Stellaris: Necroids Species Pack
Paradox Interactive
Stellaris is a stellar (couldn’t help it) science fiction sandbox strategy simulator that has gotten tons of post-launch content in the form of lots of DLC and free updates. Its developer, Paradox Interactive, has recently released yet another bombshell of an expansion for their critically acclaimed grand strategy gem. The Stellaris: Necroids Species Pack is their latest offereing and boy, is it a doozy.
Stellaris: Necroids Species Pack brings the Necroids species into the fold, which is pretty obvious from the title. Like any good vampire or lich worth its salt, they are highly cunning, ambitious, and deadly. To them, life only begins after death. The Necroids offer a whole new way to strategize and both broaden and deepen, the game’s already plentiful narrative emphasis.
So what comes with the Stellaris: Necroids Species Pack?
1 New Origin – Necrophage
The brand new Necrophage Origin positions gamer-martyrs as a powerful primary species which consumes others within its grasp, blurring the line between cult and empire with three brand new civics:
Death Cult: Enables powerful edicts which require the sacrificing of pops
Reanimated Armies: Allows the deployment of morality-immune, undead armies
Memorialists: Erects monuments to the galaxy’s past, improving planetary stability and honouring tomb worlds
16 new portraits (15 organic, 1 robotic)
New ship set
New advisor voiceover
New city set & diplomacy room
New Name lists
New building cosmetics
What’s the point of forging an eternal space empire if you’re not around to see it? Why let a pesky thing like mortality ruin your timeless dominion over the cosmos? Such things don’t concern Stellaris‘s newest band of ramblin’ shamblin’ undead aliens, The Necroids, descending upon the galaxy in today’s new Species Pack. ‘Tis the season for an undead apocalypse, after all.
Living for close to an eternity is all fine and dandy, but you don’t want to wait for years during the game’s loading times. Luckily, our dusty undead space zombie arrive alongside a free update that dramatically reduces Stellaris’ loading times.
What’s also cool is that the Necroids come with their own portraits, backdrops, names, advisor voice, and ship designs. A nice batch of visuals and themes to help immerse you as you lean into the role of the most ghoulish denizens of the galaxy.
A new Origin called Necrophage allows for one primary species that subsumes all it comes into contact with, with a number of civic options for ensnaring its victims within their tombs. Death Cults let you sacrifice entire populations which then enable powerful edicts. You also have access to virtually endless reanimated armies that let you throw legions of your undead troops up against enemies, without worrying too much about losing them. All things considered, improving planetary stability by erecting monuments on tomb worlds actually sounds quite interesting now.
Just remember that this is a species pack and not a full-blown expansion. If you’re okay with more of what makes Stellaris great, you should be happy. As an added bonus, Stellaris also gets the shiny new 2.8 “Butler” update. The patch notes include a massive list of bug fixes, AI improvements, tweaks and changes. Most important of all, however, are “greatly improved startup and load times.”
RATING: 8.7/10
Stellaris has some pretty good looking graphics that make its science fiction gameplay truly shine. However, you want to have a pretty beefy gaming PC or gaming laptop in order to play it at a decent framerate. So, you may just want to invest in a decent gaming rig:
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