Victoria 3

First game ever that got so absurd I had to remove it from my library so I'd stop trying. It's an economics sim that doesn't represent goods, capital or logistics, only demand and prices. it's a military sim with teleporting armies and where Germany never capitulated in the first world war because the UK decided they wanted reparations in 1914 and didn't occupy Berlin. it's a societal sim with railroaded movements and native uprisings better equipped than the average European power. in some ways it's actively insulting to the time period. just don't waste your time, stick with something from before CK3 when lazy, stupid Paradox actually had any interest in making games and wait for someone to come around and make something else decent. it's no surprise there's not even any overhaul mods for this. MEIOU, HIP, no one cares enough.

Constantly crashing, horrible battle mechanics, buggy occupation, not many options for puppets, etc. Don't buy this buggy half-broken mess.

It's a very relaxing game I must give it that, but unfortunately it lacks content and does not live up to victoria 2 all that much. Feels plenty barebones, even more so if you just play vanilla. We all know how Paradox operates and that might change in the future, but as of now, it's just how it is.

Still you'll probably get a fun game or two if you have friends to play it with, but not much more.

Tried to give it fair shot but like most paradox games you gotta wait for 5-10 years and 20 dlc for it be fun.

This game has been released almost two years ago, and in that time the developers have changed almost half the game mechanics. Despite that, the game feels very much unfinished and unpolished, almost like early beta. Might be good in 5-6 years when they finally finish it.

Paradox would rather release 3 DLC’s that do not change the glaring issues with the game, just so they can make another 15 dollars off you. A game should not take 2 years to become fun, a game should not require me to buy DLC to be fun. The core mechanics of the game are so convoluted I doubt even paradox knows how it works, much like how Paradox said they have no idea how the Vic 2 Economy works, The warfare system has been extremely subpar since launch, you will have entire armies abandon their front to cover a one inch front, leading to a complete collapse of your front because Paradox programmed the AI to play like they have no frontal lobe. The constant pop ups are there to make it seem like stuff is happening in the game when in reality it affects nothing. And if the player was not there NOTHING would happen. Nations do nothing for decades on end. If you liked Vic 2, do not pick up this game, Paradox does not respect you as a consumer

I am looking at $60.95 of DLC attached to an unfinished game. It has been 2 years. Victoria 3 still has glaring issues with diplomacy, war, naval invasions, and AI behavior.

If your autism just wants to see numbers go up, the game is fine. If you are looking for grand strategy then look elsewhere.

I have completed my first play through and based on that experience recommend Victoria 3. I do not have experience with Victoria 2 - so I cannot make a comparison with that product. I played Stellaris as an intro to Paradox games, but Victoria 3 seemed to be the product that I was looking for as the next step for Paradox strategy. I was looking for more detailed economy mechanics, more emphasis on diplomacy and less on warfare, and finally a very complex and in-depth "lore". In that case it is hard to beat the Victorian era. So yes, in my opinion, Victoria 3 delivers on those fronts. I do understand the critiques regarding warfare as it is very abstract, but in my case I like that or at least don't mind. I played as Belgium, a recommended starter country, never went to war, and made an attempt at building an economic powerhouse resulting in the highest standard of living in the world. What really engrossed me is the interactions with markets, technology, internal politics, and finally diplomacy. For example, close to end game sourcing oil for your economy becomes an absolute strategic necessity that drives foreign policy. This game helps you understand the trade offs and decision making processes in national strategy. Should be required playing for global leaders. If I were to recommend an improvement it would be to create a naval arms race mechanic. Similar to the Stellaris ship designer and takes into account your tech tree and government. Essentially passing laws to build the navy. You will likely need to watch a couple of tutorials online and may stumble your way early, but the time invested to learn the basics is worth it. Now to go and see if I can best Bismarck.

I have some mixed feelings about the title, and while folks talk about how future DLC or updates may fix common complaints, I gotta review the game as it stands at time of review.

Excellent Economic Simulation, might not appeal to all and may be a turn off for some, but its the core of the game and it is well handled. Only real complaint for the economic gameplay is that having a separate menu for just the buy/sell orders of your nation (rather than your market) could be extremely useful for subject nations who risk market isolation or want to go for independence down the line. Honestly, the core of the game when it comes to econ and politics and how they work together is very good.

