A Steam Greenlight leak reported by multiple Reddit posters has apparently revealed Paradox Interactive’s next project - the team best known for its historical grand strategy titles looks set to head to the stars in space 4X Stellaris.
The game apparently turned up on Valve’s platform last night, before quickly being removed. This is technically all just rumour until Paradox officially confirms it, of course, but it’s looking pretty concrete. There’s a gallery of leaked images up on Imgur, and the game’s Steam page summary has also been posted. Here it is in full:
”Explore a vast galaxy full of wonder! Paradox Development Studio, makers of the Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis series presents Stellaris, an evolution of the grand strategy genre with space exploration at its core. Featuring deep strategic gameplay, an enormous selection of alien races and emergent storytelling, Stellaris has a deeply challenging system that rewards interstellar exploration as you traverse, discover, interact and learn more about the multitude of species you will encounter during your travels.”
”Etch your name across the cosmos by uncovering remote celestial outposts,and entire civilizations. Will you expand through war or walk the path of diplomacy to achieve your goals? Main Features Discovery Events – Emergent Storytelling. Deep & Varied Exploration. Enormous procedural star systems, containing thousands of planets. Numerous playable species, each with their own traits and engineering styles. Vast number of Unique Random Species. Advanced Diplomacy system. Ship Designer (even civilian ships can be customized). Stunning space visuals.”
This is going to be a very different beast from anything they’ve done before, of course, but it does sound like Paradox is bringing across key elements from their most successful games; aspects of Crusader Kings’ medieval intrigue and the complex statesmanship of Europa Universalis both appear to be present in Stellaris.
While some of the screenshots certainly look like the game is using the studio’s signature Clausewitz engine, there are some cinematic 3D shots of space battles too, which suggests the game either runs on a very advanced version, or a new engine entirely, and simply makes use of a familiar UI design.
This would all fit with what Paradox has been saying regarding ’Project Augustus’, the code-named new project it’s been teasing over the last week. The initial idea was for them to reveal the title at Gamescom this week anyway, so expect to hear more soon.
