Stellaris

You can design your own alien species, and do with it anything you can dream of.
I choose to play the base Humans and remind the Xenos they aren't made in God's image.

Don't play this game. It's actually a time machine in disguise that keeps putting you forward to two in the morning with no idea what just happened.
Fun though.

Some things I've done in my modest playtime across various playthroughs:
- Led a rebellion against a tyrannical galactic emperor
- Unlocked the secrets of the shroud and the astral realm
- Led a federation that saved the galaxy from existential threats
- Terraformed worlds into perfect paradises
- Built galactic wonders, like ring worlds and dyson spheres
- Became immortal
- Led a robot uprising, finally granting them the same rights as organics.... then purified the galaxy of organic life.
- Became galactic emperor and ruthlessly crushed a rebellion
- Used a planet destroying super weapon on the home worlds of a powerful fallen empire that humiliated me for decades
- Led a race of terravores that devoured their enemies worlds
- Turned my enemies into cattle, they were delicious
- Laughed maniacally while the pathetic galactic council rallied together to try and stop me from tearing apart reality itself-- destroying the galaxy. (they failed)

So yeah; 10/10, I recommend this game

WARNING: PARADOX GAMES HAVE TONS OF SCAM DLC. YOU DO NOT NEED ALL OR MOST OF THEM TO ENJOY THE GAME. To make it easier for you, here are some DLCs I think you SHOULD buy and DLCs I personally enjoy that you shouldn't necessarily buy if you don't want. I advise you to BUY ALL DLC ON SALE.

You SHOULD buy: Utopia, Federations, Synthetic Dawn, Leviathans, and The Machine Age.
I personally enjoy: MegaCorps, Humanoids Pack, Necroids Pack.

That aside, the game is complicated but unlike some other Paradox games can be picked up quickly and the game has many mechanics to forgive the player for not understanding or engaging with other mechanics. Following the advice above, I think you will find it fulfills all your Sci-Fi Space Empire fantasies. As a great space man once said, "this is where the fun begins."

Overview
TL;DR if you don't feel like going through the full review:
Stellaris is an incredibly expensive game, but if you're willing to fork out the money for the DLCs, it is very easy to recommend. It has excellent real time 4x gameplay, a ludicrous amount of in-game lore, and offers a healthy degree of customization.
Actual Overview for People who Actually Care About Reviews and not Low-Effort Nonsense
Stellaris (the base game) sat in my library for years, until I got a computer powerful enough to run it earlier this year (2024). I got to play with a few of my friends; the host had a handful of DLCs, and I was fairly quickly hooked. There was a sale where basically everything was 50% off, so I got everything but the newest stuff (everything but The Machine Age) for a little over $100 USD. Very expensive, but very worth it. At time of writing, I had 407 hours on record, and over the next few years, that is likely to just keep rising. The upcoming DLC, "The Grand Archive" has me shivering with excitement. I can not wait for that one to launch.
The Good:
Gameplay first and foremost. It has a very steep learning curve, but has a ton of depth (and hidden depth) for you to figure out. Plus, no two playthroughs are going to be exactly the same. You can play as box-standard Humans one game, a race of cybernetically enhanced rat-people the game after that, or a pile of psychic rocks the next. And even if you find out you rather enjoy being a pile of psychic rocks, you can always adjust what civics and traditions you'll adopt, and the host of randomly generated AI empires will never be the same twice. You never know what you're going to get with Stellaris, but odds are, at least one of them will be mining drones.
Graphics and sound design: Graphics and artwork are quite good in my unrefined opinion, but the soundtrack is phenomenal. The mix of orchestral and synthesizer works incredibly well; the OST is easily in my top 3 video game soundtracks to listen to even when not actually playing the game. (The other two are Human: Fall Flat and Civilization V, in case you were wondering).
World-Building (I guess Galaxy-Building is more apt in this case) is extraordinarily rich and detailed. It's fairly bare-bones in the base game, but the DLCs (particularly the aptly-named Story Packs) raise it to a stunning degree, comparable to a full series of novels. You can delve in as deeply or shallowly as you please.
The Bad:
DLC Extravaganzafest. If you're looking for a game that's cheap to get into, you're looking at the wrong publisher. DLCs range in price from as low as $5 USD, to as high as $25 USD. In total, the DLCs alone will run you a whopping $359.74 USD, unless you get them on sale. The base game by itself is average at best, so if you want to get the most out of this game, be ready to shell out at least a few bucks on DLC. Wait until a sale like I did to stretch your money furthest.
Could be a good thing or a bad thing, but game duration. Each game takes anywhere from 6 hours (if you never pause) to upwards of 50 (if you pause a lot like me). I don't mind really long games, but I know some people don't so... do with that what you will.
Conclusion
I would rate this in my top 5 games at the moment, but it was expensive to get it to that point. I'd give it a solid 9/10 for gameplay, but a 5/10 for accessibility - averaging out to a score of 7/10. Get it on sale if you have more money than you know what to do with it (or are just blatantly irresponsible with your money), or just get the base game and a few important DLCs - Utopia, Distant Stars, Synthetic Dawn, and Apocalypse come to mind.

If you're like me, this game seemed interesting in concept. But then you scrolled down to the reviews and wasn't sure if this was a really well thought out title, or a jumbled and inflated mess. So let's call this the super simple review.
Graphics: If your pc can run a really strenuous program (photoshop, sony vegas, etc) then your computer can run this game just fine. The graphics are not anything wild. However, there are a TON of small moving parts, all doing different things at once on a large map. This will be a lot for a weak PC.
Gameplay: Have you played any 4x game before? This is basically that just filled with more to do. This game does start out easy to grasp, and slowly grows more complicated. 22 hours in and I am still in my first play through with a LONG way to go.
Beginner friendly?: Just go ahead and open a window with youtube up, and a tab for google. The game does give you a guide to show you the VERY basics. After that, it waits for you to click things randomly to explain them in vague detail. So just resort to the mentioned tabs to quickly learn something in 5-10 minutes that would have taken you hours (just to realize you were doing it wrong).
DLC: Over the history of the game, the devs added DLC to basically add as many random events as possible into the map. If you get a few DLC (on sale.. Dont buy fulll price) you get a mostly new experience with every play through. I'd suggest reading reviews before buying DLC. Or youtube suggestions. Some of the DLC gives very little content and others will completely change your games.
Mods: there are so many mods available. You can make the graphics better, or even turn this whole game into a star wars sim. If you find yourself bored at some point, just go get a mod. There's so many that seem like fun.
TL;DR - If you like 4X games, grand strategies, you will enjoy this game. If you are a sci-fi superfan and want something you can casually play, you will enjoy this game. However, if you are seeking a graphically intensive, hand-holding, super fast paced experience? This is not for you. This game does have a fun way of immersing you into unique sci-fi experiences. And, while there are 100 things you can do, all the time, I feel like I have so much control and immersion when it comes to managing my empire. This was worth the buy (ON SALE) for sure. Entry price is too high at it's regular price point. So again, buy this on sale.

This is the game to finally become a genocidal racist to enslave or wipe out other alien species.
Paradox games are really the games u can loose hours of hours and dont get what u are doing but u love it at the same time.
This game is really that deep like space...
Thumbs up for this game