Stellaris: Utopia Critic Reviews

A much-needed expansion that sures up the shallowness of the empire building and management. Utopia adds great depth and new layers of progression that make building your interstellar empire a much more unique and enjoyable experience.

Stellaris: Utopia makes Stellaris a better experience for anyone: fans and detractors.

Paradox’s biggest expansion yet brings Stellaris closer to its original promise with a stellar rework of internal politics and new endgame goals.

Utopia, together with the free “Banks” update, introduce a ton of much-desired additions to Stellaris’ core gameplay. It might need some more polish and balancing in order to truly shine, but it remains a solid step forward in the game’s journey to perfection.

If you’re an existing Stellaris player, the Utopia expansion opens up a bunch of options that didn’t exist before and is well worth the investment. If you haven’t jumped on the stellar bandwagon yet – there’s no better time. Stellaris is a very strong space strategy game that has flown a bit under the radar, and anyone who enjoys games like Civilization or Masters of Orion will likely be quite taken by Stellaris.

Stellaris: Utopia fills out a game that was already bursting. In the time I've had with it, I've played planet-devouring swarms, robotic foxes, militant birdmen, and slaving psionic jellyfish… things. While combat remains a sticking point, and hive minds feel like they have a ways to go before the idea is fully-formed, there is more potential than ever to do what the title does best – tell a story.

Utopia has given me plenty of reason to go back out into the far reaches of space, so much so that I now fear for the prosperity of my social life. With so many enticing updates rolled into Utopia and the Banks update, there’s even more to make me say “let me just do one more thing,” until it’s 4 a.m. and I’m out of luck. Thanks Paradox.

Utopia brings a whole new depth to Stellaris with its mega constructions, traditions and the new political system.

Quotation forthcoming.

In tandem, the (free) Banks 1.5 update and Utopia contribute a splendid set of features and mechanical changes to Stellaris. Taken alone, Utopia is more the luxury trimmings to Banks’ essentials, but it’s a fine package of unique species specialisation and mega-engineering all the same.

These enhancements are great, sometimes even game-changing, but Paradox are offering so much for free that it makes the actual premium DLC less vital.