Best space 4X on the market
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews
“If you like complex grand strategy games, this one is pretty much the archetype for the genre.”
Steam review · 5718.1 h played ↗
Stellaris
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 86%Very Positive · 86%Paradox Development Studio2016Grand Strategy · 4X · Strategy
The verdict
A deep, endlessly replayable space 4X with great emergent storytelling and modding, but it's heavily DLC-dependent and expensive, with late-game lag. Skip it if you hate paying for DLC or object to generative AI.
Great for
Sci-fi fans who like roleplay-driven, long grand strategy campaigns and mods, and can tolerate a steep learning curve.
Main risk
Paying $300-400 for DLC the game feels built around, then hitting late-game lag and big reworks.
What changed in the last 30 days
122 recent reviews
Many recent negative reviews cite Paradox's use of generative AI (e.g. in the Nomads DLC), plus DLC prices around $300-400 and the subscription. Fairly confident these drive the dip.
122 recent reviews
What players love
Huge replayability and variety
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews
“Every time I play it's a completely different experience every single time.”
Steam review · 1096.7 h played ↗
Addictive, time-consuming gameplay
Mentioned in ~1 in 10 positive reviews
“This game gives me the same "just one more turn" itch that Civ V used to”
Steam review · 66.9 h played ↗
Emergent storytelling and roleplay
Mentioned in ~1 in 11 positive reviews
“It comes from the emergent story telling that this games mechanics allow for.”
Steam review · 158.2 h played ↗
Great modding scene
Mentioned in ~1 in 12 positive reviews
“The modding scene is huge, turning the game into a customizable sandbox with overhauls, new events, ship sets, QoL tools, and deeper mechanics.”
Steam review · 1341.2 h played ↗
Constant updates and new content
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 positive reviews
“Best support i've seen (ongoing patches, more dlcs, redesigning of game-mechanics)”
Steam review · 911.6 h played ↗
What players complain about
DLC overpriced and essential
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 negative reviews
“Stellaris will never be worth 400 dollars.”
Steam review · 469.1 h played ↗
Constant reworks, 4.3 fleet and economy nerfs
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“this has to be the fourth or fifth time they've completely funadmentally redesigned how the game works”
Steam review · 329.8 h played ↗
Bugs and broken updates
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“Takes a minimum of 3 undeterministic crashes to even load/resume a game.”
Steam review · 4715.9 h played ↗
Generative AI use in content
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“I was quite happy with Stellaris before they started using Generative AI.”
Steam review · 28.3 h played ↗
Late-game lag and poor optimization
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“the "Fastest" speed in like 2300 is slower than the "Normal" speed in 2200.”
Steam review · 467.2 h played ↗
Multiplayer desyncs
Mentioned in ~1 in 19 negative reviews
“Multiplayer is permanently broken since version 4”
Steam review · 634.5 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Playable10 GB
Minimum
OSWindows® 10 Home 64 Bit
ProcessorIntel® iCore™ i3-530 or AMD® FX-6350
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsNvidia® GeForce™ GTX 460 or AMD® ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 (1GB VRAM), or AMD® Radeon™ RX Vega 11 or Intel® HD Graphics 4600
Storage10 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows® 10 Home 64 Bit
ProcessorIntel® iCore™ i5-3570K or AMD® Ryzen™ 5 2400G
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsNvidia® GeForce™ GTX 560 Ti (1GB VRAM) or AMD® Radeon™ R7 370 (2 GB VRAM)
Storage10 GB available space
OSWindows® 10 Home 64 Bit
ProcessorIntel® iCore™ i3-530 or AMD® FX-6350
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsNvidia® GeForce™ GTX 460 or AMD® ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 (1GB VRAM), or AMD® Radeon™ RX Vega 11 or Intel® HD Graphics 4600
Storage10 GB available space
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