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. xxxSMDxxx
    Jan 26, 2017
    8
    The game is amazing. It's really immersing you in a galactic emperor's perspective. And the interaction between the different empires is very clever made. The graphics are very well made. The empire builder and the way each empire acts differently depending on traits was brilliant although there is room for improvement. The 2 things that this game fails are victory types and the combatThe game is amazing. It's really immersing you in a galactic emperor's perspective. And the interaction between the different empires is very clever made. The graphics are very well made. The empire builder and the way each empire acts differently depending on traits was brilliant although there is room for improvement. The 2 things that this game fails are victory types and the combat system.

    The victories limit you to an aggressive play. And the combat system makes it worse. The combat system often feels like smashing a vase with either a hammer or a brick. "It doesn't matter the vase will end up smashed anyway" which makes the 2 current Victory types just a big chore. And said victory types are of little diversity. The only way you can actually win the game is play aggressive which makes non-aggressive plays dead on pointless. And with the well made diplomatic and research system. It really is a shame.

    If Stellaris was a book. It would be that story that is really well made, with interesting characters and a good plot, but has a poorly executed forced ending.    … Expand
  2. BGM
    May 24, 2018
    8
    Its nothing special, boring at times, but there are no other games like it. It also recives constant free updates with actually good content. Ai is bad but with mods its way better. Grab it at sale and enjoy. But it is even worth it at full price.
  3. Chrischrill
    May 11, 2016
    8
    Stellaris is your typical grand strategy game from Paradox, except for the setting. With space, Paradox conquers the final frontier? Or do they?

    The game is off to a great start, the early-game is fantastic and it gives me great pleasure to explore the universe and its anomalies. Once I reach mid-game, the game grinds to a painful halt. Many of the features and functions of this game    Stellaris is your typical grand strategy game from Paradox, except for the setting. With space, Paradox conquers the final frontier? Or do they?

    The game is off to a great start, the early-game is fantastic and it gives me great pleasure to explore the universe and its anomalies. Once I reach mid-game, the game grinds to a painful halt. Many of the features and functions of this game are undeveloped and sometimes not very well thought through. Depending on your mode of FTL transport, you may be fighting an enemy you cannot reach even though they can reach you. It's hard to win such a war, isn't it?

    Stellaris is lacking in areas such as trade and economy. Knowing Paradox, this is something they will work with in a future DLC. All in all, this is a good game with greater potential waiting to be unlocked.    … Expand
  4. Juggulator
    May 19, 2016
    8
    Really good game a bit of a learning curve but i love the setting as well as being able to create your own faction. One thing i don't really like is your policies being limited by your starting species traits as i find it rather annoying that you cannot change your play style as dynamically however still one of the best Grand strategies i have played in a long time.
  5. cast87
    May 24, 2016
    8
    Good game to my preference. And it have easy interface compared with other paradox games, So i don't have barrier of entry. Likewise, there's no need to long tutorials. But I need DLC !!!
  6. openworlds
    Dec 14, 2020
    8
    One of the best recent space strategy experiences out there. It's not the best Paradox game and abuses of too many sci-fi cliches, it's really more oriented to "space fantasy" that a "science prediction and simulation", the options, micro and macro management, could be better, the notification system is annoying, the art, music, ethics system and events are great.
  7. MrsHjort
    Apr 13, 2017
    8
    A great game once you get the hang of it, though, I have to admit it's a bit tough on newcomers such as myself, who haven't played the developer's games before. It has a lot of customizable options though (which makes for great replayability), and it's well balanced. It's one of those games that you can get back to over and over again to try new things and tweak the setup in various waysA great game once you get the hang of it, though, I have to admit it's a bit tough on newcomers such as myself, who haven't played the developer's games before. It has a lot of customizable options though (which makes for great replayability), and it's well balanced. It's one of those games that you can get back to over and over again to try new things and tweak the setup in various ways to get closer and closer to that one "perfect game". It's extremely addicting too, you can always play one more hour, and it's very hard to stop. I only wish for a bit more story missions to make it a bit more interesting.… Expand
  8. Haveaseatson
    Jun 20, 2019
    8
    One of a kind space 4x game built with passion, let down by the engine which cant handle the calculations mid and late game, and way too many bugs introduced with each patch, but the game itself is really a gem, i've got over 500 hours which is a saying something for me because most games i enjoy i burn out on or get bored with after 50-100 hours
  9. umbershap
    Feb 2, 2020
    8
    I play Stellaris time to time. When start to play it I put it at least 70 hours. This is a great game with every expansion, dlc game becomes much bigger. I hope they continue to support the game and release bigger dlc's .
  10. JaPeLi
    Oct 10, 2018
    8
    Stellaris is a lot of fun for a lot of reasons. It also has a great deal of flaws. The game itself is vast, and in typical Paradox style, it has several expansions which add more content to the game. However, even without all the DLC’s, the game is expansive.
    Stellaris focuses heavily on strategy and exploration, and it does these things very well. You start off the game as a space-faring    Stellaris is a lot of fun for a lot of reasons. It also has a great deal of flaws. The game itself is vast, and in typical Paradox style, it has several expansions which add more content to the game. However, even without all the DLC’s, the game is expansive.
    Stellaris focuses heavily on strategy and exploration, and it does these things very well. You start off the game as a space-faring empire, which has just discovered interstellar travel. Your empire is heavily customizable – for example, I started off on a frozen planet run by a deeply religious xenophilic race of blue humanoids, led by an elite group of priests, which co-evolved with a species of servile tortoises. The game does customization very well, and this offers a great deal of replayability to the game.
    The game can be loosely divided into 3 sections – the early, mid, and late game. These correspond to – in a default game – 100 and 300 years after you begin. Each section from the mid-game on, has its own special events, which can occur depending on several factors. I won’t spoil any of them, but they are generally a lot of fun and provide a brief respite from the otherwise bland portions of the game.

