Part of this has to do with how Stellaris connects its mechanics together through hundreds of small, fascinating sci-fi stories running the gamut from horrific to silly. “Emergent storytelling and the sense of a living universe full of stories is something we consider a fundamental part of Stellaris’ design,” Martin Anward, the design lead on Stellaris tells me via email. In Stellaris it feels as if the game trying to turn a bunch of charts and graphs into human stories. The key difference between Stellaris and something like Civilization or other games of its ilk in most of them it feels as if the game is trying to boil human interaction down into a series of charts and graphs.

Try refreshing your browser, or tap here to see other videos from our team. It was my game of the year when it came out last year, and its first major expansion, Utopia, is coming out today. That’s just one of thousands of stories that can come out of Stellaris, a vast galaxy spanning strategy game in the vein of Civilization and Master of Orion. But when one of my federation associates started going on about how we had “destroyed our souls” when we later converted the entire population into androids, I decided to let him have it.

I tried, I really tried to hold back my newly militarist population. Now, I could have continued my path toward building a federation with the rest of the galaxy, but in Stellaris, when your population gains one trait over another, it’s the difference between the wind being at your back or at your front. The next issue of Financial Post Top Stories will soon be in your inbox. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

How to play stellaris with friends