The Victoria series started and ended with Victoria II.

This game best captures the dynamics and landscape of the 19th Century world. It was an era of gunboat diplomacy, sphere of influence, balance of power, late-colonialism and of significant industrial, technological and ideological advances.

Make no mistake, this is not an underrated game. It is highly rated by many grand strategy game players over the years, but remains rather obscured from the wider player demographics. However, the game's attempt to simulate the economic, political and social spheres is unrivalled by any other game on the market today.

Unlike the warfare and external management focus of many grand strategy games, this has a focus on internal management, allowing the players to guide the economic, political and social changes of any country from 1836 to 1936. The plethora of tools available to the players, together with the wealth of mods and strategies developed over the years, enable endless replay potential.

However, the UI and graphics are a bit dated. For instance, the sliders are definitely not to everyone's taste. Some players might also find the dimensions of the UI/icons and game stability a little prohibiting, especially on newer systems.

Victoria is also likely the least accessible and beginner-friendly of all the Paradox grand strategy series. The limited tooltips and complexity of mechanics of Victoria II, even from its tutorial, epitomise this. Though it is not as intense as its predecessor, Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun, the dense on-screen modifiers and information will likely have already scared off half the population anyway.

By the way, if you own the DLC, the Advanced Diplomacy tutorial will be bugged and cannot be completed.

With all this said, if you can persevere through the first hundred hours or so, you will see why this is rated so highly by grand strategy game players.

Drawing from my estimated 5000+ hours in this game since its release in 2010, and from the 600+ hours on Victoria 3, I can say with confidence and authority that this is still the ultimate grand strategy game in 2023.