Victoria 3 often presents you with decisions and the choices you make will impact various elements of your society. While it might have seemed like the Great Powers of the age more or less did exactly that, the reality was more complicated and setting up a colonial enterprise (even if it was simply sending a ship and some soldiers to plant a flag and say “This is ours now”) took a long time, which isn’t reflected in the game. It would take months to get from the UK to Australia yet in the game you instantly have a small colonial territory to work with that will continue expanding as long as you develop it. Here’s the thing, though – in the 19 th century, sea travel was slow. To set up a colony, you have to first research colonialism (which was not, incidentally, a new idea in the 19 th century) then establish a Colonial Office, then declare a diplomatic interest in a region where colonies can be established, then click ‘Establish colony’, and suddenly you have a piece of land in a far corner of the world with your flag on it. One of the biggest elements of the era, colonialism, is not handled all that well, though. If you really like your trade simulations, Victoria 3 will appeal. You can engage in some pretty epic micromanagement in trade, buying X units of Y product for an amount, selling products to certain markets, shipping from particular ports, etc. Industry was a little more accessible in each region you can build key infrastructure (factories, farms, railways and so on) and the connection between “There is a farm in this region and a cannery in this one and you can sell the canned food to another country” was clearer to me than some of the other systems (including the system deciding global prices). Seeing your regions develop and thrive is very rewarding I wasn’t expecting Empire: Total War or anything, but this was entirely too ‘hands-off’ for my liking. Victoria 3 is most definitely not a war game, and actually fighting wars in it is complicated, abstract and not particularly engaging.Īrmies are controlled by generals, you assign a general to a front, and then basically leave them to do their thing. I like Grand Strategy games a lot and I wanted to get into the nitty gritty of micromanaging a globe-spanning 19 th century empire, but the user interface, controls and mechanics were all so incredibly counterintuitive that while I was able to get things sort of on an even keel, I still just never felt I was actually on top of everything – and couldn’t be on top of everything because there was just so much to keep track of.Ĭountries are governed by laws, and as in the real world, getting them passed takes ages and requires a lot of compromises (represented in game by pop-up events requiring you to make a decision which will have an impact on the bill’s progression) and “What are we going to do tonight, Brain?” This goes beyond just not being for filthy casuals this is a game that requires a significant time investment and understanding to the point where the time it takes just to get a handle on how most of the mechanics work is longer than many other entire games. I cannot overstate just how complicated and complex this game is. There are truly limitless approaches you can take – whether it’s Make Sweden Great Again, modernise Qing Dynasty China, or have Australia colonising the entire Pacific Region, Victoria 3 lays the map down and essentially says “Go nuts”. In broad terms, the game starts you off on Januand gives you 100 years to lead whatever country you’ve chosen to whatever outcome you aim for. While the game launched late last year it’s so incredibly dense and complicated (combined with there just being a lot going on generally) that it’s only now I’ve finally found myself feeling like I can review it.
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