Stellaris

Last week, I got the latest game from Paradox Interactive; Stellaris.

I have played it a bit, but not enough to do a proper review, so consider this more of an impression of the early game.

Stellaris, in case you don't know, is a mix between the Grand Strategy genre Paradox is so famous for, and a 4X game in space. 4X stands for explore, expand, exploit & exterminate.

So in Stellaris, you create a race that has recently become space faring, and it's your job to establish a proper empire for your people. Unlike other Paradox titles that takes place in Europe at some point in history, you have both time and elbow room in Stellaris, which lets you get a handle on things before the action starts. There are no neighbors breathing down your neck as soon as you fire up the game. Since the maps are randomly generated, you can be pretty screwed from the start, even if you don't know it yet, but this holds true for every game with a random map. Usually though, you're going to be fine.

Stellaris is a very well made game, and it's not just about war either. When you create your race, you choose between a lot of options like species, starting technology, political system and ethics. You even choose what kind of planetary type your species thrives on. These options come seamlessly together to create a lot of options and replay value.

As an example, you could create a race of fascist space penguins that are brilliant engineers, or perhaps you'd prefer a race of theocratic mushrooms that believe in enslaving the galaxy. My point is that you will find a race you want to play, of that I am fairly certain.

As the game progresses, you research new technologies and expand your borders. You will encounter hostile beings floating around in the galaxy as well as space pirates and other blossoming nations like your own. Then there are the fallen empires, old civilizations that have stagnated and become corrupt. If I understand them correctly, they don't advance anymore, but they are ridiculously powerful in the beginning so tread carefully. Piracy is luckily not that much of a bother, and you can usually deal with them pretty easily, but the giant space amoebas are nasty. They can easily outmatch your initial fleet six times over.

I've had starts that were absolutely impossible, but overall I think Stellaris is a pretty fair game. It's fun and atmospheric, and not too hard to understand or get a grip on. Oh yes, one thing I forgot to mention, the game explains things to you in different ways depending on how you civilization sees things. Example: if you are xenophobic, first contact with another species is explained as something horrible, but if you are a xenophile, it's a wondrous event, worth celebrating. It's the small details like that which really sells the game as a title worth getting.

When I get further into the game, I can speak with authority on what it's like, but until then, you are going to have to be patient. Or go look it up on Youtube, it's your decision.

So, until we see each other again, have a great week.