Stellaris

 PC
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 984 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 742 out of 984
  2. Mixed: 133 out of 984
  3. Negative: 109 out of 984

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  1. Darlf
    Dec 16, 2018
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. nowa aktualizacja dodała więcej chaosu i dysbalansu niż trudność wynikającej z dobrze zrobionej mechaniki bez aktualizacja najnowszej 6 bo gra miała mnóstwo głupich małych błędów ale tera to ledwie 3 bo gra to 1 wielki błąd… Expand
  2. Crimert
    Jun 18, 2020
    7
    At first, the gameplay was really exciting. But I got bored in time. Long story short, I had high hopes but left a bit disappointed. 26hrs on record.
  3. Ghost1069
    Dec 10, 2020
    0
    Stellaris was, until 1.9.1, a very good game. It was on the right track to become a masterpiece. All it needed was some more content and QoL updates.

    Instead, we got a "rework" that made the game a boring spreadsheet spree. You spend literally 95% of your time looking at the planet list and shuffling pops and induestries between planets.

    Just go play 1.9.1. It is much better than this crap.
  4. Mods789
    May 9, 2016
    10
    Le jeux est excellent, le seul défaut du jeux c'est quand on arrive en milieux de partie c'est assez ... monotone, les dirigeants n'ont aucune personnalité et la partie espionnage est pratiquement inexistante, mais bon le jeux sera mieux avec les maj connaissant Paradox
  5. saz
    May 21, 2016
    1
    Good game but the combat is bad. Non-interactive and it ultimately pulls the game down. I was bored after a day of playing. I'll check it out again in a few months.
  6. jpnole
    May 13, 2016
    10
    Just a quick 10 to balance out any sub 7 scores given by the trolls. Absolutely fantastic game and top 3 contender for GOTY. Only thing that comes close is Sins.
  7. Galverizer
    May 12, 2016
    10
    Something Stellaris do unlike any other strategy game is the way it offers a universe full of undiscovered mysteries and exploration opportunities . It is not only those factions who lives in space. Seemingly neutral species and other phenomena flying through space independent of what you are doing, and through certain projects these can be researched and mapped. You may learn somethingSomething Stellaris do unlike any other strategy game is the way it offers a universe full of undiscovered mysteries and exploration opportunities . It is not only those factions who lives in space. Seemingly neutral species and other phenomena flying through space independent of what you are doing, and through certain projects these can be researched and mapped. You may learn something new from these creatures that unlocks additional research opportunities .

    One of the coolest things I came across was when I colonized a planet and found out that it was inhabited by Titans - enormous creatures a la Hercules and Greek mythology. I was stupid enough to think that everything would go well. In a short while the planet was taken over by the Titans , and wave on wave of expeditionary forces were not able to take it back. A sad end there then, but the discovery was no less spectacular for that reason.

    Not only can you discover ancient mysteries or clues that will take you on all sorts of adventures, but you are lucky during exploring then you can come across intelligent creatures who are trying to evolve into an ordinary fractions. One of the most unforgettable I have done was to make an observation post of such a planet, that enabled me to pay attention to what these creatures where doing. Before I knew it I had kidnapped " copies " of this alien race . To my great surprise , this led to the nations on the planet gathered against me . It all ended in me , through advanced technology, infiltrated government on the planet , helped them with technological advances so that they became a full-fledged faction , and then I made ​​them to my vassal . That is long term strategy like nothing else! However if you just want war action and controlling ships in combat this game is nothing for you. I can't wait to play this in multiplayer against some friends:)    … Expand
  8. Ekras
    May 9, 2016
    10
    WOW - What a game! THIS is what GOTY material looks like folks. I just wish there was an "11" score I could save for when the DLC starts coming out - not that it's needed since there is already so much to do!
  9. Henrywiddas
    May 10, 2016
    10
    i'm still only 15 years in, i named a science officer after a colleague for a laugh and he is now bidding to be the next president of the united nations of earth lol

    loving the music and vibe of this game so far :)
  10. notTheRadBrad
    May 20, 2016
    7
    Well, the game surely is a bit stale in terms of combat. But damn the graphics are so good and the story has so many twists and turns that you get hooked to this game instantly . Any space-game seeker should definitely try this game , Have fun!
  11. K1ller
    Feb 27, 2018
    1
    Patch 1.9 and earlier - 8 / 10, patch 2.0 and later 1 / 10. Nice example of how to kill a good game with a totaly moronic gamechanges. Good job Paradox, you are now another company on my "Never buy their games" list.
  12. Tytos
    Jun 10, 2016
    7
    The good:

