhelming. Its much more entertaining to buy them one-by-one as you get used to the already super compex base game. However I should admit, you need to buy some dlc to fix some (non-showstopper) bugs, which is eh... For example I have asset window overlapping my covert operation progress (operation assets are dlc exclusive, so I would need to buy the relevant dlc to fix it).

Its amazing. Though the first 5 hour you had to learn some mechanic even now i learn new strategy, method and some hidden mechanic. I can assure you when you get hang of it will be enjoyable and a bit addicted. The long complex mechanism is to make you feel you actually can control all. You are the ruler or a god some will feel. must try game.

Bland point and click adventure in space. Instead of exploring the vast expanses of space you just are clicking small icons all game till some fallen empire or crisis wipes you out. It just bombards you with stuff that is utterly meaningless. Technologies gets researched faster then you can read them, leader traits pop up every 5 seconds,... If you manage to beat the spam of pop-ups you can try your hand at micromanaging probably the most sterile UI ever or maybe even attack some neighbor only to be stuck in a Galaxy wide ship chase where you can win all your battles but somehow lose systems.

But in the end, the thing that most irritates me is that its just another Paradox map painter. This time just without the historical aspect that makes their other games fun and engaging. Here instead of just coloring some part of Europe your color you get to paint a part of a plain circle with some glowing dots your color.

... But at least you get to establish communications with a duck/tree hybrid or whatever.

I would recommend it though to anyone who has tried literally every other game on the steam store already or people who just dont value their time.

people says it's hard to learn or whatever but if you just figure out the basic systems it's really easy

How to play:
1. learn how to play the game
2. find out about "the meta"
3. go to try out "the meta", game updates as you open it.
4. what
5. learn how to play the game again

I have spent the majority of my time playing as a Disney-like Mega corp species of Anthropomorphic dog creatures who make large political moves to centralize power on themselves.
My biggest win was banning organic slave trade (by a SLIM margin) while also being the galaxy's largest exporter of robot labor.
When the AI rises, my dogs will answer for their hubris, but that's a problem for the next generation.

Great game, but wait for a discount like 90 to 95% and wait for all the expansions to come out which will probably be never.

But it on summer sale in a giant discount, this game has so many DLC's that it makes me question the fabric of reality. It's fun, a very good game, don't get me wrong, but it's like being a Magic The Gathering user if you don't wait for sale.

Lovr this game played it a lot on console already and PC is as nice with less lag in the midgame

Like playing with a rubix cube for the first time if you're like me and new to the game! In a fun way that you just keep turning it over to find a new detail! Like a delicious, complex flavor profile :)

They also really capture what it must feel like to make first contact.

loving the game, but feeling like it was small when it could be soooo much more, and then we see the overpriced DLCs and yeah... pricing rerally hurts this game too. Still dont understand these games and monthly subscriptions either.

great stratgy game but the DLC is expensive

Good game. Wish for a fix on the low performing expansions. But this game is my favorite Paradox release. The head-cannon experience is amazing.

I really enjoyed playing this game. I like the random start locations and alien races. New races keep turning up. Exploration is fun. Good automatic settings. moderately complex. It took me 5 games to get it all under my belt. combat is OK but you have to work on getting your fleet together and then moved to the right location. Add in tech research to help with that and you have a well rounded game. Nice job Paradox team!!

Let me start by first saying, good lord, this game is very overwhelming and intimidating for the first hour. It dumps a LOT of systems on you (especially if you’re me, who subscribed to get all DLC). They take some time to understand, well, a very basic understanding at least.

However, after that initial period of learning, this game is absolutely phenomenal. Expanding my space empire through exploration, colonizing, and warfare is awesome. The exploration and events are so cool! I love how I can use the diplomacy to create migration treaties, then use those migrant aliens to colonize worlds that my own race may not have been able to inhabit. Warfare is also a lot of fun, and it actually takes some planning and logistics!

There are many other things I love about this game, but I’ll leave it at just that for now! I highly recommend this game to any science fiction strategy enjoyer!

