Holy Hell. I've never played a strategy game like Stellaris, and I'm going to eternally regret that I didn't buy it sooner. The game is immensely enjoyable. I've never played a Paradox strategy game before, although I've played many others like Civilization, and the Total War series. This game easily beats those others, by a factor of two, bare minimum. Seventy hours in, and that was just a single game. Looking back on the history of the faction I created, their struggles, defeats, victories, rivalries, and the cataclysmic event that nearly ended them, entirely, I'm just stunned. I feel as if I could write a book about the experience of managing a star empire, for four hundred years (2200 AD to 2600 AD). Buy it. Sure the DLC is expensive but you can get in on sale, or not at all, and the game will still be enjoyable. The only real complaint I have is that late-game, even on a powerful system (2700x, 32GB RAM, 2080), it can get very laggy, around the year 2500.
Been playing this game for years. Just bought it from GOG to have another copy if I ever needed it. Love the game, not so much the sequel...
I loved this game from the first moment I played it; absolutely amazing scale. The scope of each battle still leaves my jaw-dropped. Supreme Commander is the only game that can come close, but this, this wins out every time.
