Victoria II

A deep and sophisticated grand strategy/gommunism simulator from Paradox Interactive, Victoria II poses several fascinating questions, such as:

"Why is Britain such a lazy doucһebag?"

"How can I have 6 million rebels every year when I have a population of 5 million?"

"Why does Fascist Tibet have a better economy than me?"

"How is Fascist Tibet even possible?"

"Why is everyone leaving my country?

"Britain, help, Tibet is invading me!"

"How is that a game over?"

In addition to creating endless possibilities for such believable worlds, Victoria II features a robust and realistic world economy that's too complex for any mere mortal to comprehend. Constantly bail out bankrupt factories and watch your country spiral into debt, just like real life!

The political aspect of the game is also breathtakingly realistic. Watch as your pops do the exact opposite of what you want them to, always be upset with your decisions, and rebel at the worst possible time. A basic guide to politics is that just like in the real world, communism is always the answer. With it, the only one you have to blame for your fuϲkups is yourself, not incompetent AI.

Diplomacy is an important part of the game, especially alliances. If a country is even slightly favorable towards a great power, you can expect them to always intervene against you, ruling out any conflict with that country. Your own allies will constantly call on you for aid, but won't have any problems with leaving you on your own when you need help. There's also the great infamy system, which supposedly prevents blobbing but really just creates artificial difficulty.

The game might seem way too complex at first, but after an hour or 50 you'll see that it's just as complex as you thought it was, but at least you sort of understand it now. If you stick with it long enough to git gud, the game will be a lot of fun.

Overall: 10/10, it's decent

P.S. Expect to have fun with massive yearly Jacobin rebellions in the latter half of the game unless if you're the USA or Gutter Germany. Although, if you're Gutter Germany, you should probably just kill yourself.

P.P.S. I forgot to mention the many amazing mods there are for this game, including the infamous Pop Demand Mod, which adds great features such as three different kinds of shoe factories, the amazing-and-totally-not-broken Victoria Ultimate which tries to apply 19th century politics and economics to 400 years of history, and vickymod, letting you experience all the epic reddit memes you can fit in your fedora.

"I don't know how Victoria 3 combat system will be fought, but Victoria 4 combat system will be fought with sticks and stones."

-Albert Einstein

You can play as communist Texas. 10/10.

But seriously:

Victoria II isn't the prettiest grand strategy game that's ever come around. The economic system in particular requires about seven PhDs and consultation with the Elder Gods to understand, and sometimes it feels like you don't really have any control over the politics of your country beyond slight nudges. Some would argue that's the entire point, but I digress.

Where Victoria II will grab you, and hold you, is the sheer diplomacy system. Whereas in EU4 one country will simply superblob, Vicky has a very nice system of balance. Countries rarely blob, and even when they do, they're only one catastrophic war away from being knocked down to size. And just like other Paradox games, Victoria II is incredibly easy to mod. Don't like your flag? Change it! Want to rename a political party? Change it! Feel like modifying a few provinces to balance out the economy? All that's needed is a few corrections in a text file.

PROS:

- Combat feels the most balanced of any Paradox game. Even Art of War.
- Politics system will always have you coming back for more
- Incredible attention to detail. Every country has its own republican, monarchist, fascist, and communist flag.
- Great power mechanic makes it actually feel like you're actually playing as one state among many, instead of just one human vs the same computer wearing different hats

CONS:

- Economy system is an absolute mess.
- Since Heart of Darkness, sieges take far, far too long.

FINAL VERDICT:

First off, I do NOT recommend this to anyone but gamers who have a grand strategy game or two under their belt. Anyone else is just going to take one look at the industrial and demographics screen and uninstall the game. But for those who learn its mechanics, Victoria II will pay back in dividends.