The finest summary of Stellaris’ aims came mid-way through the half hour presentation and discussion in which Fåhraeus and Johansson unveiled the game. “We’re not creating one specific universe. It can be any sci-fi universe.” Johannson was referring to the way in which the procedural galaxies are more than a collection of planets and stars. By the late game you might find that one of your science ships has become the Event Horizon, ripping a hole in reality to a dimension of horrors. Before you know it, you’re scrabbling to militarise in order to survive a fight against invaders from beyond and you’ve accidentally fallen into Warhammer 40K.

Or maybe you train the world’s greatest scientist-adventurers, create the most advanced ships in the universe, and set up silent listening posts on the moons orbiting planets that are home to pre-spacefaring species. You can learn from them, guide them and eventually become their patrons. You are a Banksian Culture.

Perhaps you’ll direct your energies toward the founding of a galactic federation and create an alliance of species working together toward a greater good. You can even identify named characters within that galaxy and find your Kirk and Spock. That same federation might become something else entirely if its utopian vision involves the use of robotic workers, allowing the sentient population to live in luxury, philosophising and creating art rather toiling in factories and fields. Eventually, the push for greater and greater AI makes a Cylonesque uprising a distinct possibility.