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Stellaris is a real-time strategy game with 4X and grand strategy elements,^[3] taking place on a map of a procedurally generated galaxy^[2] with individual star systems acting as two-dimensional tiles. Each star has its own star class (like B, A or F) and own planets of different sizes and types (for example gas giants or rocky planets of very high or low surface temperatures) orbiting around, that can be divided into habitable and not habitable ones; all planets have certain resources on them and can be exploited by the stellar empire that owns the system. Star systems can only be traversed via a web of faster-than-light routes called hyperlanes.

Players take the role of a single civilisation, capable of FTL travel, referred to as an empire, with the goal of exploring and claiming systems, colonising habitable planets, and expanding their economy to outcompete rival civilisations, encountered through events of first contact. The relative power of empires is evaluated on three factors – military strength, technological progress and economic power – allowing players to either specialise in a single area or maintain a balanced approach. Military strength is influenced by the strength of the starship fleet an empire possesses, and can be used to engage in wars against other empires. Technological progress is defined by the amount and rarity of technologies an empire has researched, with each technology providing some minor bonuses or unlocking unique major changes. Economic power depends on the amount of resources an empire produces, that can be used to trade with other civilisations or improve the quality of life of the population.

The empire that collects the largest amount of in-game score, that depends on its power, political influence and several other factors, wins the game when it reaches its end date. Habitable planets hold populations of an empire’s citizens, where each citizen is assigned a certain job, representing a working, specialist or elite class, with each job consuming and producing some in-game resources. Jobs are provided by buildings existing on the planet, where each building also gives certain bonuses by itself and is bound to a certain type of ‘district’ like city district, industrial district, energy district or agricultural district.

A large part of main gameplay of Stellaris is determined by the design of the player’s empire, which affects both visual look and in-game mechanics. The player is offered to either select from developer-made pre-set empires or create their own; each empire has a set of unique traits like origin, representing the pre-FTL history of their civilisation, ethics, representing the core philosophy of their empire, civics, representing the internal structure of their government and society, or head of state together with the type of government (like authoritarian, democratic or fictional “Hive mind” or “Megacorporation” types). Ethics are chosen from a total of eight options along four mutually exclusive axes,^[a] allowing the player to also choose between fanatical and moderate variants of each.

Players also control leaders – in-game characters that can occupy a certain position or role, like managing research operations, governing a colony or commanding a starship fleet. Each leader has their own unique traits that provide additional positive or negative effects and can be upgraded, as the leader gains experience by working in their relevant field (military, economy or science).

The game begins on January 1, 2200 AD, upon the player empire’s discovery of the hyperlane network. The default campaign length is 300 in-game years, divided into 100-year early-game, mid-game, and end-game segments dictating certain events and modifiers. The economy of a player’s empire throughout the game is primarily based on five main resources: energy credits, minerals, food, consumer goods, alloys and trade, each having a primary purpose to contribute to the player’s economy.^[4] There are also Strategic resources that are used to make advanced buildings, weapons, defences or endorsing edicts, that provide certain profit to the player. Unity, which can be obtained by supporting factions within the empire or by constructing buildings that produce it, is used to create and maintain edicts and unlock traditions; traditions are a series of bonuses, linked to a certain theme like espionage, exploration, mercantilism or militarism. Advancement in Stellaris is achieved through technologies and traditions which progressively scale in cost for the player to achieve, but provide better features for the player as the game continues.^[5]

After a certain period of time, ‘Galactic Crises’ can occur, whose goal is to make the later game more difficult for the player. Crises are divided into mid-game and late-game ones; the first can include events like a crusade by a marauder empire or an invasion by nanomachines from an extragalactic cluster. Late-game crises might include an awakening of hostile dormant sentient AI or an invasion by extra-dimensional or extra-galactic forces, these being either randomly chosen or selected by the player at the start of the game. Paradox hoped that this feature would address a common late-game problem in 4X style games; whereby one faction is so powerful that their eventual victory is inevitable, resulting in frustrating gameplay.^[6] Subsequent expansions have added multiple ways for empires to become a crisis faction themselves by researching dangerous technologies that imperil the entire galaxy: harvesting stars for energy, attempting to rewrite the laws of physics, genetically engineering dangerous space creatures, or destroying the entire galaxy by turning every star into a black hole.

Later in the game, the player is offered to choose between several “ascension paths”, which radically alter the inhabitants of a player’s empire. These include advanced genetic engineering, cybernetic augmentation, psionic powers, or uploading the minds of your species into a machine body. Machine empires, who already started as such, choose between different ascensions like advanced nanotechnology or transportation of the civilisation into a virtual simulation.

Stellaris was developed by Paradox Development Studios and published by Paradox Interactive.^[7] The game uses the same Clausewitz Engine that the studio has used since Europa Universalis III in 2007^[8] albeit with some modifications, such as the usage of physically based rendering (PBR).^[9] The game was presented at Gamescom in August 2015.^[10] Director Henrik Fahraeus describes his influences as “one third Star Control 2, one third Master of Orion 2 and one third Europa Universalis IV“, to “create a strategy game with particular focus on exploration and expansion”.^[11] The team also referenced Star Control II with several character concepts and personalities, including alien races who resemble birds, mushrooms, and gas clouds.^[12]

Stellaris was released to the public on May 9, 2016. After launch, the developers confirmed that there would be a number of expansion packs, as well as free updates to address bugs and introduce new gameplay features.^[13] The updates were named after famous science fiction writers,^[14] including Stanisław Lem,^[15] Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Iain Banks, Douglas Adams, Ray Bradbury, Karel Čapek, Pierre Boulle, C. J. Cherryh, Larry Niven, Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, Tanith Lee, and Mary Shelley, until 2022, when they began to take the names of constellations starting with 3.3, “Libra“.

The game is accompanied by free patches, which may adjust existing mechanics or add new ones in the same theme as the expansions. The first major patch arrived on May 24, shortly after the game’s release, featuring numerous improvements to the AI, as well as an additional playable race.^[16] The 2.0 patch (Cherryh), released in February 2018, revamps a significant amount of game mechanics, even for players who have not purchased the corresponding “Apocalypse” DLC. The 2.1 (Niven) update, released alongside the “Distant Stars” DLC in May, revamped the base game play loop and added more quality-of-life features. The 2.2 (Le Guin) update was released in December, along with the “Megacorp” DLC, and revamped how planets are organized. The 3.0 (Dick) update was released in April 2021, coinciding with the release of the “Nemesis” DLC.^[17] Minor releases have continued through 2022 with 3.5 being released September 2022.^[18]

There have been plenty of story packs and species packs that have been released, each adding a new in game events, origins, empire types, species, traits, civic, and ascension perks. Plantoids Species Pack dropped August 4, 2016 being the first, and the latest being Astral Planes,^[19] released November 16, 2023.^[20]

Paradox ported the game to consoles.^[21] The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of Stellaris were released on February 26, 2019, as Stellaris: Console Edition. A version of the game optimized for Xbox Series X/S released on March 25, 2021.^[22]