Heart of Iron in the future -Stellaris review

This is one of my favorite strategy game
In this article I will tell you why..

about the game:

The game starts in 2200 and usually ends in 2400 (you can set it to a later date, if you want to). This game is a RtS (real time strategy) game, in space. When starting the game, you can choose your species, or you can create one, if you are new to the game, then the human species is recommended.
(quick info: when I am writing this (2018. 12. 27.) the game has a 75% sale on steam, so if you want to get it, get it now!)



Story:

There is a little story in the game, your goal is to find intelligent alien life (spoiler alert, there is intelligent aliens, the game is all about them so its not really a spoiler), but also there is some side quests, that if you complete you get extra materials or research points.

Gameplay:

Ships:
When you start, you have 1 research(science) ship and 1 construction ship. I recommend you building at least 1 more of every ship you have. You also start with a small military fleet, you don't really need to upgrade that at the start, that can wait. At the start you should explore much as you can with the science ships. Go into galaxy view (press the "M" button on your keyboard) and select a science ship, and right click on a star that isn't explored, and click "Survey system". Before you can capture a system, you need to fully survey it (survey every planet, start, asteroids etc), then with a builder ship, you need to build an "outpost", after has finished building, the system is yours!

(this is how surveying systems looks like)
Planets:
You can find habitable planets, if you send a colony ship to it, you can start building on it. There are different sized planets, the bigger the planet (maximum planet size is 25, which means you can build 25 different buildings on it) the more you can build on it. Planets can generate a lot of materials, like energy, food, science points, and a lot more. The materials that you get is depends on what you are building on the planet. You can build energy grids, mining systems, research buildings, etc.



Diplomacy and wars:

When you find a new species, you can become friends or enemies with them. If you are playing for the first time I recommend not fighting that much, in the start of the game. When becoming friends, you can trade with them, open borders, grant independence, make an alliance etc.
if you become enemies with someone, you can start a rivalry or claim their stars, so when you fight them, and win you get those star systems, but if you lose, they get those systems that they claimed.



Multiplayer:

I never really played multiplayer before in this game. Mostly because i don't have any friends who have this game, also its the same as the singleplayer, but instead of bots they are real people.

Some other stuff:

The game has 4 different "versions" that you can buy. 

• There is the normal one, which grants you the whole game
• There is the Nova Edition, which gives you the following:
  • You can download the Soundtracks
  • A forum icon
  • and an Exclusive alien race
• There is the Galaxy Edition, which gives you the following:
  
  • Everything that the Nova Edition has
  • a signed wallpaper
  • Exclusive Forum icon and avatar
  • Exclusive digital collectors book
  • and an eBook, Infinite Frontiers novel by Steven Savile
• And finally, the Starter pack, which gives you every DLC.

Graphics:

The game looks alright, its nothing special, but with a few steam workshop mods, the game can look really good!

My thoughts:

I love this game. One of the best (if not the best) RtS game ever (the only game that I can think of that could beat this, is Red Alert). The game seems to be complicated at first, but if you play 1-2 hours with it, you will get the hang of it. The game has steam workshop, and there is a lot of great thing on it (graphical upgrades, effects, ship designs etc). I can't really find anything bad about the game, I have around 30 hours in the game, and I mostly played singleplayer, yet I am still not bored of it.
Thanks for reading my article, hope I helped you decide if you should buy this game or not (quick reminder: the game is on a 75% sale when I am writing this (2018. 12. 27.)). Have a great day!