A review for those who dread starting this game in 2025+

I've started to play in December 2024 after wanting to play and avoiding it for several years. Here's what I can say:

0. This game is craaazy good. All the stories they tell about how great and amazing it is -- are true.
1. Basic version of the game is enough for starting players. Don't be afraid to miss something if you don'f buy all the expansions. The game is very interesting, complex and engaging in its basic form.
2. It is fairly complex and I've had to watch some videos and read some tips before I've got a grip. But once I've learned the basics moving forward was way easier.
3. The game is loooong. Basicly the hours you see as I write this review are the hours it took me to play my first "standard" game from start to finish. Honestly completing the game feels more like finishing Mass Effect than like finishing CiV-like game. For me this is the greatest turn-off of the game. It's just too long for me. I enjoyed playing it, but it's not like Civ where you finish one game just to start another in a few days. I'll probably play more of Stellaris in the future, but as I've said it'll be more similar to going back for another run of Mass Effect than to starting another Civ game.

That said... I've had a great experience. I witnessed the 300 years of my star nation, made great scientific discoveries, fought bitter and desperate wars and explored the galaxy. I've learned of civilizations that rose and fell before the beginning of time of humans. I remember the greatest leaders of my nation by names. I've created a thriving society that embraced life in all forms and had some of the best living standards in the galaxy. And stood a test of time.

If you love 4x games at all I recommend you give this game a try. It is one of a kind

At first I didn't understood the game, I was confused and disoriented, but when I finally understood what I needed to do, it was very entertaining. Being able to create your own civilization with its own lore, is incredible, keep in mind the vast amount of constructions and technologies you can research and build, so many galactic civilizations to purge, allie, or trade. A great game!

Don't get this game if you are an achievement hunter, at least until they stop releasing updates and sell the whole package at a deep discount. It's a great game and if you don't care about achievements, it can be extremely enjoyable and has great replayability. However, Paradox has weaponized the achievement chase by releasing expensive, low quality, unfun updates, each time adding new achievements. Like I said, if you don't care about achievements, this won't bother you. You can play the base game and be satisfied. I chase achievements and this game makes me angry just thinking about how I kept getting duped into yet one more DLC.

Very fun game to roleplay in and you feel a part of the empire you make. Takes a while to get used to the mechanics but that is the fun part, there is so much you can do in the game and there are surprises!

This is one of my favorite games to play, though I play from a more role-playing aspect. Definitly a fun time for anyone who is a fan of Grand RTS games.

Almost 1000 hours of game. Long way. This game changed so drastically over last years. Still a nice place. Mods allowing to create you your own universe...Better that this one.

This game is very good, nice combat, killing billions of other space thingys and taking the Universe for mine 11/10 would recommend :)

Strategy, Technology Advancement, Fast paced or slow based on play style, story lines, diverse ways to play and build your empires...fun for multiplayer as team or versus. I enjoyed Masters of Orion series and this one is very close to that type of game, but with faster action and wider ranges and ways to play.

A really good PDX title for space, only big problem for me is the war and diplomacy systems. Would still recommend though.

Stellaris is many things wrapped into a single package. First and foremost, it's your classic Paradox spreadsheet simulator. However, if you allow yourself to put that into the background, and look more closely, Stellaris is far more unique from any other 4x space game, as well as unique when compared to other Paradox games. Stellaris allows for roleplay on a galactic stage like no other game ever has. There are so many customization options for your empire, and so many decisions in the course of a game that can change the direction of your people, as well as the galaxy. As far as FEEL goes, Stellaris can be Warhammer 40k like no current 40k game can, or Star Wars like no other Star Wars game, or it can be Mass Effect, or it can be Star Trek, and most of all it can be a thing all it's own. Stellaris is full of its own lore that you may, or may not, allow to influence your Empires. It is everything all at once, or it isn't if you don't want it to be. The choice is always your's. 10/10

This game with all the dlcs and expansions + around 30 mods = legendary. There is a mod (wild space) to expand the galaxy to 3000 stars , some as empty spaces (void). Although it lags later on, it is an awesome experience.

