Stellaris is a 4X grand strategy game where you explore a vast galaxy full of wonder.
Since it launched over a year ago, the game has been well-supported through expansions and other updates. Today, Paradox Interactive revealed the Apocalypse expansion which brings new levels of warfare and destruction to the title. Taking a few pages from the Star Wars manual, Apocalypse builds upon the ways you can expand your galactic empire by introducing the ability to destroy entire enemy planets. Apart from that, the expansion will bring new military options, civic paths, and challenges to Stellaris when it arrives in early 2018 on PC.
The expansion also takes into account those players who don't yet have mammoth galactic empires. If you're a poor, unsuspecting empire, you'll gain new features to help you prosper even though you aren't currently at war. There is a lot of free content coming to Stellaris in the future but the Apocalypse expansion will include the following key features.
- Keep local systems in check the new planet-killer weapon known as the Colossus. According to Paradox Interactive, it's a technological terror that eliminates entire worlds from the universe.
- New enormous capital ships called Titans can lead your fleets to conquest, offering tremendous bonuses to vessels under their command. In order to counteract the Titan, you should probably fortify key systems with massive orbital installations and secure your homeworld.
- Marauders are a tremendous threat. They're space nomads who raid settled empires and carve out their lives on the fringe of civilization. Players can hire them as mercenaries, but there's always the risk that the Marauders might turn on you later on in the game and destroy everything you've accomplished so far.
- Lastly, new Ascension Perks and Civics will be part of the expansion, along with new Unity Ambitions that provide more ways to spend Unity and customize your empire's development.
It's great to see that Stellaris is being aggressively supported even over a year later. Usually, many developers release a Game of the Year Edition by now and move onto the next project. Stellaris is a title you can play for hundreds of hours so it's understandable why the developer's approach is this long-term.
According to the developer, Stellaris is an evolution of the grand strategy genre with space exploration at its core. It features deep strategic gameplay, and a rich and enormously diverse selection of alien races and emergent storytelling. The game contains engaging moments that reward interstellar exploration as you traverse, discover, interact, and learn more about the multitude of species you will encounter during your travels. There are a lot of mechanics to master here so be prepared for a somewhat steep learning curve when you first dive in. It takes some time to get familiar with the gameplay but it's quite satisfying once you do.
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