Victoria 3 has changed a lot since launch last year. At that point the only other Paradox game I played was Hearts of Iron IV, of which I had over 2000 hours. At first I was lost, confused, and constantly losing my games. Part of this was those initial bugs and gameplay features that were yet to be ironed out, but Victoria 3 brought me back to my beginning of Hearts of Iron IV: Having little clue what to do and getting demolished by the AI.

But like all Paradox games, the more of them you play the easier that beginning skill curve becomes. If you've played more than 1 before, then you'll get what I mean. And when I surmounted that initial curve the rewards were amazing. Victoria 3 has components that are lacking in every other Paradox game, and that's what really sets this game apart from the rest of the suite (of which I've nearly played them all). The biggest component of Victoria 3 is also the most controversial, but the one that I've loved the most since the moment got my hands on it:


The Market component in Victoria 3 scratches an itch for me that no other game comes close to; it's that ability to manage you entire nations economy, your production, your trade, your industrialisation. For me, the whole thing is amazing in its detail and intricacies. Especially after Version 1.5 with the addition of local prices the game is, in large part, an economics simulator based in the 19th century - and that's what makes it so unique. Something else to love about the game is just the sheer intricacies of it. Not only can you see each individual pop group in your nation, but you can also view each and every one's own person economic status; you can see what they're buying, how much money they net each week, and much, much more. It's these features that are not initially apparent to you that really show the attention to detail the devs had while fleshing the game out, and combining all of these aspects of the economy creates a game with an incredibly fine-detailed economic system, one that can be entirely micromanaged by you, the player. Or if you prefer, the AI now can (it couldn't at launch) now manage the whole thing for you, lending a hand to both new players and players that are more preoccupied with other aspects of the game.



At launch, the warfare mechanics of Victoria 3 were frankly embarrassing. The AI was incredibly poor with its army building, placements, army groups, and pretty much its whole utilisation of the warfare systems.

Now after some time a lot of the glitches, bugs, and AI were fixed and the game was certainly playable, but warfare still felt incredibly dull and unrewarding. The devs had put so much into the economy that they ended up leaving a lot to be desired with warfare. These were also my thoughts until Version 1.5's release.

With 1.5 and the open beta that proceeded it, warfare was effectively rebuilt from the ground up. Suddenly you could manage the intricacies of your army similarly to (but ultimately still less than) your economy. With 1.5 frontlines were merged, so you'd no longer have 20 something frontlines fighting for German Leadership; now you can manage that front with only 1 army instead of >20. You now also have more than one battle per frontline; gone are the days of waiting ages for the only battle on the front to conclude, a fix that greatly improves both the speed and enjoyment of warfare, and allows you to have different mixes of unit types for different purposes. With 1.5, Warfare has finally become, fun, interesting, and rewarding.


Some other aspects I've yet to mention are the wonderful soundtrack, the exquisite map design, detail, & fidelity, and the Political system. While as of now occasionally annoying and unbalanced, the political system and laws in Victoria 3 still shine through as an incredibly fun and versatile system that allows you to roleplay numerous politcal systems, economic systems, ideology, and more.

Especially in the games current build, these different paths you can take your nation down, along with the journal entries* added allow for plenty of replayability not just between multiple nations, but even for just one. You can take Russia down so many different paths: You can consolidate the landowners control over the serfs. You can abolish the monarchy and let democracy flourish. You can empower the Orthodox Church and establish a Theocracy. Or you can take the historical route towards Socialism, establishing a Vanguard State as the USSR, choosing a more democratic workers state in the form of an elected Council Republic, or you cann do away with the state in most of its entirety and become and relatively decentralised Anarchist Commune. The possibilities are endless, no matter how big or how small your nation starts out as.

*A lot of which are sadly behind a paywall, but lets face it, this is a Paradox Game, and this is what you sign up for in all Paradox games.

And its with that, that I'll wrap up my review. I personally love Victoria 3; what has especially drew me into the game is both the micro and macro economic management of it that scratches an itch I didn't even know I had. But even if that's not your forte the game has so much more to offer, and if what's already there also isn't enough then the ever-expanding workshop filled with wonderful mods and talented modders should be able to compensate for anything you think may be missing. If anything in this review interested you in the slightest, I implore you either try it out (worst case you don't like it you can just refund it) or look into some videos or playthroughs of it online, they ca do a much better job of showcasing the game than any written review. Like I said before, I love this game, and if you're a fan of another Paradox game like me, then I think you'll love it too.

