Next month, PC won’t be the only place the Grand Strategy genre calls home. On February 26, Paradox’s galaxy-wide strategy game Stellaris lands on PS4 and Xbox One. February is already absolutely stacked with games, but then again – Stellaris isn’t like anything console folks have played before. Here’s the trailer.
You can see pieces of gameplay throughout the trailer giving us glimpses of the new control scheme designed for gamepads. According to a Polygon interview, the dev team at Paradox teamed up with Tantalus Media again to help out with the console port. Tantalus also helped make Cities: Skylines on console happen.
From Polygon:
“Moregård said that the majority of the new UI relies on the D-pad common to both consoles. Using the right button, for instance, takes players to the traditional “outliner” along the right-hand side of the screen on PC. Once there, players can select from a laundry list of in-game objects, like planets, fleets, or individual ships. Once they’ve brought up the object that they want, it’s a simple tap of the shoulder button to center the map in the right location.”
The interview goes into a bit more detail about the control scheme and the lack of mouse/keyboard support for the console version.
I already own the PC version, but being able to sit back on a couch and wage a galactic war does sound like a compelling reason to double dip. I’m curious to see if PS4 Pro/Xbox One X support is included. Also, how is performance towards the endgame?
While Stellaris’ genre will help it stand out, releasing it a few days after Anthem and Metro Exodus probably isn’t a good idea. Still, I wish Paradox luck if only so we may one day see the Hearts of Iron and Crusader Kings franchises make the console leap too.