The Aggressor Stellaris

The game “Stellaris” was developed and published by “Paradox Interactive” in 2016.

It belongs to the genre of “Global Strategy." It features both single-player and multi-player mode.

The game is classified by the database as one with a “Dynamic Aggressor,” a “Fictional Setting,” and an “Active Player Role."

To the developer's website

Aggressor Type: Dynamic

• This game features the “Dynamic Aggressor.” This means that the game allows for a flexible engagement with the Aggressor role, i.e. that actors within it change whether or not they are perceived as an aggressor. This type of game often features a way in which aggression is measured by a game-internal parameter and makes aggression a conscious decision that players can choose.

Setting Type: Fictional

• This game has a fictional setting that, nonetheless, is strongly influenced by historical events or processes. This can serve to provide a layered sense of meaning or separation between darker or more serious topics of history and sometimes requires the player audience to do more decoding in order to grasp the historical commentary.

Player Agency: Active

• In this game, the player's agency towards the Aggressor(s) is enabled by the game and they are able to take actions. This can include resisting the Aggressor or acting as one themselves.

  To the Analytical Categories

In “Stellaris,” players are put in control of a science-fiction faction on a galaxy-wide scale, controlling inhabited planets, extracting resources from star systems and controlling interstellar fleets. They can choose some of the predefined species and civilisations that can put emphases on different aspects, being e.g. more warlike or commercial. They interact with other species in a multitude of ways that range from supporting federations to war and subjugation. As this game is fictional, significant constraints on specific topics are eased: the game includes options to genetically modify species, enslave them, and even ethnically cleanse them. The endgame also includes a variety of threats that can also include a war-driven species bent on destroying everything, making for a clear designated Aggressor within a field of dynamic ones.