Fab game - however, the launcher is the scum of the earth. I honestly don't mind launchers for anything, but when it's prone to breaking and downright preventing the game from working that's a bit of a problem.

The issue being, the launcher would get stuck in a loading loop despite installs/reinstalls and deleting launcher-generated files.

Fortunately - I found a fix after jumping down the rabbit hole of using Process Monitor, fantastic tool but it wasn't applicable in this case - sadly. A lot of red herrings though, even when the launcher isn't working it pokes around the registry/file system and reaches out to download patches silently, albeit to no avail. Found that out when I saw it was writing to a "cpatch" log and read through it.)

1. Make sure Stellaris/Paradox Launcher isn't running.
2. Uninstall the Paradox Launcher app via settings/control panel/(PowerShell if you're an admirable masochist)
3. Download/install the latest version of the Paradox Launcher from the Paradox website - this is almost independent of Steam, but this should essentially fix the issue after the next few steps.
4. Open the launcher - here comes the caveat, You'll need to sign in using your Paradox credentials AND these credentials need to be linked to your Steam account. If they aren't there may be a way to link them via the website? Once logged in and everything looks fine, you should see a list of the Paradox games you have but they won't show as installed. Exit the launcher.
5. Open Stellaris via Steam again, and check if the issue is. If it isn't (like mine was) but instead gives another error along the lines of "launcher-settings.json couldn't be found" then close the launcher and validate the games file integrity through Steam via right-clicking on the game in your library, then poking through properties.
6. Once verified, see if that's sorted the issue.

I kinda realise after writing that, it's not really a review and it's not bound to resolve every launcher related issue (unsurprising, honestly.) Though, after about an hour or two of Scooby-Doo investigation on a LAUNCHER, I wouldn't wish that on anyone else.

Besides all that... absolutely one of the best 4x games, breaks a lot of conventions in implementing a pseudo-grand strategy array of systems but "lite" enough to still allow for focus on macromanagement as is standard for a 4x game. It's a fine balance and the game seems to finely achieve it, not without it's bumps and scratches mind you. (i.e launchers....)

Fab game - however, the launcher is the scum of the earth. I honestly don't mind launchers for anything, but when it's prone to breaking and downright preventing the game from working that's a bit of a problem. The issue being, the launcher would get stuck in a loading loop despite installs/reinstalls and deleting launcher-generated files. Fortunately - I found a fix after jumping down the rabbit hole of using Process Monitor, fantastic tool but it wasn't applicable in this case - sadly. A lot of red herrings though, even when the launcher isn't working it pokes around the registry/file system and reaches out to download patches silently, albeit to no avail. Found that out when I saw it was writing to a "cpatch" log and read through it.) 1. Make sure Stellaris/Paradox Launcher isn't running. 2. Uninstall the Paradox Launcher app via settings/control panel/(PowerShell if you're an admirable masochist) 3. Download/install the latest version of the Paradox Launcher from the Paradox website - this is almost independent of Steam, but this should essentially fix the issue after the next few steps. 4. Open the launcher - here comes the caveat, You'll need to sign in using your Paradox credentials AND these credentials need to be linked to your Steam account. If they aren't there may be a way to link them via the website? Once logged in and everything looks fine, you should see a list of the Paradox games you have but they won't show as installed. Exit the launcher. 5. Open Stellaris via Steam again, and check if the issue is. If it isn't (like mine was) but instead gives another error along the lines of "launcher-settings.json couldn't be found" then close the launcher and validate the games file integrity through Steam via right-clicking on the game in your library, then poking through properties. 6. Once verified, see if that's sorted the issue. I kinda realise after writing that, it's not really a review and it's not bound to resolve every launcher related issue (unsurprising, honestly.) Though, after about an hour or two of Scooby-Doo investigation on a LAUNCHER, I wouldn't wish that on anyone else. Besides all that... absolutely one of the best 4x games, breaks a lot of conventions in implementing a pseudo-grand strategy array of systems but "lite" enough to still allow for focus on macromanagement as is standard for a 4x game. It's a fine balance and the game seems to finely achieve it, not without it's bumps and scratches mind you. (i.e launchers....)