[h1] I'll start here by saying Victoria 3 is not for everyone. Hell, I'd even say its not for most, but this game is definitely for me. And if you're anything like me you'll love it too. [/h1] Victoria 3 has changed a lot since launch last year. At that point the only other Paradox game I played was Hearts of Iron IV, of which I had over 2000 hours. At first I was lost, confused, and constantly losing my games. Part of this was those initial bugs and gameplay features that were yet to be ironed out, but Victoria 3 brought me back to my beginning of Hearts of Iron IV: Having little clue what to do and getting demolished by the AI. But like all Paradox games, the more of them you play the easier that beginning skill curve becomes. If you've played more than 1 before, then you'll get what I mean. And when I surmounted that initial curve the rewards were amazing. Victoria 3 has components that are lacking in every other Paradox game, and that's what really sets this game apart from the rest of the suite (of which I've nearly played them all). The biggest component of Victoria 3 is also the most controversial, but the one that I've loved the most since the moment got my hands on it: [h3] Markets [/h3] The Market component in Victoria 3 scratches an itch for me that no other game comes close to; it's that ability to manage you entire nations economy, your production, your trade, your industrialisation. For me, the whole thing is amazing in its detail and intricacies. Especially after Version 1.5 with the addition of local prices the game is, in large part, an economics simulator based in the 19th century - and that's what makes it so unique. Something else to love about the game is just the sheer intricacies of it. Not only can you see each individual pop group in your nation, but you can also view each and every one's own person economic status; you can see what they're buying, how much money they net each week, and much, much more. It's these features that are not initially apparent to you that really show the attention to detail the devs had while fleshing the game out, and combining all of these aspects of the economy creates a game with an incredibly fine-detailed economic system, one that can be entirely micromanaged by you, the player. Or if you prefer, the AI now can (it couldn't at launch) now manage the whole thing for you, lending a hand to both new players and players that are more preoccupied with other aspects of the game. [h2] Now of course the game is not without its flaws, this was [i] especially [/i] true at launch. [/h2] [h3] Military [/h3] At launch, the warfare mechanics of Victoria 3 were frankly embarrassing. The AI was incredibly poor with its army building, placements, army groups, and pretty much its whole utilisation of the warfare systems. Now after some time a lot of the glitches, bugs, and AI were fixed and the game was certainly playable, but warfare still felt incredibly dull and unrewarding. The devs had put so much into the economy that they ended up leaving a lot to be desired with warfare. These were also my thoughts until Version 1.5's release. With 1.5 and the open beta that proceeded it, warfare was effectively rebuilt from the ground up. Suddenly you could manage the intricacies of your army similarly to (but ultimately still less than) your economy. With 1.5 frontlines were merged, so you'd no longer have 20 something frontlines fighting for German Leadership; now you can manage that front with only 1 army instead of >20. You now also have more than one battle per frontline; gone are the days of waiting ages for the only battle on the front to conclude, a fix that greatly improves both the speed and enjoyment of warfare, and allows you to have different mixes of unit types for different purposes. With 1.5, Warfare has finally become, fun, interesting, and rewarding. [h2] Conclusions [/h2] Some other aspects I've yet to mention are the wonderful soundtrack, the exquisite map design, detail, & fidelity, and the Political system. While as of now occasionally annoying and unbalanced, the political system and laws in Victoria 3 still shine through as an incredibly fun and versatile system that allows you to roleplay numerous politcal systems, economic systems, ideology, and more. Especially in the games current build, these different paths you can take your nation down, along with the journal entries* added allow for plenty of replayability not just between multiple nations, but even for just one. You can take Russia down so many different paths: You can consolidate the landowners control over the serfs. You can abolish the monarchy and let democracy flourish. You can empower the Orthodox Church and establish a Theocracy. Or you can take the historical route towards Socialism, establishing a Vanguard State as the USSR, choosing a more democratic workers state in the form of an elected Council Republic, or you cann do away with the state in most of its entirety and become and relatively decentralised Anarchist Commune. The possibilities are endless, no matter how big or how small your nation starts out as. *A lot of which are sadly behind a paywall, but lets face it, [i] this is [/i] a Paradox Game, and this is what you sign up for in all Paradox games. And its with that, that I'll wrap up my review. I personally love Victoria 3; what has especially drew me into the game is both the micro and macro economic management of it that scratches an itch I didn't even know I had. But even if that's not your forte the game has so much more to offer, and if what's already there also isn't enough then the ever-expanding workshop filled with wonderful mods and talented modders should be able to compensate for anything you think may be missing. If anything in this review interested you in the slightest, I implore you either try it out (worst case you don't like it you can just refund it) or look into some videos or playthroughs of it online, they ca do a much better job of showcasing the game than any written review. Like I said before, I love this game, and if you're a fan of another Paradox game like me, then I think you'll love it too.