Stellaris

Combining a great diversity of options for custom empire creation, an easy-to-learn resource and colony management system, a decent tech tree and research methods, and a good combat system, Stellaris is (bar a few things) the Space 4x RTS that I've been waiting for. Pros: + Combat feels suitably epic, especially mid-late game + Ship customization is interesting, simple, and generally balanced + Randomized research options with prereqs mean there is no established must-have order for techs + Empire management is fairly well streamlined + Diplomacy is actually useful even when playing with AI, unlike some other 4x games + Diplomacy feels fairly natural, an being in an alliance or federation really feels like you're part of something bigger + Doesn't completely destroy older hardware: still looks decent on Low-Med settings and having 30+ AI empires doesn't lag the game too much on 5-6-year-old hardware Neutral: = No option to threaten an opposing empire in order to get what you want diplomatically; instead it is implemented through a "threat" modifier which can be somewhat arcane = Some diplomatic options have odd restrictions; for instance, you cannot demand that an empire become your vassal unless you are *immensely* more powerful than them or unless they are friendly to you without going to war first (see above, you can't threaten them with war first) = Randomized tech tree choices can break immersion; you would imagine that if you just completed, say, basic lasers that your scientists could immediately start working on the next level of lasers = Achievements only available when playing Ironman mode Cons: - Playing with some mods that do not affect gameplay will turn off achievements even in Ironman mode - No real DLC yet for more races / ships / techs / events (I'm sure that will change) - As of this post, still a few minor bugs with gameplay. Not game-breaking, but annoying (e.g. changing Admirals for your fleets will occasionally become impossible) TL;DR Great 4x space strategy game, does a lot of things great but still needs a bit of tweaking. Would definitely recommend if you enjoyed games such as Sword of the Stars, Space Empires V, Sins of a Solar Empire, or anything like that.

Whilst this is a pretty cool game with a lot to offer, it got boring extremely fast. I've played 21 hours and not an hour since. It is one of those games I might go back to one day but it certainly won't be taking the top spot of EU4 or Civ V any time soon.

Described as a 'grand strategy' game, this title makes any other strategy game look as complicated as Battleships (The board game that is). As the leader of your chosen species, the aim of the game is to conquer the galaxy through means political or physical. You will have to manage your resources, fleets, planets, diplomatic ties, armies, and much more just to keep your empire alive. To expand and thrive requires even more. To keep it simple and brief, the game is rich with minutiae, and the species creator is simply wonderful. It allows you to choose the physical appearance, political tendencies, inherit and unique genetic traits (like living exceptionally long, or being social creatures), as well as the appearance of your ships and the themes your empire are built upon (the colour of your flag, the ideology you follow, the aesthetics of your cities). What may surprise you, as it did me, is that the all the visuals that happen within political discussions or quest events are animated 2-D scenes. No fancy animation a la Civizilation V or most other RTS games, however, these visuals are only on screen for a minority of the time. This is more than made up for by the beautiful 3-D, 4K, models of the universe, solar systems, planets and ships. Zooming in on epic space battles, you may end up so absorbed that you forget who's winning. Whilst the resource system is quite simple (there are two types of currency, minerals and energy credits, 3 science resources and 1 political resource), the factors influencing them becomes more complicated the longer the game goes on as you lose track of trade deals and which planet produces what, etc ,etc. Conflict between species, changes in law, acting contrary to your species ideology, enslaving populations and using excessive force during war time are just some of the factors that may encourage parts of your empire to rise up against your leadership, and must be kept in check at all times. Of course, you can always encourage these factors in your enemies empires should you want to weaken them. Eventually though, you will end up fighting your enemies, whether they be at home or abroad. When war is declared between two or more empires, the antagonists set the 'war goals'; perhaps you only want to seize an enemy planet on your border, that goal would require only a low war score, totally subjugating an enemy empire to your rule would be much higher. As you win more battles and take more enemy territory, your war score improves, putting you into a better position to negotiate or pushing you nearer to total victory, where you will automatically achieve all the war goals set. The combat system is quite plain; the larger fleet wins. Simple. Every fleet has a battle coefficient, the higher the better. I have played well over 70 hours of game time and have yet to see a lower rated fleet beat a higher ranked one. So size matters. Same rules apply for armies and land battles; the largest army wins but there are some small subtleties and nuances to apply. Annoyingly, when either a fleet or army goes into combat there are zero tactics to be used after battle is initiated. You cannot even move the fleet, let alone individual ships, although the developers have promised to improve battle mechanics. However, combat is not the big feature of this game. It is the minutiae mentioned earlier that makes this game fun. Live out whatever sci-fi fantasies you want; create a species of peaceful, pacifistic turtles, ruled by monarchy who, ironically end up conquering half the galaxy by force. Have the human race end up dividing into 2 factions then duking it out with colossal battleships. Encounter ancient, uber-powerful races who seek only isolation, then foolishly declare war on them and get your space-faring arse handed to you on a silver platter. Attempt to counter a galaxy-wide AI uprising, infecting robots in every star empire, wreaking havoc amongst friends and foes alike. I did all of these, and ended up losing half the time. And yet, it is addictive, good fun. Despite the complexity, the frankly odd combat system, and the game ending scenarios mentioned, you want to end up exploring every eventuality and option possible, even if it takes a dozen, 40 hour games. Paradox have promised a slew of future updates in order to address issues with the AI, the mid-game 'quests' and the political options, which is good news, but until they are fixed, the game can feel buggy and may bore you if your particular play through isn't that eventful. In summary, if you're a veteran of the genre, you should be able to pick this game up fine, especially with the helpful walk-through guide which can be enabled and altered at will. If you're new to the genre, try something easier first! The reward for mastering the complexities of the game (and I've only skimmed the surface with this review) is a beautiful game with an atmospheric soundtrack (which deserves applause) where you can live out whatever sci-fi fantasies you can plot and scheme. Just be sure to set aside a lot of time and may attention. Further updates will enhance the playing experience, but until then I can't give this a higher rating. I enjoy this game, see a lot of potential in it, and would definitely recommend.

...I am a fan of space sims/strategy - in theory. The problem is, many of these games don't have the scale or freedom I want. For a while the only game of the type I really enjoyed was the Space section of Spore. Stellaris takes that approachable simplicity and expands it into something you can spend an ungodly amount of time playing. I do have some small complaints that make it a 75 for me- at a certain point the game does start to feel a bit repetitive and slow, to the point where I don't much feel like playing it unless I'm also listening to a podcast or something. Turning up the speed of the game works in a pinch but it makes everything feel jerky on my admittedly-weak CPU. The joy here though has mostly been the (sorry to use a buzzword here) emergent storytelling. When a nearby empire took my home planet and left me stranded in a solitary system amidst a number of vast warring empires, my resolve was steeled by how GOOD it would feel to steal my home back from those conniving crab people.

Stellaris is amazing....for the first 20 hours. The game is so empty and gets stale after some time but it has an amazing potential and will definitely be much better after patches and dlc's (which sucks) like most Paradox games. The good parts are how it's an actually okay 4X, definitely one of the better ones. Multiplayer is very good and I recommend finding a group to play with cause the game is actually very good in this part. Singleplayer is just boring and gets very repetitive. They said there will be tons of different anomalies, and then I saw one show up 10 times in a single game and show up another time in another! The combat is okay overall but still needs improvements. It has amazing ground work and will definitely improve but I don't recommend it right now. Get it after quite a bit of patches and when there are some good DLC's.