    And that is one of my main issues with Stellaris – the “bland” portions of the game. Once your empires borders and opinions of other empires have already been established, they do not change much. What remains is “bland.” Whilst the early game focuses on exploration and colonisation, and establishing borders and strategic points, which is enjoyable; the mid game offers very little in comparison.
    The problem is that the mid-game does away with what Stellaris does very well – exploration. During the mid-game, you generally have explored every system in the galaxy, and encountered every other empire. There is no more exploring to do, and thus no anomalies to find. Thus, you focus on things like research, or (the very limited) diplomacy. Perhaps you become more powerful, your numbers get bigger, but what of it? Until the late game, there is nothing to do, no events to occur, and I have sat through decades (in-game) waiting for something to happen. I generally just left it on in the background whilst I did other things.
    Whilst it does many things well, the game lacks in several important areas, such as the depth (or lack thereof) of diplomacy, the economy, warfare, and of course, the mid-game. Regardless, I still enjoy playing Stellaris, and would recommend it in the hope that these issues are fixed.    … Expand
  11. Inari_Acolyte
    Apr 1, 2021
    8
    A good sci-fi 4X game with a wide breadth of mechanics, playstyles, and replayability. This game is enjoyable despite the regular changes to its base mechanics, prevalent tech issues, and mediocre AI.
    Unfortunately, the game is woefully incomplete without some of its DLCs: namely Utopia and Megacorps. I only recommend buying this game if you can get it on sale with DLCs.
  12. CountCristo
    Jul 19, 2019
    8
    aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
  13. Baltifru
    Apr 19, 2020
    8
    The following was written by a newcomer to the 4X genre.

    Like other Paradox games, it takes a lot of time to learn how to play Stellaris and how to enjoy it. There is a guide (personified by a robot) to help getting started, but the interface seems so rich for new players that it still takes a lot of time to get used to it. At one point I was almost discouraged to go further because it    The following was written by a newcomer to the 4X genre.

    Like other Paradox games, it takes a lot of time to learn how to play Stellaris and how to enjoy it. There is a guide (personified by a robot) to help getting started, but the interface seems so rich for new players that it still takes a lot of time to get used to it. At one point I was almost discouraged to go further because it was taking so long for me to understand the mechanics of the game. But passed a point around 50 hours, I started to fully enjoy the possibilities offered by Stellaris.

    The gameplay includes the management of resources, the expansion of your territory and your planets, politics, diplomacy, wars and research of better technologies. All these aspects have their own importance in the development of your empire. Explaining every function of all these aspects here would take way too much time; let's simply say that whatever aspect of the game you prefer, you can dedicate a lot of time to it and make it count to empower your empire. I praise the devs for coming up with such a complex, yet balanced and enjoyable gameplay. The only element that is not totally on point in my opinion is diplomacy. Interactions with other empires are often chosen from a rather rigid set of possibilities, and all the nuances between brotherhood and total hate are hardly represented in the game. But let's be honest, I have yet to see a videogame where the full complexity of human (or alien) relationships and communication is represented.

    Sound-wise, Stellaris is a masterpiece. One of these games that you want to play just to listen to some of its themes.

    If you are a noob to the genre like me, make sure to change the parameters before starting your first games. Playing against a lot of fallen empires/advanced empires or facing an early crisis can feel very cynical and very discouraging, especially when a typical game lasts between 20 and 30 hours.

