Some developers and publishers are content to tinker around the edges with released games. They’ll fix bugs and maybe issue some DLC, but the game itself stays the same. Paradox, on the other hand, tends to drop patches and expansions that completely change the way the game plays and add tons of new things. The Apocalypse expansion for Stellaris is one of those expansions, adding important features, fixing a ton of bugs, and even adding a few new tracks to the already stellar (ha!) soundtrack. It’s good, but you’re going to have to completely change everything you knew about playing Stellaris.
Stellaris: Apocalypse
Developer: Paradox Interactive
Price: $19.99
Platform: PC
MonsterVine was supplied with Steam copy for review
Maybe the most important thing Apocalypse does is build upon the work they’ve been doing on making the mid-game more fun. At launch, you built up your star empire, tinkered with settings, put things in motion, and then watched until there was another civilization to kick or an uprising to quell. Since launch, they’ve been working in other things to do, and I think Apocalypse is where the game really becomes what it was meant to be.
Obviously, the big headline feature (and the name) is just outright obliterating planets with a new planet-killing ship. But even then, there’s an art to it. Some civilizations specialize in abducting the population right before everything goes all Alderaan. Some civilizations can specialize in living on post-apocalyptic planets. Finally, you can realize your interstellar Mad Max dreams.
Galactic Emperors have options to counter the new planet killers. Oh, there’s station upgrades and ion cannons to fortify your systems, but the flashiest way is the new Titan class starship. (Note: As an EVE player, I snickered). The Titan is ungodly powerful and putting it in a standard battlefleet turns them into a rolling ball of death. On the other hand, any sensible player is going to notice you’re fielding a Titan and throw everything they have at killing the damn thing, even if it means pausing in the whole nuking-the-homeworld thing.
The biggest tweaks to the mid-game are the new Marauders, who are as horrifying as death stacks of Mongols, but in space. They’re basically barbarians from the Civilization series with a twist. If you want them to go away, you can hire them as mercenaries and send them off to torment your foes. On the other hand, mercenaries are seldom trustworthy and letting a bunch of nomadic space raiders arm up can turn out poorly for your side.
In terms of quality of life, the biggest notable change is going to be an overhaul of travel between the stars. Jump drives and wormhole exploration take some time, so early in the game means poking around existing spaceways rather than careening around haphazardly. Likewise, changes to borders and colonization mean a single guy named Bob can’t just hang around a system and claim it. Now it’s actual work to claim a system.
Is it an essential expansion when you get most of the good stuff as part of the free patch? I think it is. There’s enough new tools in the toy box to be worth the price of admission and, for me, encouraging this sort of long-term game maintenance rather than the “shove it out the door and forget it” publishing model is a worthy goal.
The Final Word
Call it a political statement or call it the blossoming of what launched as one of the most promising 4X strategy games in years. Stellaris is finally where it was meant to be. God save our free time.
– MonsterVine Review Score: 4 out of 5 – Good
