Europa Universalis 5 Is Unabashedly Hardcore, And I Love It

Paradox Interactive has finally confirmed that its Tinto studio's Project Caesar, which it had been teasing through a series of dev diary posts on its forum, is Europa Universalis V. As the first new entry in this series in nearly 12 years and one releasing in a very different landscape for strategy games, questions arise about what will, or should, change. Paradox's answer is to simply rework and tweak a formula that has proven to work well, rather than changing everything to court new players.I attended a digital preview event for Europa Universalis V and went hands-on with an early build of the real-time strategy game ahead of the announcement. I found that its biggest changes didn't address approachability--which you might think would be the primary focus to attract newcomers to the franchise--but instead added strategic depth. Europa Universalis V feels distinct from what came before, but it doesn't lose any of the series' identity and focus on complexity. This might be the most hardcore grand strategy game in Paradox's catalog. All of the government, military, and economic strategy systems that the series is known for return in this latest entry, working in tandem to create a complex political climate that grows from the in-game starting point of 1337. Players take control of any nation they want from around the world and micromanage nearly every aspect of it. Grand strategy games are overwhelming in the amount of information and strategic options they present players, but become outstanding sandboxes for emergent storytelling once you know where to look and what to do--Europa Universalis V is no different.Continue Reading at GameSpot

May 8, 2025 - 18:18

Europa Universalis 5 Is Unabashedly Hardcore, And I Love It

Paradox Interactive has finally confirmed that its Tinto studio's Project Caesar, which it had been teasing through a series of dev diary posts on its forum, is Europa Universalis V. As the first new entry in this series in nearly 12 years and one releasing in a very different landscape for strategy games, questions arise about what will, or should, change. Paradox's answer is to simply rework and tweak a formula that has proven to work well, rather than changing everything to court new players.

I attended a digital preview event for Europa Universalis V and went hands-on with an early build of the real-time strategy game ahead of the announcement. I found that its biggest changes didn't address approachability--which you might think would be the primary focus to attract newcomers to the franchise--but instead added strategic depth. Europa Universalis V feels distinct from what came before, but it doesn't lose any of the series' identity and focus on complexity. This might be the most hardcore grand strategy game in Paradox's catalog.

All of the government, military, and economic strategy systems that the series is known for return in this latest entry, working in tandem to create a complex political climate that grows from the in-game starting point of 1337. Players take control of any nation they want from around the world and micromanage nearly every aspect of it. Grand strategy games are overwhelming in the amount of information and strategic options they present players, but become outstanding sandboxes for emergent storytelling once you know where to look and what to do--Europa Universalis V is no different.Continue Reading at GameSpot