Stellaris: Overlord is the game's seventh major expansion, and it adds a bundle of new content to the already jampacked game. Players can experience the new content, featuring new vassalization mechanics, five Origins, three Enclaves, three Megastructures, and even more with the accompanying "Cepheus" update. This DLC gives players the opportunity to expand throughout the universe, conquering or cooperating with Enclaves and other Empires as they wish. There is enough content to satisfy longtime players, though it stays simple enough to be palatable for newcomers.

The fleshed out vassal mechanics give players a good chunk of content to play with, making the vassalization of another empire more worthwhile and beneficial to players. New Origins give players the ability to invest more heavily in the role-playing aspects of Stellaris, providing loads of replayability. Enclaves added to the game provide unique perks and bonuses for players that choose to diplomatically interact with them, and the newly introduced Megastructures give players the ability to more efficiently travel space and enhance their empire's defense and productivity.

One of the Overlord's additions is its new vassalization mechanics, which changes the way vassals interact with their ruling empire. This allows them to have more detailed and complex relationships. Players can instruct their vassals to specialize in a specific resource, increasing how much they contribute to the empire. However, players need to be more careful with how they treat vassals, as they can now betray the player's empire if their loyalty drops too low.

Stellaris: Overlord Brings New Gameplay Experiences for Longtime Fans_0

The expansion also adds five new Origins, a major addition to the current game's roster. Each of them affords players different role-playing experiences and various perks. The Origins all vastly differ from one another, which adds a lot of variability to gameplay and provides new content to enjoy. This allows players to immerse themselves in a unique adventure through space.

On top of the new scenarios players can enjoy in this latest expansion, they can spot new Enclaves while exploring space as well. Each one has its own personality and perks, and working with an Enclave provides services, allowing players to further their goals throughout the universe. Enclaves can either be found and interacted with throughout space or they can be released by empires to reap benefits.

With Overlord, Stellaris players can build additional Megastructures that will help improve the reach of their empire. The new Megastructures give players the ability to improve the defensive capabilities and productivity of their empire. Some even allow for more efficient traversal of space, which can be extremely important in combating problems that arise across the expanse of larger empires.

Overall, Stellaris' latest DLC expansion adds to a lot the game. While it may not look like much on paper, all of Overlord's additions -- like the new Vassilization mechanics, Origins, Enclaves, and Megastructures -- should encourage exisiting fans to sink countless more hours into the game.

Developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive, Stellaris' Overlord DLC is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. A review copy was provided by the publisher.