But diplomacy and warfare are so God awful so as to completely ruin much of my enjoyment of the game. Its not the war that is the problem, I honestly like not having to order armies around, and I think a stronger emphasis on diplomacy over player skill in warfare is a good choice. But, the diplomacy and diplomatic plays in the game as is cannot carry the weight that necessitates. Whether or not the AI is willing to join a play can feel arbitrary, often joining wars against the player regardless of good relations with the player or bad relations with the AI. Loading a save often results in a diplomatic play going completely differently, demonstrating just how arbitrary the underlying system is.

Some degree of randomness and variance is of course necessary, however arbitrariness is the enemy of fun in a strategy game. If a random dice roll at the start of a diplomatic play has more of an outcome on a war than any economic, military, or diplomatic choices the player made, then the heart of strategy, making decisions and watching them bear fruit in future, is completely undercut, and the player can only ask why they wasted their time.

Great economic simulator. Failed product as a strategy game. Will still play, cannot recommend

I've clocked in 91 hours and feel like I've pretty much covered everything worth covering. For a Paradox game there's very little replay value. Mainly because there's just not much to do! There's no good reason why playing the Zulus should feel the same as playing the US or Prussia. Playing as England feels identical to China, which feels identical to Russia. Everyone plays the same. You get the same interest groups, you get the same civil war issues, you get the same societal problems. Just differing levels of development (this means any country not made up of pure white europeans will lose every battle instantly). I actually really like the new direction shifting away from military micromanagement toward nation micromanagement, but a lot of the features of said nation are half-baked and really really boring. This was never exclusive to the Victoria series, Paradox just let you paint maps and move units and press the genocide button because it gave players something to do other than stare at graphs and contemplate RNG. I'm actually totally fine with losing the map painting and units and all that, but give me something else to focus on! The economics, the trade, the diplomacy, the politics, none of them are interesting enough to keep me engaged. Every country plays the same, every society has the same problems.

A lot of the nationbuilding features feel like working a full-time job. I'm sat here, very little agency as the player, staring at progress bars ticking by, being bombarded by events. The devs made a huge deal of the diplomacy but there are generally no viable options with other nations except for invading them or trading with them. The AI likewise never seems to have any diplomacy other than outward antagonism. Obscenely ahistorical things happen all of the time leaving the experience feeling very inauthentic and gamey. Many times I'll flick my camera over to go look at Europe and it's just a mess of random nonsensical borders all over the place. Nations that should win their historical wars, don't. Nations that should reform their government, decide not to. Revolutions that should take place never happen. I've never seen the American civil war happen even once. The Canadians beat the Americans in Manifest Destiny every single time, and California usually remains Mexican well past late game. The way politics is handled feels like a good step forwards, but considering the game has been out for two years now, and in development hell for who-knows-how-long before, it's very underwhelming.

The DLC stacking is already getting old. There's barely any content at all and I'm sure whatever meager things they add will be behind outrageous paywalls in no time.

Tldr: Control is an illusion, the game plays you, not it. Go play any other Paradox game.

Victoria 3 is the "you have no control" simulator. Your country? You don't actually control its political system. Everything you do is an illusion, because like or not you're gonna end up going communist. That political party with 5% popularity is going to take 70% of your country with it when it revolts (and most of your military). Random dissidents are going to appear and ACTUALLY dictate what your country is going to do. You CAN exile them, but its on a long cooldown and a new one will just appear a second later.
Want colonies in Africa? The game encourages you to give them over to colonial administrations, which will immediately start wanting to be their own country and will just turn into an independent country without even informing you. So if you want to map-paint or have any colonies, get used to reconquering the Congo over, and over, and over again.
The war system is just HOI4's frontline system's AI. You actually don't control anything and the AI does it all. Sure you CAN make some choices, but none of them actually have any impact on the war and instead you'll spend all your time making sure your armies are on the right frontline. And heaven help you if the nation you're at war with goes into a revolution... because your armies will forget that there are any frontlines and just go home until you manually remind each one of them that you're still at war.

Look, if you read all that... then I got news for you... its not over. But if you're still going to buy the game after reading that, then you'll just have to find out for yourself. If not, then trust me. Go play any other paradox game. Its more worth your money... but most importantly, its respectful of your time. Victoria 3 does NOT respect your time. Every game turns out the same: with the game deciding on what you do.
Instead of playing a game, it feels like you're writing a spreadsheet that someone just takes over every few minutes and changes everything.

