Game profile
Stellaris
A grand space strategy game that starts with exploring a single system and expands into galactic diplomacy, war and mysterious discoveries. Numerous expansions and emergent event chains make sure every playthrough tells its own story.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Strategy / Simulation, set in a science fiction world. Visually it is deliberately stylised rather than photorealistic, and the overall tone stays somewhere between light and heavy. The world is open, so wandering off and ignoring the main path is part of the deal. It rewards long uninterrupted stretches more than quick check-ins.
The difficulty is moderate and fair, demanding attention without punishing you for it. The story matters and gives the mechanics a frame, without taking over. Competitive play against other people is part of the package. It runs on 3 platforms. It sits in the mid price bracket.
What stands out
- Emergent space stories
- Galactic diplomacy
- Huge expansion content
This fits you if
- exploring for its own sake is the point for you
- you want to live through a story, not just play a system
- levelling, looting and optimising a build is your kind of loop
- you can sit down for a proper long stretch without interruptions
- you like getting lost and ignoring the main objective for hours
- you enjoy competing against other players
Look elsewhere if
- you do not have 150 hours to give a single game
- you only ever get short bursts of play time
- competitive lobbies stress you out
- you want to play it side by side with someone
How long is Stellaris?
About 150 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 25 weeks, or 75 sessions.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 79 out of 100, which puts it above 25 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 941 overall. That is the lower end of this database, critics were more reserved here than with most titles. The number does not tell you whether a game is exactly right for the right evening, though.
For comparison, Strategy averages 82 points across the database, so this one sits 3 points below its own genre. The figure rests on 290 collected ratings.
Released in 2016, so it has 10 years behind it. Usually cheap by now and the rough edges are long fixed.
The facts
- Release year
- 2016
- Genres
- Strategy, Simulation
- Playtime
- approx. 150 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Moderate, fair
- Story weight
- Present and relevant
- Play with
- Solo, Competitive
- Setting
- Sci-fi
- Visual style
- Stylised
- Price bracket
- Mid price
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox
- Critic rating
- 79 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stellaris | 2016 | approx. 150 hrs. | 79 | Mid price |
| X4: Foundations | 2018 | approx. 100 hrs. | 75 | Mid price |
| EVE Online | 2003 | Endless game | 79 | Free-to-play |
| Arknights: Endfield | 2026 | approx. 60 hrs. | 72 | Free-to-play |
If you liked this, try these
- 75/100 X4: Foundations Shared: Strategy, Simulation, Sci-fi, shorter
- 79/100 EVE Online Shared: Strategy, Simulation, Sci-fi
- 72/100 Arknights: Endfield Shared: Strategy, Sci-fi, shorter
- 90/100 Factorio Shared: Strategy, Simulation, Sci-fi, shorter
- n/a Going Medieval Shared: Strategy, Simulation, shorter, rated higher
- n/a Terra Invicta Shared: Strategy, Simulation, Sci-fi, shorter