Europa Universalis is a historical strategy game that simulates all aspects of world history from 1492 to 1792. Each player takes on the role of one of the major nations of the era, controlling diplomacy, economy, warfare, exploration, and colonization.
The game takes place on a map divided into ap...
Europa Universalis is a historical strategy game that simulates all aspects of world history from 1492 to 1792. Each player takes on the role of one of the major nations of the era, controlling diplomacy, economy, warfare, exploration, and colonization.
The game takes place on a map divided into approximately 1,500 provinces, and proceeds in a pausable real time format.
A number of unique features ensure historical accuracy, including period monarchs, military leaders, and technological gains.
Involve yourself in colonization, exploration, trade and infrastructure, war, religion, and diplomacy against other players or your computer.
Ninety different nations are potentially player-controlled, while the powerful AI controls nonplayer nations.
Choose from nine scenarios, including a Grand Campaign game that encompasses 300 years.
There are more than 500 different historical missions and a dynamic system that generates countless exciting missions.
More than 200 historical events potentially affect the outcome of your actions. A map covering the entire globe encompasses 800-plus named provinces, 550-plus named sea zones, and 100-plus named rivers.
The real-time game can be set to pause at any time or any given event to give players time to plan ahead, thereby creating a semi-real-time environment.
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The whole Europa Universalis series is excellent. Every single game is.
That being said, the series gets better with each consecutive title and they very, very much build up on each other, i.e. each game is the previous game including all the add-ons AND THEN better, so instead of getting EU1 I would go straight to EU3 including all the expansions or, if you've got a stronger computer, EU4.
You can't go wrong with either of the games, but this series is the rare thing in which each incarnation of the game is better than the previous one. The Europa Universalis series is like a perpetuum mobile of goodness. So the newer the game you get the better (and believe me, I'm NOT the kind of guy who generally says that a game is better because it's newer or because it's got newer graphics).
As someone who has played every Paradox game series, the best review I can give is: I've spent 1000s of hours playing Europa Universalis games alone, with Victoria, Hearts of Iron and Crusader Kings series easily in countless 100s of hours each. The devs have singlehandedly created and been filling up a separate Grand Strategy genre. And it all really started with EU1.
So is this game still relevant today? Eeeehm, not really. If you want to spend less than 50 hours playing older EU game and you have never played one before I guess it is fine. Just bear in mind that EU2 is an incremental improvement. It is like EU1 on stereoids Ultra Mega Gold GotY edition. It is better in every aspect without changing the fundamental way how the game feels and plays. Even better there is For the Glory, which quite frankly is EU2.5, a final installment in this line of EU games. So EU2 obsoletes EU1 and FtG kinda obsoletes EU2.
Is this the case with other PDS games? By no means. Since then every installment (I mean the final iteration) of each series is a relevant playable game in its own right. Sure the graphics may be a bit dated (like it mattered), some UI streamlining may not have been invented yet and worst of all development (new features and balancing) is long abandoned.
With medieval timeline Crusader Kings is still a viable choice among CK2. With Renaissance to Classical era you have actually three possibilities: Aforementioned FtG, EU3 and EU4. Each does things slightly differently so try them all and choose what suits you best. Entering the industrial era Victoria has many reasons to be played over Vicky 2. And if WW2 is your thing you have a plethora of options: Hearts of Iron, HoI2, both its forks namely Arsenal of Democracy and Darkest Hour and HoI3.
Having said that I'm still waiting for the very latest PDS games here on GOG to ensure a true DRM free version, because really there is no reason not to.
In short: Europa Universalis series is one of the rare franchese where successive titles actually improved overall. If you have a lot of time and patience, I suggest starting with this one, to experience the progress. If you are put off by less-than-fancy graphics, please start with III or IV, just don't miss it altogther.
I still remember fondly buying the game (in a retail store! in a paper box! with a manual printed on paper!), then getting my head around it. I invested a lot into understanding the manual and the game - English is not my native language and I was still learning it in school - but it was worth it. I had tons of fun and my grade in history has improved drastically.
I wanted to play an EU game with as few complicated mechanics as possible. This game is great for that, had some fun! Unfortunately you have to remove a music DLL file to even get it to work on Windows 10 and if you even get to the late game (about 1700) the game will just crash every few months. I don't have the patience to restart it over and over again just to complete it.
I've seen several comments saying that the game doesn't run on Windows 10.
The game runs perfectly on my Windows 10 desktop and laptop computers, when compatibility mode is set to 'Windows 95'.
Can't judge the content of the game yet.
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