I am a big enthusiast in terms of strategy games and have been playing strategy games for over 13 years. I must say that from all the strategy games I played, I adore Stellaris overall the most and that Stellaris is easily my favorite game of all time. Furthermore, I am also a big science fiction and space aficionado and in that regard there is no other strategy game which has spoiled me in terms of strategy games as much as Stellaris did. Stellaris has been created by the famous Paradox studio and even though they made many other very iconic strategy games, I can say that Stellaris is also easily the Paradox game and my favorite Paradox game in my opinion, which I think is very honorable. But let me now switch my focus on those aspects which amaze me the most about Stellaris.


An amazing beautiful design with science fiction galore
Stellaris amazes me with it’s vast amount of science fiction content, the game is pretty much a compilation of all sorts of famous tropes from sci-fi and space games, movies, books or shows, especially when you own all the DLCs for this game. Stellaris offers everything, which I have seen and love before, ranging from megastructures like ringworlds or Dyson spheres, genocidal robot crisis, time travel, weapons capable of annihilating whole planets, leviathans, gigantic ships or even mechanic, hivemind, undead or plantoid species.
The only additions I can think of which should be added in the future would be stealth mechanics and espionage.
Furthermore, the game has also very beautiful graphics, a very modern user interface and especially the recent updates which also upgraded the game’s graphics overall and the design of starsystems made the game to one of the best looking science fiction space grand strategy games ever. Also it’s very remarkable that Stellaris has such an amazing soundtrack.

Extraordinary storytelling and exploration
I have to mention how much I love the early game stage, reading through different anomalies and events, exploring and researching new systems and establishing first contact with unknown empires. The writing of those entries is really good and creates a very relaxing early game. This can be even further improved when you play on bigger galaxy maps and especially with owning the Distant Stars DLC, which add many more new anomalies and even leviathans. Every single Stellaris run feels like its own emerging story you create around your empire.

Very addictive and satisfying gameplay to easily get into
Stellaris is a very addictive game in which I spent hundreds of hours in total and can easily spend many hours in a single day, which is made possible by the gigantic amount of variety and content the game provides. Every run I play feels like a new game with a lot of variety and never becomes repetitive or boring.
The game does not only have a lot of replay value, it is also really easy to get into and get other people to play it as well. The game is very special compared to other games in that real time strategy, grand strategy and 4X genre and especially compared to other Paradox games, because it is relatively easy to get into and learn but hard to master.
That is an aspect I really appreciate because it is easier to learn the base mechanics and to convince other friends to play with and still taking a lot of time and learning to actually master the game, meaning that if you really want to get really good at the game and digging into the deeper layers of understanding the game the game actually becomes pretty difficult and challenging and this is exactly what I did as well.
Furthermore, the modern and easy to learn user interface and the ingame advisors really help understanding and learning the game’s basics and getting into it very smoothly.
I also love that the AI is very advanced and the classic 4X aspects represented within Stellaris.

A long term evolution and support with many DLCs
Unlike many other strategy games I have played, Stellaris has evolved the most since launch. The game today is so much more different and advanced compared to how it was when it was released in 2016. You can clearly observe how much Stellaris has evolved in those past over 4 years and even though it will be soon 5 years old, the developers still frequently patch, update and add new content to the game, which also shows the long term support the game has. This leads to mentioning the fact that the game has an extensive amount of DLCs which really helps to provide a lot of content, variety and many possibilities to design your own civilization. While the base game serves its purpose, the Utopia DLC is pretty fundamental because it adds megastructures and ascension perks. If you really enjoy the early game exploration like I do I also recommend getting the Distant Stars DLC and if you are also enjoying robots and mechanic empires you should also purchase the Synthetic Dawn DLCs.
Those three DLC are pretty much my favorite DLCs and all the other DLCs add nice additional content and can be bought optionally and in whatever order you prefer and prioritize and especially during Stellaris sales. I can also recommend trying out those DLCs to figure out what is personally more important via Steam Family Share if you have a friend who owns all the DLCs. Additionally besides new content, most DLCs also add neat extra content like new ship designs, new advisors, customization options and new songs for the soundtrack. Some of the best songs of the game can be found in my opinion in the Distant Stars and Synthetic Dawn story packs.

Many possibilities and flexibility for multiplayer
Finally, as mentioned before it is pretty easy to get friends to join you in multiplayer games or even find people to play with online because Stellaris has a really active community. The whole party benefits from the DLCs the host owns, therefore if the host has all DLCs the rest of the party can enjoy all of the existing content with owning the base game, which you can easily get during sales for about 10 bucks already. Also if one person is unable to join a session, an AI can temporarily take over the person’s empire so that the rest of the party can continue.


Needing to have certain DLCs to actually gain the full single player experience
As mentioned before, some DLCs, especially Utopia, are fundamental to experience the full single player experience, which is a typical problem with Paradox games, therefore you should try out the base game before you invest a lot of money.

Bugs and lag after big patches and updates
Additionally something which has frustrated me a lot in the past as a completionist is that many of the Steam achievements are bugged and I had to waste many hours to do them again and that after big patches the game can become very laggy and buggy.