Made by people who dont play the game and is so cope pilled on what historic movements are like that it restricts gameplay. Ive tried and tried to like this game but it wont let you have fun. the revisionist political movement in this game just saps it all out making u micro manage the most boring part of the game. Especially since its jarring seeing the main movement that always spawns over and over with no variation in ideologu. yet irl coutner part literally was expelled 3 times easily before what is the end game war in this causing so many casualties it finally got legs. yet itl cat like its brimming at all times if u dare try to do any version of insert x version of a country. There is no variation on this its like wh2 chaos invasion its always the same chaos faction. only difference which is surprising lets say your die hard that real ideology it doesnt bring that mechanic in for them its a walk in the park basically an instant win. The mentality that designed the dynamics of this game are why paradox is "branching out" to games no one is gunna play and eventually hoi4 and eu4 wont have dlc and this team can not make a good new one. Very sad.

Should play if you are interested in:
Economic simulation.
Snowballing "line goes up" style progression.
Feeling of mastery understanding complex gameplay systems.
Should not play if you:
Are looking for interesting strategic gameplay.
Are looking for a quick game.
Do not enjoy micromanaging gameplay.
Your computer processor is more than a couple generations behind or lower end. (The game will become unbearably slow by late game otherwise).

"Victoria 3" is a groundbreaking grand strategy game that allows players to shape the fate of a nation during the tumultuous 19th century. The game's intricate systems, such as economics, politics, and diplomacy, create a truly immersive experience.

Rough around the edges, but ultimately worth playing if you're a fan of complex, systems-based grand strategy games. This isn't the ideal entry point for newcomers to the genre, as many of the game’s systems and mechanics are opaque, and the nested tooltip system falls short of providing clear guidance. Unlike Crusader Kings III, where in-game tools are more user-friendly, this game almost requires you to read developer diaries and dive into community guides to grasp how certain mechanics work. Even after 140 hours of playtime and a reasonable level of experience with this genre, I still find myself unsure of which levers to pull to achieve specific outcomes. This seems to be more of an issue with the game’s design rather than my failure to learn its systems.

The game launched in a less-than-ideal state, but the developers have been steadily reworking and refining various systems. It now feels much more playable, although there's still plenty of room for improvement. Given the game’s complexity and the extensive UI required to manage it, it’s somewhat understandable that certain aspects of the simulation remain unclear.

Improving the nested tooltips would go a long way, as they currently lag far behind the quality of those in Crusader Kings III. Some journal objectives are also unclear, again due to the lack of detailed tooltips.

Despite its shortcomings, the game can be quite enjoyable if you’re willing to invest the time to learn its intricacies and don’t mind spending on DLC. For those willing to put in the effort, it offers a deep and engaging experience that is ultimately rewarding.

the game has known issues with amd drivers and instead of fixing it they just give you a warning. So the game just causes your drivers to fail and then crashes your whole PC. its 2024 and you have games on steam that have known game breaking bugs with drivers and instead of fixing it. they give you a warning.. imagine buying a car that had a missfire in cylinder 3 and GM just told you " Yea that happens, youre just gonna have to live with it or buy another one" after you bought their car already and i cant help but think how sad it is that a MAP game has this issue, no fancy battles or awe captivating cut scenes or anything spectacular.. nope its a map with different colors has this problem

I love this game, and while the modding community is kind of still building up, it does have great potential.

victoria 3 has performance issues, the warfare system is pretty bad, and the dev team can barely make headway cleaning up its many strange bugs. but it's also pretty unique as far as games go, and pretty fun and interesting when it's not crashing or breaking. it is not really a spiritual sequel to victoria 2 and is much more about economics and politics. you'll either love it or hate it. hope you figure out which while you're still in the refund window

Its an Excel sim and its is cool when line goes up, but its so hard to tell what is going on quickly and how to solve the issues you have. War system remains absolutely horrendously terribly awful. I want to love the game so much, but I can't recommend it. Hoping future changes allow me to alter this review.

One country I had a diplomatic play against was eliminated in another war. I was left in the play with the US as the defender of the non-existent country which had been conquered by the Ai while the diplomatic play was going on. Ofc it ticks down to war breaking out and the US goes all Monroe Doctrine and invades me anyway. OORAH!

combat is unfun if they fix that id give a positive. Economic system if good

Let's go straight to the point, the recent update 1.7.6 crashes my games HUNDRED OF TIMES in the late-game(1890s on), even when I was only sipping on my starbucks matcha latte and watching my nation grow. This is SUPER annoying.(09/28 edit: I have noticed that crashes often comes right at the timepoint when diplomatic play ends and war begins, same for when other countries making peace.)

