Moving out of the PC realm and into the world of consoles on the 25th of February for Xbox One and the 26th for PlayStation 4, Stellaris is making an enormous splash. Stellaris: Console Edition is a game of discovery, expedition, advancement, and competition. For those unfamiliar with this game (as I was when I played), think about it as a seamless mix of EA’s Spore (space stage) and Sid Meier’s Civilization. Your people have just discovered intergalactic travel, and the goal now is to travel the galaxy. Yet as you grow, you must beware of different characteristics concerning your empire.
To begin with, while sometimes the loading screen can take a while, Stellaris: Console Edition entertains you with beautiful artwork that tantalizes at you what you’ll be able to discover within the game: different planets, different astronomical anomalies, different civilizations, advanced technologies, and more.
Thankfully, when you begin the game, you are offered a companion that will guide you in step-by-step processes for starting up your empire. And for the level of complexity this game has, I thought it was very useful. Your AI helper talks you through everything that goes on in the main screen, which is a lot, as you can see below:
But don’t let this intimidate you. The micromanaging could be seen as tedious and unnecessary, but it’s very interesting as well as fulfilling to take part in every aspect of your empire. You’re in charge of who commands your spaceships, what stars you survey, where you colonize, who runs your governments, what type of ethics your people believe in, what technology you want to research, what buildings to construct, what weapons you have on your military ships… whatever you get out of the game, it is because of you. And that’s truly wonderful. Additionally, the user interface is so simple and easy, learning how to manage your empire is very quick to get passed.
In terms of storyline, as implied above, there isn’t much of one since so much relies on you, the player, creating your universe. Therefore, excluding specially designed tasks that can take you on journeys throughout the star systems, there is not a set “story” that you follow in the game. But this plays to Stellaris’ advantage, making the game replayable countless times as simply choosing a different species with a different government in the beginning automatically launches you into a different experience.
All the commands and different missions/objectives you set your people out to accomplish can be hard to keep track of, and figuring out the costs or benefits of each action can also be difficult to completely understand without trial and error. Perhaps that is an in-game learning experience, mirroring real life, but regardless, it can be frustrating until you get the hang of the game (and then it usually throws in another level of complexity).
One thing I did find irritating regarding the helper AI, is that it pauses your ability to interact with the game while it pops up to give you advice. So you have to read it, remember what it said, and continue, or completely ignore it to continue with the game. I would have preferred a system where you can keep the notification ongoing to refer back to as you followed its advice, or even a message log to check on if you forgot what it said. But either I could not find one, or as I believe, it does not exist.
Furthermore, the music in the background is not the most impressive or intriguing, but it serves its purpose to keep you awake and engaged while not being too distracting. It would have been cool if it changed up once in a while, but that’s not what Stellaris is really about.
Setting the almost inconsequential bad aside, all the good Stellaris has to offer definitely kept me up until the early morning as I explored the worlds across light years of space. Stellaris’ depth seems infinite, and the complexity could have been repellent but instead Stellaris manages it so expertly allowing for big and small picture intricacy, it seems like the game is always in perfect balance.
Stellaris: Console Edition is truly a game to make an impact in 2019, and mixing strategy, management, and adventure into one amazing, mind-blowing experience. No matter what, there is always something to look forward to while playing Stellaris, making it a game for the ages.
End score: 9.5/10
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