Was Stellaris a good investment? (Humble Monthly)
Was Stellaris a good investment? (Humble Monthly)
It is a pretty good game (and a really good deal for that price). However, they just released a new "Must-Have" (read: very important gameplay changes) paid DLC, so if you get immersed in Vanilla stellaris, you're still gonna have to buy the DLC at full price (which is basically how paradox makes money these days). So scam-ish, because they want to lure you into buying the DLC, but for the base game it's a great price.
I also got it from Humblebundle, it's a solid game for $11. While I'm not a big strategy gamer, I liked Civ and Stellaris is just a more powerful version of that. I don't own any DLCs yet, unsure if they're worth the cost—they seem pricey. Still, I enjoy the base game.
Based on what I see, Leviathans and Utopia are likely the main essential DLCs, though it's unclear how much more will be added later. I checked CK 2 and EU4, both of which have a lot of DLC and some updates released even after their original releases.
Stellaris ATM feels more like a playable experience than a fully completed game, with less complexity compared to earlier paradox titles. However, if you have some cash and enjoy space-themed adventures, it's worth trying.
I haven't tried any of Paradox's grand strategy titles. Stellaris is recommended as a great entry point since it begins as a 4X game before evolving into a grand strategy experience.
they get pretty complicated pretty fast. But from 2 or so years of playing them I've amassed about 1000 hours overall on EU4, HoI4 and Stellaris put together- overall they are absolutely insane games which I rate at least 9/10, just Stellaris isn't the best one (imo). If you get Stellaris though it'll put you on a path to trying the others. (unless you find history boring because there's a lot, lol)
I played CK2 and EU4, both with really tough learning curves. I never truly enjoyed them once I hit around 20 hours—losing interest quickly because I didn’t know what to do beyond that point, and there were few tutorials. You have to watch a lot of YouTube videos to grasp a lot of things in those games. Stellaris is much simpler but still easier to pick up and play. That’s why I really like it more, even though it’s a condensed version.
It's likely they were restricted to just the main game or weren't told about the new DLC. They probably added some solid titles and remnants of the previous standard, but the abandoned VR project was left out.