Stellaris Apocalypse enslaves and/or destroys the world today

Paradox strategy games tend to be restrained, but seems the publisher-developer has tired of being a wallflower and now fully intends to do big, noisy explosions with the best of 'em.

Apocalypse, out today, is a new expansion for their sci-fi 4X Stellaris, and is all about changing the physical rather than merely socio-political landscape of the galaxy. Which is to say, killing planets, enslaving their entire populations or otherwise removing whole worlds from the field of play.

Not every one of Apocalypse's new 'world devastator' weapons is designed to eradicate all known life on a targeted planet, but they are all about advancing your agenda on a more dramatic scale than before. Adding to the sense that Apocalypse is very much about making the stars war is the introduction of a slightly (pre-Worf) Klingon-sounding new race called The Maraurders, whose name very strongly implies they will come in peace.

Here's a dev walkthrough of Apocalypse's main features to whet your appetite for destruction:

Apocalypse costs £15.49/$19.99 and is out right now on Steam. If your bank account has lately suffered its own extinction event, the good news is that the DLC is accompanied by a Paradox-customary patch for the base game too. This one bears the fancy 'version 2.0' designation, and you can find details of it here.