You. Hey you. Come here. Closer. You look like someone interested in unorthodox game updates? What are you looking for? Stellaris? Right, right. Shhh. Keep walking. You don’t know me. See that guy up there, with the three arms and glowing eyes? Tell him you’re here for Stellaris mods. He’ll hook you up with some prime grand strategy space gear. We’re talking total conversions, quality of life updates… we’ve even got some aggressive new AI. Go on, you’ll like it…

And that’s how I was introduced to the Stellaris mod scene.

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Looking back at it now, 2020 doesn’t feel like a banner year for strategy games, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been a few gems. The list below – gathered by a panel of experts and regularly updated – contains games from as recently as 12 months ago alongside classics from as far back as 28 years ago. They’re all games we think you could play and love right now.

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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.

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Paradox Interactive, the makers of Crusader Kings and Stellaris, have announced the “impending completion” of a collective bargaining agreement with the labour unions for its employees in Sweden. By the end of this month, Paradox employees should have a formal way of influencing their pay, benefits and responsibilities, and be generally better protected by the unions they’re part of. If you’re a little confused on what all this “collective agreement” business means though, bear with me while I have a go at explaining it.

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Four years ago, Paradox launched Stellaris, a sci-fi grand strategy game which had promise but needed a bit of work to find itself. Since then, Paradox have released so many updates overhauling and replacing bits and pieces that I’m entirely lost on how it works when I come back to it. They’ve certainly put in work. To celebrate the fourth birthday (which was actually on Saturday), Paradox today launched yet another patch, started a free trial week, and put the game on sale too.

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Nate: The galaxy has been remade once again. Space opera strategy extravaganza Stellaris has a new DLC out, called Federations, and a massive free patch that overhauls a greater-than-usual number of the game’s systems. Both the DLC and the patch focus hard on diplomacy, and so I thought it’d be a good idea to rope in a fellow space obsessive and see if, working together, we could befriend our way to dominion over the galaxy. (At this point, I’d like you to imagine regular contributor Nic Reuben smashing through the wall on a knackered space motorbike, before taking an open-necked chug on a can of space off-brand energy drink and throwing the can into a neutron star).

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It’s a great week to make new spacefriends, thanks to the launch of the new Federations expansion for Stellaris. As the name suggests, Federations expands the options for galactic friendship in Paradox’s sci-fi 4X strategy game. Now you can join a Galactic Union, Trade League, Research Cooperative, Martial Alliance, or Hegemony, different types of federation with different goals and perks. And get into new sorts of trouble.

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Everyone loves a good space game, but sometimes it can feel like there are more space games to play than there are stars in the sky. Fortunately, we’re here to help with our list of all the best space games you can play on PC. Whether you’re a budding space cruiser captain, a wannabe space conqueror or an intrepid space-faring explorer, there’s a space game here for you.

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Paradox have announced a launch date of March 17th for the next Stellaris expansions, Federations. As the name suggests, it focuses on expanding options for spacefriends in the 4X strategy game, including new types of federation and a sort of galactic United Nations. It’ll bring new origins for civilisations too, including some novel ones like starting on a fragment of a Ring World or on a doomed planet that will explore in 64 years. And as is the Paradox way, it’ll be accompanied by a free update overhauling parts of the game for all players.

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For a time it looked as though strategy games had sunk into a kind of deathly malaise, unsure which territory to claim next and which ones it should leave well and truly alone. Fast forward to 2020, though, and strategy games have never looked healthier, which is why we’ve compiled this best strategy games list of all time. Whether you want to conquer the depths of space, wage historical warfare or hulk around in big mechanical robots, there’s a strategy game for you below.

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