The Best Stellaris DLCs

As a Paradox Interactive game, players can expect Stellaris to have many downloadable content packages that enrich the game further, by adding many new intuitive and exciting features and improving quality-of-life, to additional story packs that enhance the already rich lore of the game itself. Furthermore, these DLCs also increase the replayability value of the game, which has passed its 7th anniversary.

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Although most of the downloadable content for Stellaris has been critically acclaimed and labeled as ‘must-haves’, there will be some content that is more preferred and praised than others due to many factors, such as its additions to the base game and lore implications.

Updated on February 25, 2024, by Evan Arnoldi: As time goes on, Paradox Interactive has always been hands-on in developing Stellaris in many ways, such as via patches that change the whole meta to keep the gameplay fresh, and additional downloadable content packs to entice returning veterans and newer players alike. The newer downloadable content can easily add a lot more hours of gameplay for the players by introducing newer gameplay mechanics and lore to keep them well-immersed within the game. Therefore, players will need to keep an eye out for every newer downloadable content that they might have missed before, as it can enhance the game fundamentally.

11 Astral Planes

Steam User Rating: 26% (Out of 835 reviews)

• Adds new powerful
  Relics
  that can enable the empire to dominate the galaxy
• Adds the unique
  Astral Planes
  to be explored, unlocking
  Astral Actions
  in the process
• Adds new
  story events
  with branching narratives

Although the Steam user rating might not be impressive, Astral Planes can be defined as one of Stellaris’ downloadable content that is worth acquiring due to its addition of powerful Relics and unique Astral Planes with branching narratives. The new Relics themselves enable the player to enhance their empire to another level, as one of them enables the empire’s leader to become immortal, for example.

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With the release of the Astral Planes DLC, Astral Relics can now reshape how a species approaches galactic colonization.

Moreover, the explorable Astral Rifts also enable the player to acquire new unique powers in the form of Relics, technologies, and even powerful armies to unleash on the enemy. As a consequence of exploring these Astral Planes, players will also acquire the means to execute Astral Actions, which are powerful in their own ways as well.

10 Nemesis

Steam User Rating: 41% (Out of 1501 reviews)

• Adds new special Ascension Perk to
  Become the Crisis
• Adds the possibility of becoming either the
  Galactic Custodian
  or forming a new
  Galactic Imperium
• Expands the Espionage Mechanic

This particular DLC adds more depth to politics, gameplay, and the endgame for players to try. One of its notable additions was the ‘Become The Crisis’ ascension perk, which allows the player to become a Crisis themselves and try to bring an end to the galaxy in order to “ascend the mortal coil.”

Not only the ascension perk, but this downloadable content also adds new endgame flavors by adding the option to become the ‘Galactic Custodian’, countering any Crisis that threatens the galaxy, be it an extradimensional hunter, or an upstart empire trying to extinguish all life.

9 Overlord

Steam User Rating: 50% (Out of 1185 reviews)

• Adds more subject types to specialize vassals into new roles
• Adds scattered empires and enclaves with unique encounters for each of them
• Adds five new
  Origins
• Adds new advanced technologies (
  Orbital Rings, Quantum Catapults, Hyper Relays
  )

Politics in Stellaris has always been one of the main focuses that the player wants to engage with, and Stellaris: Overlord does the trick by adding several new options for players to either befriend or become the ‘overlord’ of their enemies in the galaxy.

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Stellaris: Overlord introduces quite a few exciting things to the grand strategy game.

New mechanics for diplomacy are added to ensure the player has several options when engaging with other empires. In addition, new origins for their space-faring civilization and additional construction options such as Orbital Rings and Quantum Catapults also became the main focus of this DLC.

8 MegaCorp

Steam User Rating: 58% (Out of 1065 reviews)

• Adds the possibility of becoming a
  MegaCorp
  empire
• Enables the extremely powerful
  Ecumenopolis
  world type
• Adds
  Caravaneer Fleets
  that can trade resources and other unique interactions
• Adds more megastructures (
  Matter Decompressor
  ,
  Mega-Art Installation
  , and
  Strategic Coordination Center
  )
• Adds the possibility to buy and sell slaves in the
  Galactic Market
• Adds new
  Ascension Perks

To simulate the ever-growing threats of corporations taking over an entire world or even the galaxy for the sole purpose of profit, Paradox Interactive created the DLC Stellaris: MegaCorp. With it, the players are able to either roleplay as a humongous corporation or a criminal syndicate in the form of government types to gain an upper hand against other empires in the galaxy.

In addition to the new unique government types, the downloadable content also adds an option for the player to turn an entire planet into an ‘Ecumenopolis’, a highly efficient and productive planet specialized in developing products at the cost of stripping the planet of its natural resources.

7 Galactic Paragons

Steam User Rating: 60% (Out of 782 reviews)

• Adds
  Council
  Mechanics to the government
• Adds new features to enhance
  Leaders
  and shape them according to the empire’s needs
• Adds
  Galactic Paragons
  , unique leaders with their own strengths and weakness
• Adds new
  Traditions
  ,
  Civics
  ,
  Leader Traits
  , and
  story contents

The newest addition to the host of Stellaris downloadable content adds numerous gameplay revamps that make the game fresh both for newcomers and returning veterans alike. The new Council Mechanics and Paragons add a new twist to the leader system which might had been obsolete and tedious in the past.

