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A Stellaris short film from the creator of This Is Battlefield is coming in June

Gage Allen worked on official trailers for Stellaris, and now he's making a fan movie

It’s not difficult to imagine the intense first-person action of an FPS game like Battlefield translating into film – after all, action games like Battlefield have drawn lots of inspiration from movies. But a more abstract strategy game like Stellaris is a bit different – which makes Player One Stories’ upcoming short film about the grand strategy game an exciting, if slightly mystifying, prospect.

Gage Allen has worked for years as a professional videogame trailer producer, working on promotional videos for games like Starpoint Gemini, Conarium, Baldur’s Gate 3, The Long Dark, as well as Stellaris itself. In 2019, he headed up the creation of This Is Battlefield – a short film and love letter to the series shot in Battlefield V’s spectacular multiplayer. Now, he’s finalising work on Stellaris: Ebb and Flow, another short film borne out of pure fan enthusiasm for the game.

Allen says he wants “to try and show what makes Stellaris so special to me, and potentially why it’s special to other people” with Ebb and Flow, which Player One Trailers says will premiere in June. “I really like creating emotions with my films, and like This Is Battlefield, tailoring those emotions using the game as a canvas. We’ll see if it works.”

For Ebb and Flow, Allen has worked with Andreas Waldetoft, the composer behind the scores for Stellaris, Hearts of Iron IV, and most recently Crusader Kings III. “He’s a legend, of course,” Allen said.

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“I’m a big fan of Gage’s work so I was happy and said directly when he asked me to be a part of the film,” Waldetoft said. “The problem is as always scheduling in the time for it, as I am a full-time composer at Paradox.”

The success of This Is Battlefield encouraged Allen to branch out and consider other games for the fan film treatment, and Stellaris drew his attention pretty naturally.

“I know Stellaris really well, so I felt it was a good fit for making a film,” he said. “There’s so much happening in the galaxy, and it’s a lot of fun to take advantage of that and try to showcase the sheer size of the game.”

Stellaris: Ebb and Flow will be out sometime in June.