Undoubtedly one of the best and most underrated 4X strategy games ever made, Stars! is a massive strategic romp through the universe that plays best in multiplayer mode.
Your goal? To take over said universe... or any of several other victory goals; universal domination is just the most fun and challenging.
What distinguishes Stars! from other galactic conquer titles is the multi-faceted complexity that is concealed beneath a deceptively simple mouse-driven interface. The game runs smoothly in a window, and everything you need to know about your budding empire (or a thriving war machine) can be accessed via menus or shortcut keys. After choosing the size of the universe you want (five sizes are available, from Tiny to Huge), you can add up to 15 (!) other players, both AI or human. Then you can set this up as play-by-email (PBEM) -- a welcome feature that unfortunately not too many games nowadays support.
The beauty of Stars! is that the game gets more complex as you play, without bogging you down with tedious micromanagement. It is not uncommon for a huge battle later in the game to involve hundreds of ships or more, but the interface is so well-designed that managing your fleet is a breeze. The ship design interface is one of my most favorite features in the game: similar to Master of Orion, you can design your own ships by choosing various components.
Stars! boasts even more components, and numerous technologies that can upgrade each area. The computer AI is more than adequate, although the game is most fun in multiplayer mode against fellow human commanders. With a top-notch user interface, addictive "just one more turn" gameplay, and a challenging computer player, Stars! is a worthy entrant in our Hall of Belated Fame.
Aside from dedicated support to the game, developers Mare Crisium are also hard at work on Stars! Supernova Genesis, the sequel that has all the makings of another underrated classic (note: the title got cancelled). Highly recommended!
Review By HOTUD
English 
Comments and reviews
This game is incredible. I miss multiplayer. Is there anybody still playing it? MP and single player are 2 completely different experiences.
I run it on virtual windows XP.
Best 4x game I ever played especially good multiplayer. Slow game, looks pants, but one of the best games ever made.
https://github.com/otya128/winevdm/releases
Won't run the install program
Definitely multiplayer, I used to play with multiple people. Multiplayer is a manual process in general, you need to manage the incoming files and run a turn by hand. Not difficult at all
What an awesome game that still is after all these years. I just mentioned this game when talking to a kid who only cared about graphics and physics. Fairly low tech by todays standards, the graphics certainly aren't something to write home about by today's standards, or even yesterday's. LOL But it still Rocks. It's timeless, simple and still has everything it needs to capture your attention for hours of gaming.
Is there a way to download and play stars on an I phone ?
IS THE MULTIPLAYER REAL? or These are just AIs that are playing this?
As I was unsuccessful to find any active Stars! Discord communities I decided to start my own. If you want PbEM or discuss the game, feel free to hop in https://discord.gg/6eEDvgVEWK (sorry for double post, had to add a permament invite link)
The AI doesn't cheat in this game as in most games. It follows the same rules you have to follow.
I had a copy of this forever I haven't been able to play until I found https://github.com/otya128/winevdm/releases as posted above. I wanted to play it again because I wanted to remake it in Godot with some upgrades. Maybe I am dumber in my old age but holly crap micro management! There is sooooo much going on; I am literally swarmed by my enemies before I can really build anything.
Can somebody link me the Discord server for Stars! mentioned in the comments ?
Getting 16 bit games running on windows 10 or 11 is very easy. there is a project called winevdm that allows you to run 16 bit exes just by clicking on them. I just installed it for Stars! (because I missed this game and no longer have a CD rom drive on my PC) and it worked first time! https://github.com/otya128/winevdm/releases is the release downloads. the main page tells you how to install it (simply right-click on the .inf file and choose INSTALL) then bobs your uncle!
Stealth i guess wasn't taking piss or trolling old games by that question but i think the evidence of screenshots show super battle computer tech available and that im sure is way higher tech than level ten with limited tech level 10 version.So long story short this is probably the full tech tree version. (from memory level 40 or 50 tech tree)...I just cant guess how to get DOS or any simulator to get it working.
Played this game as a kid and was recently reminded of it: I found the original box in my parents basement in basically mint condition! heh... Major blast from the past! Can't believe how small the install size was, but it was 1996 I suppose.
I love this game.. played it back in 2000 I think.. at first I dont understand a thing.. but after few try and error.. I was so hooked to it.
I wish this is available for android.
How'd any of you get it to run on 10?