To sum it up, I have to say that I love Stellaris as a game and it is easily my favorite, not only strategy game but also game in general of all time.
As a big fan of strategy games and science fiction I really appreciate Stellaris as a game and fell in love with its depth, science fiction tropes, graphics, soundtrack and gameplay.
I love this masterpiece created by Paradox and Stellaris defines the height of my gaming career and it's just in that Goldilocks Zone for me because it’s so good with so much content I enjoy. The game is no doubt worth its price and your time and I will continue to play my favorite game for many more hours. I can truly recommend this game for everyone, who loves science fiction, space, grand strategy, realtime strategy and 4X or even just strategy games in general. For those people, it is a must have and something you should definitely play in your gaming career.

I must say that I adore Alien Isolation overall.
It's been a long time since I played such a striking horror-stealth-survival game like Alien Isolation.
I am a person who loves horror, science fiction and the Alien franchise in general and that is the Alien game I have waited for ages for.
And especially considered the fact that the game is created by the developers of Total War Warhammer and it's their first FPS horror game is absolutely honorable.
Right now Alien Isolation belongs to my favorite horrorgames of all time which I played during my already 13 years long gaming career alongside Cry of Fear and Soma and it totally deserves it.
But let me switch my focus to those aspects, which striked me the most.


An amazing atmosphere and enviromental design
First of all, I would like to talk about the aspect which impressed me the most, the enviroment and atmosphere of the game.
Alien Isolation has an amazing sound and enviromental design. The sounds are realistic and impressively well chosen and they made the atmosphere even more thrilling and creepy.
The music was always fitting into the situation and supported the atmosphere aswell.
Especially the graphical design was amazing.
On the one hand the game's graphic looked awesome and beautiful considered it's release year 2014 and on the other hand, although Sevastopol was never a ship or a spacestation in the Alien series, it's level and enviromental design looked exactly like it would have been part of the Alien movies.
I love how they kept the original design and architecture of the ships like seen in the movies.
I do also appreciate that they kept the details, which make a difference.
For example they used and kept the same design of the computers like in the first Alien movie, which additionally also honors the first Alien movie.
They also found the golden middle for the usage of jumpscares in between overusing them or using too few scary elements, which gave those jumpscares an unexpected and surprising touch.

Good survival mechnanics
Furthermore I really love the survival aspects of the game.
In the beginning the game gives you the hope that your guns are helpful against the androids and other humans on the station, but since you engaged the Alien the first time it turnes out to be an illusion.
You have to learn that your motiontracker, crouching and hiding are the keys for survival.
And I love Horror games where you have no chance to beat your foes and all you can do is hiding and being stealthy.
Your crafting items can be useful too but you should always use it cautiously, because distractions can always attract bigger threats, which is also a wise decision.

An extraordinary AI made by developers of strategy games
Another feature, which thrilled me was the alien's AI itself.
I really like the idea of the invisible leash and that two Alien AIs's are constantly working together to hunt you down.
The AI is also really smart as expected by a studio which is developing a lot of Strategy games, which I had to painfully experience when the Alien studied and recognized my hiding behaviors.
Although they might seem like that, lockers are not safe, they're more a cage of doom where you are trapped in and unable to escape.
The alien will study your hiding habits and will more frequently search lockers, vents etc.
You will have to find alternate and more creative hiding spots, which I think was well made.

A well chosen playtime and a good plot as foundation
I do also really enjoy the play time.
For the first walkthrough you will need approximately 20 hours of playtime, which I think is an appropriate playtime.
I do also have to gladly mention that the story formed a good frame surrounding the game itself and would perfectly fit in between the storylines of Alien and Aliens.

A stunning level and mission design
Finally, I do also love the level design of Alien Isolation.
It is difficult for a space station to offer a varied enviroment, but Creative Assembly did a great job solving that issue.
During my walkthrough I never felt bored or felt like doing repetitive missions.
The different killing animations are also suiting and well made, which also offers a lot of diversity.
Every single mission and area was completely unique, which I consider as essential for such a long sci-fi -space adventure.


The downsides of the Xenomorph's AI
Although the game offers a variety of positve elements, I do also need to shift my focus to one element, which did actually bother me.
I did really like the idea and concept of the invisible leash but it's execution has some flaws, it was way too short for the majority of the game.
That created a more frustrating situation than a creepy or scary one.
In the beginning it was indeed a scary and thrilling feature, but the Alien kept the short leash for most parts of the game, which resulted in dying and being stuck at levels for hours.
That ruined sometimes the scary atmosphere and dying or beating levels was not scary any more and just became frustrating, which is not the aim of a horror game.
horror games are supposed to make you feel tension and creepyness, not making you frustrated like Dark Souls or any other soulslike game.
I think they should increase the lenght of the leash for most parts of the game.
Fortunately there are mods to increase the length of the Alien's invisible leash, which I did for my second walkthrough.
I can really recommend doing so because it makes the game even more scary because the Alien will act more unpredictably.

To sum it up, Alien Isolation is totally worth it's price and no doubts, one of the best survival-sci-fi-stealth horrorgames of all time and one of the best experiences I have ever had in my whole gaming career.
The atmosphere, the sci-fi aspects and the Xenomorph's AI made me fall in love with this game and overcame the few flaws the game has.
I do really love this masterpiece made by Creative Assembly and recommend this game to everyone who loves horror games, science fiction and the Alien movies.
For all of those it is a must-have and an experience you should definitely make in your gaming life.