    - Accessibility
    - Diversity, Content
    - Graphics

    The bad:

    - Performance (uses only 1 CPU !!!)
    - Balance
    - Midgame lack of content
  13. Fokstrot
    May 18, 2016
    4
    If you're expecting the depth of EU, CK, Vic, etc., then this is not much present, diplomacy, trade in gameplay not affected and exist in very primitive form. Race each other do not differ, except for the exterior, with a completely formulaic behavior, their attitude towards to you is divided into - positive and negative... which in principle, does not matter. I got the strong impression,If you're expecting the depth of EU, CK, Vic, etc., then this is not much present, diplomacy, trade in gameplay not affected and exist in very primitive form. Race each other do not differ, except for the exterior, with a completely formulaic behavior, their attitude towards to you is divided into - positive and negative... which in principle, does not matter. I got the strong impression, after wandering through the styryl desert space Stellaris that from the game carefully cut 90% of content to the publication of a couple of dozen DLC.I don't mind DLC that make the game do something new, but in this case, decided not to bother and just cut all that is possible.
    On the background of the above mentioned games, this product looks not very convincing and lowers the bar set by the developer.    … Expand
  14. meiscritic
    May 22, 2016
    4
    Just played Stellaris and I have to say, very very disappointing. The game has tons of mechanics but so less usability that you'll hate it. I adore games with complex mechanics but this one absolutely messed up the execution. This game is way too bureaucratic. The graphics are lacklustre and soundtrack is bad, but those are just addendum. There is little strategy involved and almost no innovation.
  15. TimW001
    May 16, 2016
    8
    If you want an expansive strategy game that is slow paced, then this is a great game. It is challenging, often you will have to decide on where to spend your resources while. It will challenge you, and the game doesn't baby you either. A great strategy game, you will lose hours in it.
  16. bladex
    May 15, 2016
    3
    this is the most boring space sim i have ever played. all you will be doing the whole time is staring at a screen and waiting!

    you never get enough influence meaning expanding will be slow and long. the battles are a joke all you do is a build a fleet, click on another fleet and than sit back and watch you don't have ANY control of the battle once it starts! most of the time you    this is the most boring space sim i have ever played. all you will be doing the whole time is staring at a screen and waiting!

    you never get enough influence meaning expanding will be slow and long.

    the battles are a joke all you do is a build a fleet, click on another fleet and than sit back and watch you don't have ANY control of the battle once it starts!

    most of the time you will be sending ships out to survey and nothing much else.

    you will also have to constantly hire new scientists etc because they will die and this will use all your influence points always!

    bad design, bad system, bad battles bad game all round! you nailed it with skylines paradox but you failed miserably with this!    … Expand
  17. mojitsu
    May 29, 2016
    3
    As of 1.0.3 the game is not finished... after 100+ hours I don't recommend buying it. Late game bad performance even on high end PC, retarded AI and stupid combat system. The good thing is game support mods and chances are it's gonna become a fully grown title in 1-2 years with the support of mod creators.
  18. DMT
    May 30, 2016
    10
    Just wait until the 3 main free content & fix patches are done... Then we have greatness. Right now we have all the ingredients, just need more of them which we know are coming.
  19. CiaranJ
    Jul 29, 2016
    9
    Very engaging, rewarding and fun. Customization and progression is a welcome addition. I have always found 4X games very frustrating to 'get into', so to speak. I was not disappointed with Stellaris.
  20. Robobob
    Oct 31, 2018
    10
    Best 4x space strategy game of all time at this writing. I used to give that title to the very dated Masters of Orion 2 but this game now takes the title. It has so much depth it is ridiculous and I can see how it might be intimidating to some. However I loved that I was learning more and more the further I played. Even though I rarely do it anymore, it's fun to zoom in completely toBest 4x space strategy game of all time at this writing. I used to give that title to the very dated Masters of Orion 2 but this game now takes the title. It has so much depth it is ridiculous and I can see how it might be intimidating to some. However I loved that I was learning more and more the further I played. Even though I rarely do it anymore, it's fun to zoom in completely to see the beauty of the planets of space battles. No complaints about this game. It's worth the learning curve.… Expand
  21. SH1
    Dec 25, 2016
    4
    I am in two minds about Stellaris so I settled for a score of 4. I feel that it is a good concept, but it is somewhat ruined by the implementation.

