So I've just finished my first game with a friend against AI:s. It took us just about 30 hours spread over a week to lose.

In all honesty, would I recommend this game to new players? Probably no. The game is so incredibly detailed that its really of putting. You (can) design you own races and ships you micro-manage every planet while trying to macro-manage half a galaxy. You've got research, edicts, policies, leaders, bonuses and traits. And obviously diplomacy and trade deals (not to be confused with the other kind of trade) and the list just goes on. To me this feel like the shallow(-ish) end of the pool that ends in Hearts of Iron or Europa Universalis. I've never played either, but after a few more games of Stellaris one might be ready to give it a try.

However, is the game fun? Yes! When playing this game with a friend, both being completely new to the game and equally lost, just discovering the game and all the mechanics, it was an absolute blast. Our different approaches quickly became apparent and we discovered different mechanics at different times.

So would I recommend Stellaris to any new gamer? No.
Would I recommend it to anyone looking for a feature rich strategy game with a lot of detail and is a lot of fun? Definitely yes.