Loved this game! Used to play with my coworkers in our downtime during the day. It was the perfect way to pass the full moments as we could do our turns when we had time and then pass on the file. A game would take weeks, which was awesome! Am thinking about setting up a workstation that I can use to play it with my kids now
is this the full version or limited technology version?
I played this game in PBEM years ago and it was great fun, still the only 4x game I've truly enjoyed. It should be remade. This game had so many superb ideas. One of the best games I've ever played.
Where can I play Stars! on my android device.
I agree still one of the best 4x games ever made. It is just made right. Its one of those games that you play and think, "If I were to make this game this is how I would make it."
I found and played this game in the 90's when it first came out. I have it on cd and played it up untill I installed Win 10, 64 bit a few years ago. It is now 2022 and I would still be very happy to play it if i could get it to run.
I'd love to revisit memories of a quarter century ago by playing Stars! -- but all I have today is a brand-new Windows-11 machine. I've spent hours struggling with virtualbox, dosbox, virtual CD utilities such as magiciso and wincdemu... the most "success" I've had so far is a dosbox showing a z:\ prompt with the Stars!.cue file "mounted" as e: and a dir e: showing an apparently correct list of files, including a setup.exe -- but when I try to run e:\setup.exe from the prompt it immediately exits with the error message "this is a Windows 16-bit executable". Can anybody suggest the best, simplest way to proceed...? Thanks in advance!
to run in win7 to 10 (64bits) you will need run win 95 under dosbox
thanks heaps to GRANDIZER's post.
RE : using "WineVDM".
Used to really enjoy this game - but late 2021 upgraded comp from Win Vista to Win 10 64bit ... and since have been unable to play it.
the WineVDM trick worked (although did have to install an update for Microsoft Visual C++ first, so I could get WineVDM to run on win 10).
In the top 3 of best strategy games I've ever played, I first tried it back in 1997 and now have it loaded via Virtual Box on Windows 10 and it works fine. The AI in this game DOESN'T cheat but it is good. Endless gameplay, you can use varying strategies, automate cargo, mine, and other ships to automatically load all load only particular minerals, fuel, cononists, etc. and it all just works. Very simple interface but it's all in one window (you can resize it to whatever size fits you. They made this game right.
One of the best , if not the best game I ever played
A true classic! Currently playing on Win10 (64bit). Search for and download "WineVDM", edit the install.reg and change the path ("c:\\otvdm\\otvdmw.exe") for the two MappedExeName lines, save & double-click the install.reg file to add to the registry, and you can now run all 16-bit windows files in Win10, including stars26x.exe. It might give you problems on a 4k display, but at 1920x1080 looks as good as it did back in 1995.
You can play Stars! On Windows 10 as long as you install the 32 bit version of Windows 10. It is working fine for me.
One of the best games I never played, and after all not so difficult , the manual is impressive but easy to learn.
I have been playing this masterpiece for 23 years... that alone should say enough... endless variety and endless strategies to explore.
I'd been hunting this down for ages.
This is one of the best 4X games I've ever played to date.
It is best use free Oracle VM Virtual Box in case you own windows 95/98/XP. You can get much better resolution and it works quite well.
It is much better than use it on Win 3.11.
It is really good game, it is pitty that the Stars! Supernova Genesis was not finished.
Hi, I just wanted to add one comment about the complexity of this game. It lets you design your own race in ways I have never seen in any other game - from the general type (warmongers, star gate specialists etc.), through climate requirements and reproduction rates down to small industrial details. Moreover the choices aren't made in vacuum and picking some options will change the cost of others. You can spend countless hours tweaking and testing your favorite race. On the other hand, you can simply take one of those pre-made by the developers and have fun.
I use Daemon Tools Lite to mount and install the game to hard drive. Also, Normal Dosbox won't work because this is a Windows 3.11 game. You will need to do a web search for: Windows 3.11 for Dosbox and follow that setup guide. Once you have all that done, you will need to mount the game like any other game in Dosbox to play it. Hope this helps.
Hello...Thanx for providing this 4X strategy game. I read your Abandonwre Guide first by I still have problems understanding how to effectively start this game... After downloading & unzipping the large (windows) download, I get 3 files. A bin, cue and store file. All 3 files are associated with VCG (Virt. Clone Drive) and have the sheep icon next to them. I left click or right click on them, but get 'error - Cannot open VCD'. Am I supposed to do an IMGmount with the big ISO folder within Dosbox? - Any info appreciated.
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.