I jumped in on stellaris quite early in its lifespan. It never really grabbed me, and I bounced off after 'only' 80 or so hours.

It's quite... dull? Repetitive. You never feel connected to anything you do, the combat is nonexistant.
The main selling points, the exploration and dynamic races just feel empty.

All in all, it comes out to an empty game. Fill with DLC to your hearts content, but that is not a business model I want to support.

I bought this game after getting a Sci-Fi itch, and boy did it pay off. I played almost nonstop the first two days after getting it. I have only played through once so far, but there are plenty of surprises outside the basic gameplay loop that are fun challenges to deal with. Exploring the universe, expanding your empire, colonizing planets, fighting and befriending your neighbors, outfitting ships, researching tech and so much more have been tremendous fun. It took a couple hours to properly understand the game with the helpful tutorial, but after that you can just play as you go or delve into the mechanics as deeply as you like. Highly recommend!