Stellaris Explorer Edition

About

Get ready to explore, discover and interact with a multitude of species as you journey among the stars. Forge a galactic empire by sending out science ships to survey and explore, while construction ships build stations around newly discovered planets.

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8
Based on
76374 reviews
Country Compatibility:
Languages:
Developer:
Paradox Development Studio
Publisher:
DMM GAMES
Engine:
Clausewitz Engine
Release date:
09 May 2016
Recent Steam reviews:
Mostly Positive (1007)
All Steam reviews:
Very Positive (76374)

Game features

DLCs

Similar offers

Description

Get ready to explore, discover and interact with a multitude of species as you journey among the stars. Forge a galactic empire by sending out science ships to survey and explore, while construction ships build stations around newly discovered planets. Discover buried treasures and galactic wonders as you spin a direction for your society, creating limitations and evolutions for your explorers. Alliances will form and wars will be declared.

Like all our Grand Strategy games, the adventure evolves with time. Because free updates are a part of any active Paradox game, you can continue to grow and expand your empire with new technologies and capabilities. What will you find beyond the stars? Only you can answer that.

DEEP AND VARIED EXPLORATION

Every game begins with a civilization that has just discovered the means to travel between stars and is ready to explore the galaxy. Have your science ships survey and explore anomalies, leading you into a myriad of quests, introducing strange worlds with even stranger stories and discoveries that may completely change your outcome.

STUNNING SPACE VISUALS

With characteristically complex unique planets and celestial bodies, you will enter a whirlwind of spectacles in a highly detailed universe.

INFINITE VARIATION OF SPECIES AND ADVANCED DIPLOMACY

Through customization and procedural generation, you will encounter infinitely varied races. Choose positive or negative traits, specific ideologies, limitations, evolutions or anything you can imagine. Interact with others through the advanced diplomacy system. Diplomacy is key in a proper grand strategy adventure. Adjust your strategy to your situation through negotiation and skill.

INTERSTELLAR WARFARE

An eternal cycle of war, diplomacy, suspicions and alliances await you. Defend or attack with fully customizable war fleets, where adaptation is the key to victory. Choose from an array of complex technologies when designing and customizing your ships with the complex ship designer. You have a multitude of capabilities to choose from to meet the unknown quests that await.

ENORMOUS PROCEDURAL GALAXIES

Grow and expand your empire with thousands of randomly generated planet types, galaxies, quests and monsters lurking in space.

PLAY THE WAY YOU WANT

Customize your Empire! The characters you choose, be it a murderous mushroom society or an engineering reptile race, can be customized with traits like ethics, type of technology, form of preferred space travel, type of habitat, philosophies and more. The direction of the game is based on your choices.

FREE UPDATE HISTORY

Recommended system requirements

minimum*

OS:
Windows® 10 Home 64 Bit
Processor:
Intel® iCore™ i3-530 or AMD® FX-6350
Memory:
4 GB RAM
Graphics:
Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 460 or AMD® ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 (1GB VRAM), or AMD® Radeon™ RX Vega 11 or Intel® HD Graphics 4600
DirectX:
Version 9.0c
Network:
Broadband Internet connection
Storage:
10 GB available space
Sound Card:
Direct X 9.0c- compatible sound card
Additional Notes:
Controller support: 3-button mouse, keyboard and speakers. Special multiplayer requirements: Internet Connection

recommended*

OS:
Windows® 10 Home 64 Bit
Processor:
Intel® iCore™ i5-3570K or AMD® Ryzen™ 5 2400G
Memory:
4 GB RAM
Graphics:
Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 560 Ti (1GB VRAM) or AMD® Radeon™ R7 370 (2 GB VRAM)
DirectX:
Version 12
Network:
Broadband Internet connection
Storage:
10 GB available space
Sound Card:
DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card
Additional Notes:
Controller support: 3-button mouse, keyboard and speakers. Special multiplayer requirements: Internet Connection

User reviews

Lieutenant Weed
Recommended | 16 Jul 2026
26.2h played

I've only owned this game for 5 days. day 1 i put 10 hours into it in one sitting and stayed up all night. i caught myself plotting the downfall of my neighboring empires at work today. 10/10

Helpful: 0
Kaschei
Not recommended | 16 Jul 2026
959h played

Even after years, the endgame is still plagued by severe lag, regardless of your PC's hardware. There's little point in adding more game systems if the game itself isn't properly optimized. Until the performance issues

Helpful: 1
Tramapolean
Not recommended | 16 Jul 2026
145h played

This game is an excellent example of the MESS that Paradox creates with their lack of design and anyone thinking through their games. I have played a lot of what they have made, and yes, there I really do admire their

Helpful: 1
sand_dan
Recommended | 16 Jul 2026
3108h played

10/10, you get to make it whatever you want. You can treat it as a an evolving story or as a game to min max to your heart's content. There's many mods available to change it further and add more to game, helping suit

Helpful: 0
Blargh
Not recommended | 17 Jul 2026
1284h played

I wish I could still recommend this game. It truly is amazing. Unfortunately it is plague by insane DLC practice, which to some extent I can understand since they're still developping the game so often with so much

Helpful: 1
⚛◉⚛
Not recommended | 17 Jul 2026
130h played

1. This game is heavily bugged. Some bugs are very serious and critical, such as disappearing Battleships (the biggest ship class in the game). 2. Game has too many paid DLCs which add some parts of basic functionality.

Helpful: 1