New Paradox game: Stellaris

[Bacchus]

If Stellaris gets the same kind of attention that CK2 and EU4 got then expect lots of DLC and the game a few years from now to be very different than the original and much expanded upon.

It's pretty clear that's exactly where they are going, as is Stellaris is an excellent and robust base, which will get filled with content over time. For now, there is still plenty to do and explore -- and hopefully by the time the new stuff comes, even relatively casual players will be familiar enough with the game to interact with added features meaningfully. At the moment, about 10 hours in, I have to say that even race creation is not that meaningful for me, too much stuff is hidden from sight. But it's fun to find out. I'm enjoying this much more that EU4.

[Hail]

Tom Chick, the man who was brave enough to bash civ5 on release, gave Stellaris one star out of five. not bad!

[Bacchus]

Yeah, the soullessness of randomly rolled empires and the awful names are spot on in that review. It would definitely be better if there was a little more essentialism to the game, such as fungi always being collectivist and never spiritualist, or something. The disconnect between the thematic/decorative elements and the stats really hampers immersion.

Terrible later-game management, especially the lack of UI support for spaceport management is also spot on.

The thing is, both of those things are so easily fixable, that it's difficult to sink the game barely on their account. There is something to be said that current Stellaris is more of an early access title. Early access done right, mind, not how it exists in practice.