This game has been one of my dream games from the very beginning. I have always wanted a game like this focus more on economy and society instead of just pure bloodshed.Even though lots of people complained about this and that since it is published, I find the little bugs no where near affecting my gameplay negatively.

But now the constant late-game crashes are making this game unplayable and me furious and frustrated. Have tried to update to older version (1.7.3) as suggested in the community but the game still crashed after a few years of in-game time. BTW, when I tried to send report, "something happened..cannot send report" pop up every time.

I don't know what to do and what I've done to deserve all these. Still, I have faith in Paradox who never ceases to amaze me with all the strategic games of the best-kind, but for the status-quo, I am very disappointed. I will recommend this when the crash issues are fixed.

This is in my opinion the worst recent game Paradox Interactive has released.

The combat is shit, it's slow and has limited playstyles (compared to other Paradox games).

Victoria 2, as outdated and terrible as it was (mostly without DLC), is better than this.

(Don't let my hours fool you, I had to go through 4 of the 5 stages of grief before accepting how shit this purchase was.)

This game fucking sucks. I have tried to force myself to like it. The bugs, horrid game design, and shitty ai completely destroy this game and prevent it from being anything worth while. The DLC does not fix the core issues with this game.

The war system in this game is confusing, my army got all the way around to go to a different front instead and getting the capital state. My army is right next to it and yet does not capture it. The war system doe not feel immersive or realistic, but confusing and frustrating.

I want to like this game. I have tried to like this game. Sometimes, I do like this game. But it is not a good game.

Paradox rushed this out way too early and made a series of absolutely idiotic design choices that will likely always leave this game lacking. The war system is, was, and will likely continue to be pure ass. Armies randomly leave the front and throw years of planning into the dumpster. Navies can stay in combat indefinitely if you stack enough admirals on them, no matter how many times they lose. You can convoy raid your enemy all day, but their armies will never lose supply. Want to upgrade your units? Get ready to rebuild all your fucking barracks at great cost. It is an absolute dogshit system and whoever devised and approved it should be sacked.

Diplomacy is similarly useless. Getting the AI to support you in something, even if they would benefit greatly from it, is impossible. Want to enlist the help of France in taking over the British Raj as the Sikh Empire? They don't care, even though you are in their market and they would profit immensely. But the millisecond you start expanding as a minor power, at least 3 different great powers will dogpile every diplomatic play you do, even if they are currently losing another war, even if they are fully fucking occupied. It is busted beyond belief.

The economic system is the best part of this game, but it is still just a shadow of what it should be. Trade is basically nonexistent, and you have to micromanage all of it. The AI rarely builds enough of useful goods to export large amounts, and is usually so underdeveloped that it has no need to import. It also constantly runs out of convoys, so if you are in a great power's market, be prepared to randomly have your economy go to shit because your market access dropped. And once you figure out the core gameplay loop of industrialization (Build iron, wood and coal-->Build steel-->Build tools-->Build construction-->Repeat), you realize that that is about all there is to do. Want to try and make bank selling opium or other cash crops? Want to focus on consumer goods like furniture and textiles? You will still end up just building steel and tools because they will still make more money no matter what your starting conditions are. It loses replay value quickly.

The population system is so undercooked as to be laughable. Nationalism is barely a factor, even in goddamn Austria. Germany NEVER forms. Half of Italy will usually unify, then just sit there until the end of the game. Cultural acceptance and assimilation are entirely based on a single set of laws and how similar a culture is to your own. It is a joke and often feels like a downgrade from Victoria 2.

Internal politics also kind of suck. Passing laws is entirely RNG dependent, leading to some incredibly frustrating "99% Chance for 10 years" situations. The priorities of internal factions will randomly change as their leaders die or retire; the industrialists could be supporting a large standing army and a policy of colonial expansion one day, and joining the brewing revolution against the same laws the next because their jingoist leader died and got replaced by a pacifist. Your ability to quell internal dissent consists of 2 buttons, each with a 5 year cooldown.

Performance also sucks, the game slows down so much as to be unplayable after 1900.

Given that this is a Paradox title, the game not being playable until 5 years and 8 DLCs after release would be somewhat expected, but Paradox has apparently decided to cut their losses with this one. It has been 2 years since release, there are only 2 DLCs that meaningfully improve the core game mechanics, major updates are increasingly far apart, and no plans to rework major mechanics like the military system have been discussed. I expect this game to get the Imperator treatment soon.