    My personal conclusion: the game is totally worth the initial effort required to understand its complex gameplay. A great game with a great personality that fans of strategy can enjoy at its best.    … Expand
  14. Fallconex
    Dec 17, 2020
    8
    A great strategy with great style, beautiful graphics, good scenarios, and lots of content to explore. Replayable for many many times
  15. enro
    Feb 19, 2021
    8
    Really good space strategy game that gives you customization options. Recommend
  16. Medus
    Sep 7, 2023
    8
    Pretty good game duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
  17. thethethe4
    Jul 26, 2023
    8
    Stellaris offers the player a unique experience to manage a galactic wide civilisation. You have resource too mange as well as a government to mange. You also have to be weary of a range of threats. You must also compete with other empires for new star systems and wage war if you must. The game has a lot of mechanics that are all very refined and fun to use, however there is a lot ofStellaris offers the player a unique experience to manage a galactic wide civilisation. You have resource too mange as well as a government to mange. You also have to be weary of a range of threats. You must also compete with other empires for new star systems and wage war if you must. The game has a lot of mechanics that are all very refined and fun to use, however there is a lot of seemly basic things looked behind DLCs. For example you can't build megastructures or use super weapons unless you get two separate DLCs. When playing the game you get reminded that you don't have DLCs by the game allowing you to see the options the DLCs offer but not allowing you to use them, a bit like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit but never allowing the rabbit to get the carrots unless the rabbits pays a further few hundred. All these features getting locked behind a paywall is really annoying though you can still have a enjoyable experience without them if you use mods.… Expand
  18. Keron_Heruman
    Aug 25, 2023
    8
    Solid and complex space 4x strategy game. Very fun to play, plenty of options and with a lot of alternatives and modes to play... tends to become boring late game, and the DLC politic is unacceptable
  19. theirrelephants
    May 15, 2016
    7
    This is a good game. After several hundred over priced DLC and a few "expansion" packs as per business as usual at Paradox, it will probably be a great game.

    Starts off fantastic, gets slow in the middle, and rather dead at the end. One of the three 'end game crisis' doesn't work, and the AI is incompetent beyond belief. There is little challenge here. On the flip side, they've    This is a good game. After several hundred over priced DLC and a few "expansion" packs as per business as usual at Paradox, it will probably be a great game.

    Starts off fantastic, gets slow in the middle, and rather dead at the end. One of the three 'end game crisis' doesn't work, and the AI is incompetent beyond belief. There is little challenge here.

    On the flip side, they've done things that people always wish you could do in a space game. From building observation posts to observe primitives to forming a federation between talking fungus and bird people, there's a lot to do. Until the core gameplay gets fixed however, this game will merely remain good instead of being amazing.    … Expand
  20. Klewer
    Jun 2, 2017
    7
    Overall I really enjoyed Stellaris, fans of other Paradox games of Grand Strategy will as well. The theme and settings is enjoyable, solid game play and nationempire management. It just lacks some of the event interaction, probably just due to it not being historically based and that for me just made it grow a little tired and a touch repetitive.
  21. Tytos
    Jun 10, 2016
    7
    The good:

    - Accessibility
    - Diversity, Content
    - Graphics

    The bad:

    - Performance (uses only 1 CPU !!!)
    - Balance
    - Midgame lack of content
  22. aidan0
    May 14, 2016
    7
    Good early game, runs great, it's fun, but it will take your time and make it go poof.
    I play lots of civ 5, endless legend and endless space and this fits right in with the games I like.
    It's not turn/base, but you can pause/speed up/slow down the game at anytime. It makes me have to force myself to stop and go to bed. Just one "5 more min" turns into an hour later. Edit: after 45    Good early game, runs great, it's fun, but it will take your time and make it go poof.
    I play lots of civ 5, endless legend and endless space and this fits right in with the games I like.
    It's not turn/base, but you can pause/speed up/slow down the game at anytime.
    It makes me have to force myself to stop and go to bed. Just one "5 more min" turns into an hour later.

    Edit: after 45 hours...
    Mid-game it gets boring, I don't like the victory goals, only conquest and expansions.
    You have a max amount of planets you can directly control, the rest you'll have to put in sectors that take them out of development and empire resource management. boo...

    End-game is... not done well IMO. You get confronted with some crisis, which basically makes you have to destroy everything. So, no real choice but to fight. In my case, loved my AI/robot pops which dun.. dun.. dun... go rogue. Why must advanced AI always have to go rogue, such an human trait, which base on my peaceful, bird people doesn't seem right.

    The game has potential, but for now it's gets a 6. Early game is a 9 btw    … Expand
  23. Twinkobell
    May 14, 2016
    7
    This is a beta DEMO in the disguise of an end product. Supporters will insist that game will be improved with DLCs and patches in the future. Haters will cry about the incomplete state of the game. It's a culture shock from knowing Paradox Interactive business models. Nobody likes this. It's like buying a car, but the engine and windows are paid upgrades.
  24. Koblihozrout
    May 10, 2016
    7
    If you played paradox strategies you know what to expect. It has potential to be best 4x game in the last 10 years. But it's a paradox game, so it could only happen in 3-4 years with 100-150$ worth of dlc's. Right now it's very very blend, with little to do.

