A lot has changed since we visited Utopia.
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It’s been a few months since we sat down with Stellaris, the fusion of sci-fi 4X and grand strategy by Paradox, and the recent release of the 2.0 Cherryh update alongside the paid-for Apocalypse expansion has really thrown the cat among the proverbial pigeons, and now after having spent a few evenings conquering the galaxy (well, trying to) with a random reptilian race and our own vision of tomorrow’s humanity, we’re ready to tell you what we think. It’s a tricky one to score, though, because the biggest changes to the game come as part of the free Cherryh update, which overhauls a number of key gameplay systems and reinvigorates the core of the experience, bringing a new tempo to your exploration and expansion into the stars.
The most significant change is also the most divisive one. Oblivious going in, we were surprised when the game didn’t give us the chance to choose our preferred method of faster than light travel. Instead of the options of old, now everyone has to use hyper-lanes. While we can appreciate that some people miss their old modes of transport, we have to say that, especially after reflecting on our last game before the update which was dominated by a grueling game of cat and mouse where our fleet hopelessly chased down phantom-like enemies, we think it’s a positive change overall. Now you can only move your ships around the galaxy down pre-determined routes, and while that is a little prescriptive at times, it makes defending your empire more tactical, as you can see on the map from where your potential opponents are going to arrive and can plan accordingly.
In one of those features that fits like a glove and feels like it’s always been there, you can now upgrade your starbases with loads of cool features, turning them into powerful fortresses and capable deterrents against all but the most stacked enemy fleets. It takes some time to upgrade your stations and turn them into citadels, but in doing so you can seriously reinforce a particular system, which again feeds into the switch to hyper-lanes. If you’re the kind of player who likes to turtle-up, then you’ll particularly enjoy the changes that let you equip stations with powerful orbital platforms, hangers full of fighters, and a healthy range of additional benefit-giving buildings to suit the way you’re playing.
More offensive players can now build titan-class ships and planet-smashing weapons, but the bigger change comes in the stricter control over your fleet numbers. Creating a collection of the most powerful ships tends to be self-regulating according to the size of your empire, however, this due to the extensive running costs associated with the most powerful units, but even if you’ve got the finances you’re still limited in the number of fleets you can operate, which makes for more deliberate planning and once again feeds into the other big changes. In Stellaris 2.0 you have to pick your battles, and anything less than careful and sensible planning will likely see you on the receiving end of a thrashing with potentially far-reaching consequences to your late game prospects.
We endured one such beating at the hands of the marauders, a new faction/mechanic that for a time sat on the periphery of one of our empires, before uniting into a game-changing force that totally overwhelmed us and our neighbours, emerging almost out of nowhere. It was good (for them) while it lasted because shortly after annexing our capital planet and taking control of our burgeoning empire, their own fell apart and split into a number of smaller, more vulnerable factions. The damage was done, however, and we spent the next few hours reacting to the new landscape around us, gathering our strength as we looked to take back what once was ours. It certainly spiced up the mid-game significantly for us, but as we discovered here and in a different campaign, a big hit early on in proceedings can be a huge setback largely because building up your strength takes so much time due to the structural changes made in other areas.
Another alteration that will feel familiar to Paradox fans is the new claim system, which effectively sees you spending unity points to lay claim to enemy systems before declaring war. It feels plucked straight out of one the publisher’s historical games, and that being the case it was a natural introduction that made immediate sense to us. That said, the AI-controlled factions still aren’t always the most convincing, and some of them make very odd decisions. We flirted with diplomacy but ultimately this part of the game still felt a little undernourished. Indeed, in a future update, we’d like to see this part of the game given more nuance and depth (with some form of espionage, for example) to give more spice to non-violent campaigns. Elsewhere, upgrading your pops across your various planets can get a bit tiresome after a while, and we’d love to see some streamlining options on that front.
For us the adjustments made in the Cherryh update mix things up nicely. Some people are likely going to bounce off the changes and roll back to an earlier version of the game, but we think it’s a decent refresh of a game that was already good as it was. The changes certainly suited us, although it does affect the overall pacing of the game to an unexpected extent and we think there are a couple of places where the studio could nip and tuck the experience to compensate.
The most significant issue with Apocalypse and 2.0, however, is that the big changes are free, and when you look at the DLC in isolation it’s quite expensive if you consider it solely based on what you get for your money. Death Star-like planet killers and new mercenary units aren’t enough to make this expansion an essential purchase, but they probably are worth getting to complement the sweeping changes made in Cherryh. While the paid-for additions aren’t game-changers to the same extent as the structural alterations made elsewhere, they do fit very snugly with the general overhaul.
2.0 feels familiar, certainly, but Paradox has made some significant and impactful changes to the game, particularly in terms of combat and empire management. The new direction may well remain divisive among the community, especially those who despise the hyper-lanes and feel like they’ve had an integral part of their game taken away from them, but the changes resulted in a positive experience for us and we had a great time revisiting Stellaris. The paid-for expansion itself isn’t particularly substantial if you pick it apart from the free update – hence the score – but we think that the game itself is in great health overall and provides an engrossing strategy experience.
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Keyword: Stellaris: Apocalypse