Stellaris

The game is just bland. Just... bland. But is really important is Paradox atrocious DLC policy. Two dozens of DLC - almsot every one for the cost of a new game! What are they trying to do?! They treat customers/ gamers like milking cows and have them for idiots. This is just immoral business practice.

I may of missed this somewhere, but multiplayer on GOG forces you to have a paradox account. This goes against the spirit of GOG, but I understand this may of been out of their hands. Just be very aware of this going in

I've been waiting years for the game to be finished and for Paradox to release the complete version. Then I realized the price tag for the game would definitely be more than 200 euros and it would still be broken mess with bad AI. (If the reddit and steam discussions are to be believed) Hopefully in the future, some company will make a similar, better-functioning game without the same terrible DLC policy, but maybe that is just a daydream...

This game is very great, no doubt about it, specially if you like Space-Sim games. There is a entire comunity around Stellaris. Said that, be aware Paradox been introducing several intrusive metrics with the years (bait&switch) and their support is usually... bad. Also be aware if you want to buy a Paradox Game, be aware you need to pay huge amount of money for each expansion. Stellaris currently have 6 big expansions, 4 story packs and 5 species packs.

Stellaris & Ck2 should be case studies on how having no clear DLC policy can ruin a game, the ongoing addiction of paradox for milking DLCs so that the end user full experience costs over 200$, is nauseous & a stain in the gaming industry. Stellaris has had numerous revisions from small to complete gameplay mechanics overhauls, most games in paradox start from a cloudy vision or idea, that is release when the company budget requires to, usually in a very buggy state, with incompetent AI that doesn't know to play the game! Eventually consumers pay to fix, complete or redesign the game with DLCs. There have been more than 1 DLC that has broken the game and where the gameplay at the end of the day consists of digits going up and singleplayer actually meant a single player as A.I. ignored you xD Besides this big disclaimer that highlights that I don't know which stellaris I'm reviewing, here is a short list of pros and cons. Pros - Music - A high degree of customization of the campaign - The late crisis which seems mostly scripted but provides good gameplay - Strategic combat especially in late crisis game can be good when you are forced to move fleets against numerous enemy fleets - A randomise bias tech tree is interesting - Storytelling components of the game from the mission log & excavations Cons - Bad AI besides the late game crisis which is mostly scripted, the other empires can't compete with you without cheating and getting massive bonuses. - The gameplay progression eventually ends up being a digits game, usually imbalance easy to stack bonuses and digits - Planets end up being all Gaias in the end - Tactical combat is non existence - Debris collection is annoying and not fun - No end game objective or win scenario tied to storylines Pay & play imperium galatica 2 first xD it's cheaper and has more soul, stellaris if you can get all the content for under 50$ it's worth it, I hope AI becomes better & maybe we can see voice acting.