There's a lot to be said about Paradox's development and support strategy that I'm just not getting into. I will say that this is a stellar example of a Space Opera themed 4x, and, critically, it delivers the player expression that Paradox is uniquely able to bring to strategy games. The options for generating your own empire are robust, and the development options in game provide a lot of replay value for a variety of playstyles. Some options do feel strictly superior, which isn't ideal balance-wise (hive minds feel like straight up stronger because they can ignore parts of the economy and focus on expansion), but these are hardly the worst examples of that in the genre.