    The good points: * Very addictive concept * The science ships remind me of Star Control 2 and could have been a separate game. The bad points: * Badly optimized: I get stuttering on my new cutting edge computer, and this is    I am in two minds about Stellaris so I settled for a score of 4. I feel that it is a good concept, but it is somewhat ruined by the implementation.

    The good points:

    * Very addictive concept

    * The science ships remind me of Star Control 2 and could have been a separate game.

    The bad points:

    * Badly optimized: I get stuttering on my new cutting edge computer, and this is months after release. In a way it feels like I am playing on a WPF interface.

    * Cheating AI: When I wanted to fight my first battle, the computer had more resources than it could have had with the available infrastructure.

    * The science ships: Science ships requires constant babysitting. Sometimes it encounters a hostile fleet. Instead of flying around it, it just stops. It is not uncommon for me to have science ships sitting idle.

    * The game pace: I am not sure if I should play Stellaris "offline" by setting up science ship exploration/research/build queues, and then come back later, or whether I should look after it all the time. When I look after it all the time, entire months go by where nothing happens and it is a waste of my time. If I leave it running in the background while doing other things (ex. go outside for exercise) I will come back to find that a bunch of stuff happened that needs my attention.

    * Game stagnation: It is possible to loose a game in Stellaris, but the computer will never tell you that you lost. This could happen through a combination of things, for example there are 4 empires left on the map. They are all in alliances. There is no way to further grow your empire. You can build ships and do research indefinitely and never win.    … Expand
  22. ShapeLayers
    Jun 5, 2017
    4
    +
    1. Крутые возможности по созданию своей империи.
    -
    1. Ужасная анимация в UI
    2. Дизайнер UI точно ничего не курил перед тем как создать это детище?
    3. Очень посредственные 3D модели

    Вывод: Хочется бэкнуть игру.
  23. DiogenesLaertys
    May 23, 2016
    5
    I have to admit, I'm really pissed at all the Paradox fanboys that make this game to be something more than it is. The most important thing you should know about this game is that it is incomplete. There are huge gaps in gameplay. In it's current state, the game deserves around a 5 or 6.

    Let's start with the pros: - Decent UI. In the early game, it's easy to respond to in-game    I have to admit, I'm really pissed at all the Paradox fanboys that make this game to be something more than it is. The most important thing you should know about this game is that it is incomplete. There are huge gaps in gameplay. In it's current state, the game deserves around a 5 or 6.

    Let's start with the pros:

    - Decent UI. In the early game, it's easy to respond to in-game events and inactive units by clicking the icons that pop up.

    - Good enough game skeleton that maybe with a year of dlc it will become an 8.

    - Big multiplayer games are something new and fun for the genre.

    Negatives -

    - Exploration/research quests are too powerful relative to how you manage your empire. Makes the game more of an RPG than a 4x game.

    - Expansion is boring. You have to build frontier outposts rather than colonies because of the resourcing early game only you can't tell what territory the outpost will cover so you end up getting like 2 systems covered by your outpost when you thought you would get 4.. When you finally colonize a planet, you don't have a lot of meaningful strategic options: it's just more power plants or mineral plants. You need enough food too but its not hard to get the minimum amount. Other strategic resources are hidden until you research the relative tech so you can't plan and make meaningful strategic choices.

    - Research is too RNG. You have 3 types of techs and 3 options for each tech that change every game. This is to stop min-maxers according to the designers, but why stop min maxing? That's part of the reason play the game. Just adds more RNG to the game and makes your decisions less meaningful. In other 4x games, it's fun to pile all the research into attack or into more research or into industry and make your empire specialized.

    - Combat is on-rails. You just build enough ships so that your number is bigger than theirs. There is some technological rock, paper, scissors but it's not that well-fleshed out. Feels like abuse when you do it to the AI since they don't adapt well.

