Deal | Free weekend for strategists: Sci-fi hit temporarily free on Steam

After Hearts of Iron IV was free to try last week, Steam is now putting the next Paradox hit in the spotlight: Stellaris. The sci-fi strategy game offers similar strengths to its historical cousin. Instead of taking control of a single nation, however, players lead their own intergalactic empire. The free trial runs until June 22. After that, Stellaris remains available until June 25 with a 70% discount, costing $14.99 instead of $49.99. According to SteamDB, however, the usual discount in recent months has been 75%. The current price is therefore not a new record low, but thanks to the free weekend, the promotion may still be interesting for strategy fans.

As is typical for Paradox titles, Stellaris offers complex real-time 4X strategy. At the start, players create their own species, including its origin, ethics, form of government and societal orientation. The young empire then begins on its home planet in a procedurally generated galaxy that offers new star systems, resources, anomalies and alien civilizations in every playthrough. From there, expansion begins: science ships explore unknown systems, construction ships build outposts and space stations, while colony ships settle habitable planets. At the same time, technologies are researched, fleets are built, trade relations are established and diplomatic decisions are made. Depending on the playstyle, the player’s empire develops into a peaceful federation, a technological superpower or a military threat to the entire galaxy.

German gaming magazine GameStar described Stellaris roughly as a creative story generator that depends heavily on the imagination of its players. It particularly praised the successful science-fiction atmosphere, the vast scope and the high level of customization. Due to its steep learning curve, the strategy game requires a considerable amount of familiarization, but those who invest the time can spend hundreds of hours with it. Criticism was directed primarily at the later stages of the game: In large galaxies, Stellaris runs increasingly slowly, and according to the reviewers, managing vast empires can become quite tedious over time. Nevertheless, GameStar awarded it a solid score of 82 out of 100 points.

Stellaris also fares well in international reviews. Metacritic lists a Metascore of 78 and a User Score of 8.1. The Steam community’s verdict is even more positive: 84% of over 194,000 user reviews recommend the game. On the Steam Deck, Stellaris is classified as “Playable,” though the interface and controls are clearly designed for mouse and keyboard.

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