The Victoria series are somewhat unique in the world of Grand Strategy Games. I was really hoping this one would be a worthy successor, but Paradox really screwed it up. Get this if you like the time period or prefer playing tall. Otherwise, everything this game does is done better by another Paradox title--including Victoria 2.

Combat is a joke. Makes no sense. Just repeated revolts and failing economy and rebellion after rebellion. No guidance on how to fix. No rewarding systems at all....

Great game with all the DLCs. Difficult to get hang of it. But it can be really fun once you masters the game.

Ich kann leider nur dringend davon abraten, dieses Spiel zu kaufen. Paradox' Geschäftsmodell ist ja mittlerweile bekannt, aber 30 € für ein Addon zu verlangen, das einem bis dahin recht blutleeren Spiel den nötigen Pfiff bieten soll, ist schlicht eine Frechheit.

Nach spätestens 20 Stunden Spielzeit merkt man, dass man in einem Würfelspiel gefangen ist. Eigentlich hat man gar nicht so wirklich viel zu tun, da der Schwerpunkt des Spiels, der Handel mit anderen Nationen, einfach nicht in Gang kommen will.

Letztlich ist jedoch die Preispolitik dieses Publishers für mich der Grund, dass dieses Spiel nun das letzte von Paradox gewesen sein wird.

the automated system doesn't actually do its job so you have to miticilously babysit your frontlines cause only god knows when your troops will be randomly teleported to your HQs after the frontlines change and split up for no apparent reason.

uninstalling this peace of shit game

I understand why people don't like it (because it is a bit different to victoria 2) but personally, these games aren't always about the war. This game really sines with diplomacy and the whole lead up to war mechanic. Plus the peace deals are quite good and rewarding

I have given this game so many chances and I desperately want to enjoy it and love it but I seriously cannot overstate how frustrating and downright bad this game is. The choices you make are so depressingly insignificant and it is almost impossible to actually control or do anything you want to do in this game due to how it is designed. It takes decades upon decades in game and hours upon hours to actually try and achieve one thing. Want to declare a war of independence as the Dominion of Canada, have fun spending hours trying to increase you ever falling liberty desire while Great Britain continues to buy out your entire GDP without really being able to do anything to stop it.

Paradox has ruined its potential by catering to the select few players that enjoy the mind-numbing extreme detail of a game like this and alienated casual gamer's who don't have the time or the interest to learn volumes of historical economic policy in order to succeed in this game. As an avid player of CK3 I have always enjoyed that I needed very little knowledge going in to any given game and that I was able to enjoy my run through without feeling like the game was playing me. Everything in Victoria 3 just feels formulated to be gate-kept as much as possible, the tutorial is no help, and it feels as though everything was specifically designed to make you angry.

Its unclear who or what you are actually in control of in this game, is it the government? I can't tell, because it all seems to operate independently from you and so many decisions are locked behind prerequisites that wouldn't really make much sense f you were actually the person or entity in charge of the country.

I just can't express how disappointing and unfulfilling this game is, I had such high hopes and I have tried so hard to learn it and to enjoy it but is just one thing after another.

The game has really improved lately, both in performance and content. I really hope this trend will continue and the game will keep getting better and deeper. There's still a long way to go but this has quickly become one of my favourite paradox games

Great game to simulate many aspects of the era but unfortuntely not all.
If you enjoy playing with economics in detail and love seeing that number go up and green, this game is for you.
If you are worried about a perfect simulation of the era in terms of war and political systems, you might be disapointed FOR NOW. Devs are working on it, I'm excited for the future of the game!

A bizarrely terrible grand strategy game, it has so many puddle deep systems that all feel like they pretend to interact with each other. It's pretty easy to understand any one situation you might find yourself in this game, but how you got there varies on a binary system of "you don't have enough buildings" and "random rng changed how many buildings you need". Nomatter what happens in this game the answer to every strategic question is allways put another building in the build queue, and that makes for a remarkably dull experience.

This is hands down the worst game in whole Paradox series, if one can even call it a "game".

Essentially, it's glorified click-to-make-red-green-again simulator whith extreme tediousness and barely anything interesting to do. Heck, after 5 or 6 try I noticed I don't even look and the game map, almost all the game time is spent between few menus and spreadsheets.

Honestly, the most bizzare gaming experience for me.

Fun game, tough to get the hang of at first. Once you figure out how to manage your economy without bankrupting yourself, it becomes addicting watching your GDP rise.

The warfare mechanics have flaws and the usual DLC stuff with Paradox are my only complaints.

