New faction in Stellaris must manage the escalating paranoia of its population, but is nonetheless doomed to failure

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The new *Shadows of the Shroud* expansion for Stellaris makes the game’s universe feel even bigger and introduces civilizations that are ultimately doomed.

Look, Paradox has to keep pushing things forward with their DLC, even though the last expansion didn’t quite hit the mark. They *have* gotten better recently, which is good to see. But now they’re already teasing the next *Stellaris* DLC with their dev diaries, so it sounds like they’re already full steam ahead!

The latest update concentrates on what happens towards the end of the game. Just to recap, with the release of *Shadows of the Shroud* for *Stellaris*, we’re introducing a revamped End of the Cycle system – a powerful element from the Shroud. This is tied to a brand new, unique origin option called The Endbringers.

Empires designated as Endbringers naturally progress towards becoming patrons of the End of the Cycle, without needing to achieve psychic ascension first. The game developers state this path is predetermined. When an Endbringer empire enters the Shroud, instead of the usual interface, players will see a countdown clock indicating how much time remains before their empire’s collapse.

This leaves you with two objectives.

  1. First, you must spread the Aura of the End all over the galaxy to be spared the impending reckoning. As time passes, you gain access to additional abilities that can delay the End of the Cycle, such as siphoning the people’s lifeforce to your leaders or discreetly agitating other factions to war.
  2. Second, you must deal with your people’s paranoia. They are all subconsiously aware of what awaits them, bringing their mood down immensely.

The update, called “Lyra” (version 4.1), will launch alongside the expansion. We’ll share more details about it later in September.

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2025-09-22 11:02