    - Leaders is another RNG element. Your leaders die and get replaced. So instead of working towards leaders that lend themselves to your strategy, they level up with random traits and then die. Not a fun mechanic at all. I don't want realism in a 4x game, I want fun and for my decisions to be more meaningful.

    - Influence is an irritating and stupid mechanic. Your empire generates only low single digits of influence and it is used to recruit leaders and build critical infrastructure like outposts. It is also used for edicts which give small planet-wide or empire-wide bonuses. Because generation is so low, it is basically a way to make all empires limited in their ability to grow early leaving a feeling of sameness between all empires.

    - AI is bad. All 4x games do have bad AI but Stellaris doubles down on it because you HAVE to use sector governors (basically friendly AI) when you have more than 5 planets. This will never be a feature to me. I want to control my planets and eke out what small edges I can. Hopefully they improve AI especially sector AI. There are many bugs atm. This may be a forever negative to the game. I despise the AI in every 4x game I play. They do too many stupid things.

    TLDR version: There's a lot of layers to the game but many aspects aren't quite fleshed out yet. Also the overall design of the game makes it feel like your decisions really don't matter which is damning for a 4x game. RNG is too prevalent for my liking. It can be a good game eventually with some tweaks, but it's not a good game right now and doesn't deserve the high scores it's been getting.    … Expand
  24. Leeeeeeeel
    Dec 8, 2018
    0
    is relativ whack joa... fragt mario ich tu echt nicht haten.... aber das spiel ist halt legit einfach nur bullenpisse!
  25. Erlioth
    May 9, 2016
    10
    Im going to die playing this game. Here i go! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
  26. fernando8biondi
    Oct 20, 2019
    0
    Build just ONE army, conquer the whole galaxy!
    This game is a piece of s¨¨¨¨¨¨, period.
  27. Combiner
    Nov 15, 2020
    10
    One of the best space games for me, with so many detail. I actually never finished any run (I have around 200 hours in it) because every run is different and you want to play it again and again.
  28. VitaminK
    May 28, 2016
    8
    Great at first, but you soon realize how shallow the game is. I love the devs and I hope they continue to add to the game and I can come back in a year and give it an 8 or 9, but where it sits at release is just not good enough.
  29. dragon0085
    May 28, 2016
    5
    I oringinally gave this a 9 when I wrote it for a professional review. Initially, this game is awesome, the exploration is cool etc, let me get into the problems:
    The scope is so huge, and you are forced into 'diplomatically' killing people instead of blowing away planets. Let me explain, in EVERY other game, you can bomb a planet dead, or invade and take over - not here. You invade,    I oringinally gave this a 9 when I wrote it for a professional review. Initially, this game is awesome, the exploration is cool etc, let me get into the problems:
    The scope is so huge, and you are forced into 'diplomatically' killing people instead of blowing away planets. Let me explain, in EVERY other game, you can bomb a planet dead, or invade and take over - not here. You invade, and 'hold' the planet, and if you go enough of these, you reach a diplomatic goal and they give you a planet. The universe is so big, and so slow to fight, that you will almost never finish a game. Its disappointing, and I've played nearly all 4X games out there.    … Expand
  30. axxiusdecius
    May 29, 2016
    6
    It is a 9/10 game before you are forced to form sectors (the -1 because of the unrealistic surface system), but a 2/10 with the sectors. I hated the idea andthe fact it is forced on me and unavoidable. Hope they will make a patch to let players choose not to use sectors. till then, it is unplayable for me and i uninstalled it
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Awards & Rankings

99
#99 Best PC Game of 2016
23
#23 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
31
#31 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 57 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 46 out of 57
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 57
  3. Negative: 1 out of 57
  1. Games Master UK
    Jul 25, 2016
    90
    A stunning first step into space for strategy's superstars - and a great gateway to their other games. [July 2016, p.76]
  2. CD-Action
    Jul 21, 2016
    85
    It was really hard for me to break away from Stellaris’ grip to write this review. It’s one of those gems you launch in the evening for a moment but quit at dawn. [07/2016, p.50]
  3. Riot Pixels
    Jul 11, 2016
    65
    Stellaris feels like two games of completely different quality. One game offers boring linear stand-offs against a tame AI, the other is an excellent multiplayer platform.
    Read full review
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