Seven years after its launch, the grand strategy titleStellarishas grown into one of the most complex sci-fi sandboxes ever made. Starting from the discovery of faster-than-light travel, players can guide theirStellarisEmpire down hundreds of unique paths, from the formation of a pan-galactic democracy to the development of psionic powers.
One of the game’s features that was massively expanded in both the Utopia andOverlord DLCsis access to the Shroud, the mysterious dimension of psychic energy from which psionic species draw their powers. Psychically-gifted Empires can enter the Shroud for bonuses and events, and even form a Covenant with one of the five indescribably powerful entities that make the Shroud their home.
RELATED:Stellaris: How to Build Megastructures
How to Enter the Shroud in Stellaris
Before players can enter the Shroud, they’ll first need to complete the Breach the Shroud Tradition in the Psionic Ascension Path. This isn’t aneasyStellarisTraditionto reach, as it in turn requires players to have completed the Mind Over Matter Ascension Perk or Psionic Theory Technology.
Once they’ve completed Breach the Shroud, players will gain access to a Special Project called Breaching the Shroud, which costs Society Research to perform. Once the Project is completed, the Shroud will be added as a Contact on the player’s Contact menu, and can be interacted with like any AI orplayer Empire inStellaris. It costs 1,000 Energy Credits to enter the Shroud, and an Empire can only do so once every five years, unless they have the Psionic Archive Relic.
How to Form a Shroud Covenant in Stellaris
There are three ways to form a Shroud Covenant inStellarisonce players have gained access to the Shroud through thePsionic Ascension Path. The first is by completing the Special Project Commune with the Ineffable, which will become available the first time players enter the Shroud. The Project costs Society Research and will cause a patron to offer a Covenant based on its own preferences.
The second method is to pay a special price of 2,000 Energy Credits and 500 Zro to enter the Shroud and approach a patron of the player’s choice. Finally, players may be given the chance to form a Covenant during a random Vision event in the Shroud, especially if a patron prefers their Ethics or Traditions. As well as their preferences, each patron offers different bonuses to players who form a Covenant with them:
Instrument of Desire
Whisperers in the Void
The fifth patron in the Shroud offers significantly more powerful bonuses than the other four, but at a terrible cost. The End of the Cycle has only a 2% chance to appear when a player is looking for a Patron, and offers incredible bonuses including +100% resources from Jobs. However, 50 years after joining the Covenant, the day of Reckoning will arrive, aiming todestroy all planets and species in the galaxy. The player’s Empire will be allowed to live on as an Exiled colony while the Reckoning systematically wipes out the remaining life in the galaxy, though they will be its final victim.
Stellarisis available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