This game is like gambling. It's easy to start, but it's hard to stop.
Most addictive game I've ever played, 11/10

Orange Approved :D

No, no, no, no! Don't buy it.
This is, at the time of writing, a 10-year old game, priced as a new 3A. It has graphics and interface from 2016, it has horrible optimization and doesn't even know how to use multiple CPU cores. The game will gradually slow down as you play, so "destroy planets to reduce lag" is an actual meme in the community. My attempts at multiplayer had even more horrifying performance.

But the awful performance and high price for the base game is not what makes me write this review. It's the "DLC"s and "DLC subscription". The thing is, there's nothing to do in Stellaris without DLCs. All the content is carefully paywalled behind those. DLCs themselves aren't DLCs even: their content is included in the base game you buy, just locked away until you buy the DLC. This game is not worth it.

I have not been playing this game for long as of now nor have I put much SERIOUS effort into it, I'm a newbie. but I have played enough to know that this is the best grand strategy game I will ever play. the amount of play-styles and paths it allows for you to take is incredible and the variable outcomes in every play-through make it an easily re playable adventure. peaceful democracy one day, autocratic warrior society the next, theocratic oligarchy the next. not to mention how FUN the combat is. yeah it ain't the flashiest thing watching your fleet travel and fight from a map and even zooming in on them does not give too much of a show, but the feeling of managing a galaxy wide war effort, half a dozen fleets, rotating them in and out of the front, managing multiple fronts sometimes, organizing a home defense and cutting off choke points, the sheer scale of war in this game is incredible. there is legitimate urgency because if you make a mistake or your ships are a hair too slow in arriving somewhere, you could suffer a shift in momentum that sets you back massively, be it an enemy fleet blitzing through a hub and deep int your territory before you can cut them off, or neglecting to reinforce one fleet or build defenses around one station and suffering a defeat. this game is real warfare

Terrible, I was actually pretty excited to play this game until the I had problems with the Paradox launcher not recognizing the steam install of this game. Searched up if there was a quick fix and there was not instead If I wanted to play this game I'd either have to go into the game file and launch the .exe or go into some game files to correct whatever is going on.

I really love incompetent game developers. I really do not appreciate anyone that developed this game or the launcher for it.

Great game, if you like RTS space games.
You can easily sink hundreds of hours into just the base game alone, and although there is a bit of a learning curb, this game is pretty damn awesome.

Things I like.
Quite a bit of customization.
large fleets and battles resulting in tug of war galactic conquest attempts.
the game is ever evolving and highly competitive with the other AI players.
I haven't actually won very many games despite many of them being 100+ hours... granted I'm playing on mostly the larger settings.

Things I dislike.
The political/alliance system is a little broken or over simplistic.
The war fatigue or exhaustion or whatever it's called could use more options. currently it's devour everything as an all consuming mindless swarm, or you can only conquer what you have enough influence for even if they are down to one last planet... It would be nice to have more options here.
Endgame Galaxy threats are unbalanced... they either wipe everyone out or get crushed easily. I think some customization or adaptability would be a great addition, maybe even multiple simultaneous threat options and difficulty scaling options.
Could you add a visible research tree? not just memorization, or looking on external web pages? The research options are complex, and its almost impossible to keep track of all the options and where they lead, a visible in game tree would be awesome.

Overall a great game, tons and tons of replay value, and it keeps you busy.
I wish the expansions were cheaper as I think the price is what scares alot of players away, but the base game is 100% worth it hands down, no arguments.

Resolution won't fit my monitor. Some bug, I guess, but I'm unable to play because when I go fullscreen the cursor won't align to what im clicking and when I try windowed, it wont even go on windowed mode, it's still in fullscreen with ridiculous UI buttons that are hidden due to the resolution being too big for my monitor.

It is quite possible that the game is great, but unfortunately it was stuck in a crash cycle for me:
Paradox Launcher starts the game, game crashes the PC at 30% and upon restart Paradox launcher claims that its directory is corrupt and unreadable. After I remove and reinstall Paradox launcher the same cycle repeats.

Not a big fan of additional launchers requiring account with the publisher, especially since I already have steam.

It is unfortunate that the problem results in this kind of review.

I played this game a lot when I was younger. Now I see that it has some basic flaws that have never been addressed.

