Sci-fi strategy game Stellaris is free to play this weekend on Steam

If you’re in the mood for a spot of space domination this weekend and somehow haven’t yet given Paradox Interactive’s galactic empire builder a whirl in the six years it’s been out, now’s the perfect time to do so, given it’s free to play for the next few days.

Stellaris, a sort of space-faring amalgam of grand strategy and 4X action, burst onto the scene back in 2016 to significant acclaim. Six years on, it’s a substantially different beast, with Paradox having made some sweeping changes along the way, most notably in its radical 2.0 release.

The many faceted road to galactic supremacy it present is still a tonne of strategic fun though, even if – as is generally the way with Paradox titles – the purity of the base game has now been somewhat muddied by an increasingly unwieldy stack of post-launch DLC.

If you’d like to flex your space muscles and see what’s what in Stellaris’ orbit, it’s entirely free to do so this weekend on Steam. You can download and play it in exchange for exactly zero pee until Monday, 23rd May, whereupon you’ll need to actually buy it to continue playing.

The good news, though, is that there’s 80% off the base game – bringing the price down to £7 – for the duration of the free weekend, meaning it’s a good time to buy if you find yourself in need of a permanent fix. Additionally, there’s up to 50% off Stellaris’ DLC if you really want to go wild.