Overall, I'd recommend it if you enjoy other Paradox style games, just in this game the main focus is the economy, as opposed to diplomacy or warfare (which still play a part)

This game is like empty pizza dough. You could make the most delicious meal possible with the options some of the mechanics the game has to offer. But somehow Paradox Entertainment managed to make the most disgusting pizza possible.

The economic systems are quite fun to play around with. when you finally industrialize, it feels great!
But it takes several years to develop, which is fine, but you can't build armies and navies at the same time as you economy, making it so you have to choose between the two.
Also agriculture isn't worth jack.

But unless you dont start as the Great Powers, you won't see any of that until 1920.

Everything else feels fundamentaly broken. wars are a pain to deal with, and a break with the other Paradox games. you can not control your armies except move them to the border of the country you're at war with.
from then on strategy is thrown out the window, and you have to rely on pure RNG. This whole system genuinely sucks. It is not fun to deal with, and feels fundamentally broken. I genuinely don't think Paradox can make anything out of it with future DLC, short of a complete rework.

Diplomacy matters very little, and the AI feels braindead. It is very clear that its choices are made to impact you more so than other paradox games; Great Brittain colonizing all the land around you in the time span of 12 years, or Brazil guarenteeing the independence of Vietnam when you play Thailand.

if you're a puppet, it's an absolute slog to break free, so if you want to play as Australia or India, unless you cheese it, you'll have to play until very far in the late game.

liberalizing your country is the exact same as siege warfare in EU4. Except even more annoying, because you can get a revolution every second because someone doesn't like it.
It's oh so easy to regress in laws, but you have to try several times every time to try and pass a progressive law that let's your country function better. Again, it is not fun.

Resources are spread out in stupid ways, and the trade system is equally as dumb. (Sub-Saharan Africa does not have any potential for Sulphur, a key ingredient for advancing your army tech and industry) if you want to get that through trade, you are not allowed to decide how much you want to buy or sell, but instead are forced to buy or sell a fixed ammount, which for some stupid reason, will always be significantly lower than the ammount you need to fix your shortages.

And the lack of flavor to nations. Every nation will quickly feel the same.

If you are new player you might not understand everything mentioned here, but just know, that the way the game is now, it needs ALOT of work to fix everything that is broken, more so than any other paradox game. I do not recommend it in this form.

When it comes down to just sitting down, and playing the game, it just isn´t fun.

I like how detailed the pop system is, but the game gets boring pretty fast. Playing different countries feels the same as there is only one optimal way to play (liberalisation, industrialisation). Game has a cookie clicker feeling after a time, and lacks historical content and tension. Major disappointment is lack of WW1 content.

I tried to enjoy this game. I really did. The economy system is great. The pops are great. The warfare and diplomacy are a 0/10 on every possible level. 4 DLC's later, and the Warfare is still terrible on every level.

I am not a fan of AI front lines, when being able to actually command armies is what makes a strategy game, a strategy game. You can be winning a war, only for your army to magically teleport to a worthless province on the "front". Crusader Kings, Europa and Hearts of Iron, are actual Strategy games where you can command your armies.

The Diplomacy is beyond bad. And I mean, really, REALLY bad. You can be +50 relations with your trading partner and ally, only for them to turn on you, if you declare war for a neighboring province. Likewise, trying to annex a vassal, is also bad. Europa does it perfectly, as you can integrate your vassal over time. In Vic 3? Oh, you are declaring war for annexation, diplomacy is non-existent in this game.

Some other things I noticed- Scandinavia is more likely to form then Germany. For some reason, the Southwestern United States counts as Confederate provinces after the U.S Civil War, and you have to re-integrate them, even if they stayed loyal.

This game feels like it was done by an executive that wanted to profit off of nostalgia , and let 90% of the warfare and diplomacy be done by Interns and new staff. I give this game a solid 3/10, and that's being generous.

Shakey launch, but is now a stable and fun game, full of questionable policies and poor financial decisions.

Maybe I just didn't pay attention in history class but I'm pretty sure countries in the Victorian era didn't go bankrupt from building two corn farms.

Played this game mostly in single player, on an M1 mac. Tried out several countries, they're all pretty fun. Russia, USA, Argentina, Austria in particular. Problem is, after getting 30-50 years into the game (or about 7 hours of play time), the game just crashes. It's not a random crash - if I load back in from the previous few autosaves it will just crash again. Don't really know what I'm doing wrong.

It just sucks getting several hours into the game only to be told it's the end of the line.