Stellaris’ Overlord DLC lets you rule the galactic empire

pcgamesn.com:

The next expansion for Stellaris, Overlord, is going to give players the chance to outdo Emperor Palpatine and assume total control of the galaxy. Developer Paradox Interactive has announced that the release date for Overlord has been set for May 12, and we had a chance to talk with Stellaris’ new game director about what the expansion is adding to the 4X game’s impressive suite of interstellar empire management tools.

“With Overlord, we started it with wanting to revamp subject-overlord interactions,” explains game director Stephen Muray, who assumed the role in March from departing director Daniel Moregård. “Becoming a subject was kind of like a delayed game over, and I hated that. It came as a surprise to new players. And it just kind of grew as we explored some of the fantasies we could see, like, if you were an intergalactic overlord, what are some of the things that you could do? How can we make this interesting, how could we make this fun, both as the overlord and as the subject?”

Overlord adds new vassalisation mechanics to Stellaris, allowing rulers to shape their subject states into specialist empires that can be industrial super-producers or military powerhouses. As the overlord, you’ll be able to broker contracts between your subjects, shaping their growth, development, and relationships with each other.

“I play a lot of Crusader Kings,” Muray tells us, explaining that both Crusader Kings III and Hearts of Iron IV have systems that have been instructive in creating Overlord. “Basically, we started by taking a look at what Crusader Kings III did, what people enjoyed there, and we looked at the puppetry system [in Hearts of Iron IV].”

Obviously, not everything about a medieval contract negotiation system or