Free weekends?

[Doug Dimmadong]

Recently been looking into the game and considering buying it, however seeing that it has over £250 worth of DLC is really off putting. I believe I've seen the game have free weekends before so just wondering when they last one was and if another is due anytime soon?

[Elitewrecker PT]

The free weekend wouldn't include DLCs though.
But according to steamDB, last free weekend was last June, and before that in May 2022. I don't know if there's any hint as to when another would be.

[Doug Dimmadong]

I know it won't include DLCs hence why I want to give the base game a test drive and see how much bang for the buck there is. I don't wanna buy it and then feel as if I need to buy further DLC in order to get a 'full experience'.

[HappySack]

Steam has a refund policy for all games Stellaris included as long as you don't go over the play limit.

Besides, there's only one DLC that's basically mandatory as it offers the most content and as it's the first DLC it regularily goes on sale outside Steam for $5-10 depending on where you get it otherwise you might have some content that keeps getting dangled in front of you face since you don't have the DLC but that shouldn't happen that much.

[Elitewrecker PT]

Originally posted by Doug Dimmadong:

I know it won't include DLCs hence why I want to give the base game a test drive and see how much bang for the buck there is. I don't wanna buy it and then feel as if I need to buy further DLC in order to get a 'full experience'.

The base game is often on sale for 10 bucks on Steam, or less outside.

[Xaphnir]

Originally posted by HappySack:

Steam has a refund policy for all games Stellaris included as long as you don't go over the play limit.

2 hours is nowhere near enough time to know if you'll like the game or not

[EJR]

The game goes on sale for $10, and having put in almost (If not exactly) 1000 hours in already I consider that a good price. The DLCs also go on sale when the game does, usually by 25-50% off if I remember correctly; you can do what I do and just buy them then.

IMO the only DLCs that felt really "mandatory" were these ones: Apocalypse, Federations, Megacorp, Overlord, and Galactic Paragons.

Again, that was all IMO. Everything else being nice but optional features to gameplay and narrative (Quests and events). Though you can get less, all, or more of what I listed depending how much you like the game. TBH the only DLC I really disliked is the one most people hate as well, Astral Planes; it is the first DLC where I didn't even think about buying it.

[Elitewrecker PT]

How did you miss the most often recommended DLC?

[EJR]

Originally posted by Elitewrecker PT:

How did you miss the most often recommended DLC?

Which is?

[Doug Dimmadong]

I just got it on a sale and yeah, I've put 6 hours into it and still have no idea what's going on, ha.

[Geoff]

Originally posted by Doug Dimmadong:

I just got it on a sale and yeah, I've put 6 hours into it and still have no idea what's going on, ha.

You're drinking from a firehose of data when you first start. I recommend picking something to focus on until you've got it figured out rather than trying to do everything all at once.