First, you'll never be able to catch up with the non-stop torrent of DLC for this game, and as long as you can't, you will be locked out of new features.
Second, every game plays out the same, regardless of your ethics. Send out science ships, expand, go to war, negotiate, expand, join a federation, stagnate, fight the endgame crisis, score. Your only choice is "take over the galaxy" or "don't." This is different from games like Endless Space 2 where every faction has different priorities.
Third, the performance gets worse with every update and even in 1.4 this game didn't run great. You will spend hours watching in-game days tic by, waiting for the next month to come.

In all, I kind of regret the hours I spent playing it. The only things I remember are from old content: the Leviathans, the Worm, that sort of thing.

If you ever wanted to play a sci-fi civilization simulator, this is it! The devs keep adding new things, and occasionally completely changing the core systems when it feels like they aren't working. This game is always in active development, and more and more systems are added all the time, along with additional story material. There is a ton of replay value, and you can play a single galaxy for a VERY long time.

The ONLY con is that there are a lot of different systems in this game, and can be a bit overwhelming to learn. My advice? Do the best you can, and don't feel pressured to continue a playthrough if it feels like something's not working.

This game is great. I am severely addicted to it and have had on console before PC. I didn't play it as much then but oh boy do I play it now. Especially as of recent. This game is more of my favorite over the other Paradox games. HOI4 < Stellaris. Unlike paradox's other games this one has more ability to tell your own story and the lore you can develop from this goes crazy. The gameplay is ungodly addictive to me as well

great game.

Don't get all the dlc's. get base game and then add dlc's as you go, feel free to skip a dlc that don't look good. they're plenty of dlc's to pick from and you'll never use them all at once !

can't recommend
Many core mechanics that were there when I first purchased (before all the DLC), are no longer are there.
This was the primary reason I bought the game in the first place.

This is more than, refining the game through balance, adding content via DLC, or expanding the story lines. I purchased some DLC's thinking that maybe the decision would of been reversed, but I was wrong. I chose not to invest any more money into this title let alone $109 more (and that's after a 50% discount). Time to look for bigger and better titles.

Thank you Paradox Interactive. You hit another one out of the park with with another $200+ (and still going) nightmare..

It can be fun if you like this style of game and there is some great mod support.

It's not beginner friendly at all though, and so it is not something that you can just pick up and instantly be good at. That is due to the incredible depth of the game though, but that depth is also the reason that you play a game like this.

Even though there are a lot of positives that you can talk about with Stellaris (not to say that it is a perfect game, but there is some good), it is just always hard to recommend a game by Paradox. The game is certainly old enough to have plenty of expansion packs by now, but there are 23 different premium DLC items as of this writing. You can often find the older DLC on sale. However, the Steam store has nearly all of those DLC items on sale for 50% or more off (at the time of this review) and the total price to buy everything (not including the base game) is still more than $200. Many of these DLC are considered core to the overall experience at this point too with some others being closer.

DLC is obviously a part of modern gaming, but Paradox makes it so that when you buy one of their games then you buy into an entire ecosystem. Even when some parts of that system seem like they should be combined or at least a little cheaper.

I have a theory that if you spend enough time in a game, it is disingenuous to give it a negative review. I don't know what exactly the minimum amount of time is, but I'm confident I've surpassed it, whatever it is.

I've been with the game since launch, and it has managed to get better basically every year. The game has always been pretty fun, though a little quirky early on. The developers have improved it a lot and it is very enjoyable now, if perhaps a little complicated if you've never played a game like this before.

So, yes, I recommend Stellaris.

Essentially a spreadsheet simulator in which you're just trying to make sure that you have the biggest or best numbers around. If you're meticulous and enjoy micromanaging, this is a great game to play. The mods for this game are also amazing! I highly recommend checking out the steam workshop for this game if you ever feel like vanilla starts to get kinda stale. And while this is my most played game, I DO NOT RECOMMEND GETTING THIS GAME FULL PRICE. Frequently this game goes on sale for like 75% and the base game alone is not worth the price tag especially as a lot of features that most Stellaris players like messing with are behind DLCs so unless there's some part of the game that you're desperate to play with I'd get the base game and any interesting DLC while they're on sale.