    The game doesn't have game crushing bugs, or at least i hadn't had any, but a lot of patching work will need to address clunkiness    If you played paradox strategies you know what to expect. It has potential to be best 4x game in the last 10 years. But it's a paradox game, so it could only happen in 3-4 years with 100-150$ worth of dlc's. Right now it's very very blend, with little to do.

    The game doesn't have game crushing bugs, or at least i hadn't had any, but a lot of patching work will need to address clunkiness of planetary invasions, underwhelming diplomacy, ridiculous unbalances like "researching discovered aliens always takes 6 months, even if you have 50x more research generating per day, than in the first year."

    On a good side AI seems decent, and doesn't fall off quickly. It might change when more content is added. 7/10 on the release day.    … Expand
  25. Chaotic-Entropy
    May 15, 2016
    7
    Best described as a flawed gem. The game is great to start with, everything is interesting and shiny but it quickly devolves from there in to a land of inefficient empire management, poor ergonomics for their UI design and missing/broken mid to late game content.

    I seriously get the feeling that the devs were told to put all their effort in to the early game, get the game out sooner,    Best described as a flawed gem. The game is great to start with, everything is interesting and shiny but it quickly devolves from there in to a land of inefficient empire management, poor ergonomics for their UI design and missing/broken mid to late game content.

    I seriously get the feeling that the devs were told to put all their effort in to the early game, get the game out sooner, and then fill in the gaps later. Just put enough interesting content in to the start in order to get positive early reviews. Then when they're 20-40 hours in, and realise how shallow/needlessly clunky to operate it is, we'll already have their positive reviews and they won't go back and change.

    I hope that the game gets a lot of patching and a lot of content added, not just DLC, but actual feature completion. Lots of bugs, lots of half thought out mechanics and pointless busy work.

    Don't get me wrong, it's a great foundation and I think it could go on to be a classic, but it's an alpha/beta build at best. No one has done any significant end-to-end testing on this besides the players it seems.    … Expand
  26. Wiebe
    Feb 26, 2020
    7
    The concept is great, but it needed a lot of paches, and the ai is still dumb, some concept are too simplistic also. Moreover, the end game gets tedious and boring because there is too much micromanagement and you are just grinding to a victory that you know is coming if you had some wins in the mid game.
  27. Robinjhoe
    Jul 14, 2016
    7
    I didnt expect muc of the Game, because it was a "Hell why not" buy. But i kind of was surprised by it.
    First off, it is pretty basic. But it has its own strenghts and weaknesses:
    Positive: + Amazing soundtracks (especially faster than light (instrumental) + Interesting way of exploration + Easy to understand + A species creator + Day One Mod Support Negative: - Some starting    I didnt expect muc of the Game, because it was a "Hell why not" buy. But i kind of was surprised by it.
    First off, it is pretty basic. But it has its own strenghts and weaknesses:

    Positive:
    + Amazing soundtracks (especially faster than light (instrumental)
    + Interesting way of exploration
    + Easy to understand
    + A species creator
    + Day One Mod Support

    Negative:
    - Some starting problems
    - Combat is really dumbed down
    - Managment is very basic
    - Exploration gets really annoying the bigger the universe you are in is
    - Politics are very often one-sided
    - It gets very crowded at times
    - Research is more or less random (you get 3 to 4 choices what you can research next, but it is not an open research tree)

    All in all it is fun. But it does not really anything complete new. It is fun for people liking these type of games but nothing for hardcore 4X lovers, even if this is not really 4X.    … Expand
  28. Filaton
    May 28, 2016
    7
    A fun 4x game which biggest problem right now seems to be lack of content. The early game event chains do not link very well into the almost stagnant mid-game. UI is also, despite PDX's claims, quite unintuitive.

    My thought on buying this game: don't buy it until you get it on sale along with a few DLCs.
  29. DamirBa
    May 10, 2016
    7
    Promising game, but really lacks depth (but to be frank, EU 4 started pretty much like that), and I do hope Stellaris crew will add a lot of new content. Loved the idea of no-turn strategy game, but needs a lot of improvements. I found it rather tedious to repeat the same quests every time I started the game. I dunno, EU and CK much better :S
  30. LordZ_
    May 13, 2016
    7
    PAX MPERIA (1997 THQ ) = Stellaris (2016 PARADOX) can't be a 10
    Nothing very new in this 4x galactic but a very addictive game ( you will lost few night sleep )
    I don't like that you don't manage your fleet in battle and graphic are very basic.
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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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