A decade old and still soaring, 4X space strategy game Stellaris is now free for the weekend and cheap to keep

I’m going to treat the recent ten-year anniversary of Stellaris as a celebration of its longevity rather than musing on my own creeping mortality. For all its ups and downs over the years, the interstellar strategy game has continued to thrive because developer Paradox does things in a way few others have even attempted. There’s a beautiful scale and depth at play here, most recently overhauled via the Stellaris 4.4 ‘Pegasus update’ and its new expansion, Nomads. It’s the ideal time to check in, especially as a free weekend has just begun, with a deep discount on offer if you enjoy yourself.

While a lot of the big new features in Stellaris are introduced with paid DLC, that doesn’t mean the base experience has remained static; far from it. Almost every premium expansion Paradox deploys comes alongside a fundamental overhaul to the core of the space game, and many of these are as every bit as impactful as the add-ons. The biggest in a long while came in 2025, with the 4.0 ‘Phoenix update’ that redesigned how populations were handled, but since then the studio has implemented stat squishes, improvements to make enemy AI more challenging, and most recently the long-requested ability to join and leave wars in progress.

Every overhaul comes with a period of near-inevitable instability, though these are always temporary. When I spoke to Game Director Stephen ‘Eladrin’ Muray about this recurring trend last year, he explained that no amount of internal testing can catch all of the issues that the wider player base will instantly find. Gradually, those problems are resolved, and Stellaris ends up better than it was before. Rinse and repeat over a decade, and it’s a game that has grown significantly. Now, you can experience where it’s at today thanks to a free weekend.

“There’s never been a better time to get your friends into Stellaris,” the developer writes, even going so far as to offer some advice for anyone starting out for the first time and feeling a little overwhelmed by what’s on offer. For example, while there’s a vast possibility space in how you design your starting empire, it recommends the United Nations of Earth for the most approachable playthrough. “They offer many advantages that will help you out while you’re new.”

The Stellaris free weekend runs until Monday June 22 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST / 7pm CEST. The full game is on sale at a 70% discount through Thursday June 25, so expect to pay $14.99 / £12.59. Head here to download it and get started.

If you’re an ardent price-tracker, you might have noticed that the base price of Stellaris actually increased recently; this was part of a repackaging that incorporated three more of the most ‘essential’ add-ons into the base experience. Utopia, Synthetic Dawn, and the Humanoid Species pack are now all part of the core. If you decide to buy in and aren’t sure where to start with other DLC, there’s also the monthly subscription, which lets you access the complete catalogue for a month for $9.99 / £8.50 (or six months for $29.99 / £24.99).