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Furthermore, the DLC also adds several new traditions and civics to increase the variety of gameplay for the players to try out when attempting to take control of the whole galaxy for themselves.

6 Apocalypse

Steam User Rating: 64% (Out of 1391 reviews)

• Adds the possibility of destroying planets via
  Colossus
• Adds the new powerful
  Titan
  -class shiptype
• Adds new powerful defensive module,
  Ion cannons
• Adds
  Marauders
  that can be hired in the early game, and become a mid-game crisis
• Adds new
  Civics
  and
  Ascension Perks

A slowdown in performance can always be expected in Stellaris due to the increased number of simulated populations and worlds across the galaxy controlled by human players and AI alike. One of the solutions provided by Paradox Interactive was to simply add the option to crack those worlds to gain a huge amount of passive resources with the addition of Stellaris: Apocalypse.

This DLC enables empires in the galaxy to construct a ‘Colossus’ – a planet-killer weapon in the form of a humongous spaceship, while also adding the option to build flagships in the form of ‘Titans’ to lead their fleet in conquering the galaxy.

5 Distant Stars

Steam User Rating: 66% (Out of 495 reviews)

• Adds more
  storyline contents
• Adds new
  solar systems
  with their unique storyline
• Adds numerous
  anomalies

The Stellaris: Distant Stars DLC adds several new storylines for players to explore in the form of multiple anomalies and other in-game events. Furthermore, it also adds new random events such as abandoned Gateways that can be reactivated to gain the upper hand on exploring the galaxy.

One of the most praised additions of the DLC would be the L-Clusters, which offer a chance for the players to either unlock a treasure trove of hidden worlds or unleash a deadly mid-game Crisis that could overwhelm the galaxy in a matter of decades.

4 Synthetic Dawn

Steam User Rating: 72% (Out of 758 reviews)

• Adds the possibility of playing as a
  Machine Empire
• Adds new
  storyline contents
  involving the artificial intelligence species
• Adds new
  synthetic species portraits
• Adds a new
  Fallen Empire
• Adds a new
  mid-game crisis

It is customary for sentient robots to appear in science fiction, and Paradox Interactive followed that trend by adding Stellaris: Synthetic Dawn to enable the option to play as a sentient artificial intelligence, either as determined exterminators or caretakers of their biological predecessors.

This DLC also adds another crisis in the form of Contingency, an ancient malfunctioning artificial intelligence that goes rogue and tries to exterminate all sentient life in the galaxy, be it synthetic or biological, with the justification of preventing something ‘worse’ coming to pass.

3 Federations

Steam User Rating: 73% (Out of 873 reviews)

• Adds the possibility forming
  Federations
• Adds the
  Galactic Community
• Adds 8 new
  Origins
• Adds a new megastructure,
  Mega Shipyard
• Adds a new shiptype, the
  Juggernaut

During its early iterations, Stellaris was largely lacking in terms of both politics and diplomacy between empires and governments in the galaxy. The creation of Stellaris: Federations adds more depth to the political intrigue and diplomacy options in the game.

By adding options of enhanced Federation in-game, players can band together with other space-faring civilizations to face more powerful foes or address the Crisis that will bring death to the entire galaxy. The addition of the Galactic Community also adds in-depth intrigue to politics, as bigger civilizations are able to hold power via peaceful options within the community.

2 Leviathans

Steam User Rating: 74% (Out of 545 reviews)

• Adds the mysterious and legendary
  Guardians
• Adds unique
  enclaves
  that can aid the player’s empire
• Adds the new endgame crisis involving two Fallen Empires, the
  War in Heaven

During the time of its release, Stellaris: Leviathans added an exciting option for players to face off against galactic threats that aren’t as dangerous as a Crisis, but still challenging nonetheless, in the form of Leviathans. These planet-sized creatures roam the galaxy and, more often than not, are hostile towards other sentient life.

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Furthermore, the downloadable content also adds another form of Crisis with the awakening of fallen empires that turns into a ‘War in Heaven’ – dragging the whole galaxy into an ancient war that can complicate life in the endgame, while the looming threat of a Crisis is in sight.

1 Utopia

Steam User Rating: 81% (Out of 1168 reviews)

• Adds the possibility of constructing
  Megastructures
• Adds the possibility of creating
  Habitats
  on a solar system
• Adds
  Ascension Perks
• Adds new
  Purging
  and
  Slavery
  policies
• Adds the possibility of
  uplifting
  pre-FTL species
• Adds new
  Advanced Civics
• Adds the possibility of playing as a
  Hive Mind
  empire

Taming a star to power an entire fleet for huge space civilizations becomes a possibility with Stellaris: Utopia. This DLC adds the option to construct powerful Megastructures that need a huge economy to sustain their construction. Building a Dyson Sphere to harness the power of a star at the cost of making planets in the star system uninhabitable becomes one possibility that the player could do in-game.

In addition, the downloadable content also adds ‘Ascension Perks’ for the player to further customize their space civilizations and the species, such as stripping the biological form of the species to transcend their biological limitations or communicate with psionic entities that offer boons with unforeseen consequences.

Stellaris

Released

May 9, 2016

Genre(s)

4X , Grand Strategy