Stellaris celebrates 10 years with free weekend and 70% discount

There are strategy games people finish, and then there are strategy games people keep coming back to because every campaign turns into a new story. Stellaris has lived in that second group for 10 years. One player might build a calm science empire. Another might create a ruthless machine state. Someone else might spend hours trying to survive a neighbor that looked harmless five turns ago.

Paradox is using the anniversary to give new and returning players a reason to jump in. Stellaris is free to play on Steam until June 22 at 10:00 a.m., and the base game is 70% off until June 25. The celebration also comes with Stellaris: Nomads, a new DLC built around empires that survive by staying on the move.

Stellaris can look difficult from the outside. It has planets, fleets, politics, alien species, research, wars, trade, and a long list of DLC. For a new player, that can make the game feel like something they need to study before they even start.

Players can create an empire, send out science ships, explore nearby systems, meet their first alien neighbor, and see if the slow build of galactic strategy works for them. That first session is usually where Stellaris either clicks or loses someone.

The 70% discount also lowers the risk. Anyone who enjoys the free weekend has a few extra days to buy the base game before the sale ends. It is a cleaner way to try the game than staring at the store page and wondering how much DLC is needed.

The size of Stellaris is part of its appeal, but it can also scare people away. Paradox games often grow through years of expansions, and Stellaris is no different. That makes the sale useful, because the base game alone still offers plenty of room for several campaigns.

Players who want a wider starting package can look at the Anniversary Edition, which includes the base game along with Aquatics, Galactic Paragons, and Leviathans. That bundle gives new players more flavor without asking them to buy the entire DLC library.

Learn how exploration works, understand how planets grow, make a few mistakes, and let the galaxy punish those mistakes. Stellaris is easier to enjoy when players treat the first campaign as a story, not a perfect run.

The new DLC, Stellaris: Nomads, is aimed more at players who already know the game. Instead of building an empire around fixed borders and settled planets, it lets players create a civilization that moves across space.

Nomadic empires use Arkships as mobile homes and build Waystations to form Waylines across the galaxy. That changes how players think about territory, resources, and long-term survival. It is not just another way to paint the map. It asks players to live with movement as part of the empire’s identity.

The DLC also adds new origins, a Contract system with other empires, the Defender of the Galaxy ambition, the Stellar Cannon megastructure, and a new nomadic enclave focused on fleet combat. For a game that has spent 10 years adding new ways to rule the stars, a mobile empire is a fitting anniversary idea.

Free updates, expansions, reworked systems, and years of player feedback have made it much bigger than the launch version. That can make it harder to approach, but it also gives the game the depth that keeps players around.

Try the base game for free, see if the first few hours grab you, then decide before the June 25 discount ends. Returning players have a different reason to come back, with Nomads offering a new kind of empire to test.

The galaxy is still messy, strange, and ready to ruin a good plan. For Stellaris, that has always been part of the fun.