Europa Universalis IV developed by Paradox Interactive is a grand strategy game that places you at the helm of a nation. The game spans from the mid 15th century to 19th century in which you must make your nation great. EU IV is the fourth instalment of the Europa Universalis franchise. Paradox Interactive has been known for it's vast scale and incredibly complicated games. This can make their games very daunting to new players and even put them off entirely. EU IV isn't like that though and is the first game that seems more user friendly and open to all kinds of players.
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The game encompasses the entire world and starts with you choosing a nation to play as. This is what makes EU IV so re-playable. When playing your first campaign you'll probably choose a European nation such as France, Spain or England as they are the games recommended choices. The aim of the game is colonisation, creating an empire and dominating the world successfully. What you won't realise is that playing as England is completely different to playing as Spain/Castile or France and that is because of the positioning of each country and technologies that you have to choose from. Castile and Portugal which in history were first to explore and colonise during the so called colonial era have an advantage over other nations in EU IV, as you also have the advantage of exploration being available to you first. England and France on the other hand have to wait another half a century before they can even explore and start to colonise depending on which technologies you choose. As England and France you'll be late to the party making for an interesting and punishing experience as you fight the enormously strong and wealthy Castile and Portugal. It doesn't just stop there as choosing to play as Austria or any other nation in the Holy Roman Empire changes how you play. For starters you won't be interested in colonisation of the Americas but rather the conquest of Europe or trying not being conquered. Again you will get the same from playing as a Eastern European country, middle eastern country or Indian and Chinese country.
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The game isn't just about conquest though as you have to think about researching technologies and ideas in order to unlock new buildings to construct, new weapons to outfit your army with and improvements in trade, industry and how your country is run. Trade and industry play a big part in your economy. Trade is brought through either land trade routes or sea trade routes via trade nodes such as The Silk Road and is one of the reasons you might think about expanding your borders or colonising. If you are a large country or don't have much sway over trade then Industry will be important as it can be a viable replacement. At the end of the day technology is most important as it allows you to further your kingdom. Choosing a technology that improves trade will give you bonuses such as extra merchants, improved trade efficiency, trade range and many other things. The same can be said for the other technologies.
As I said in the intro, Paradox games are known for their complexity and that can put people off. EU IV can still be daunting for new comers but no where near as bad as Victoria 2 or some of their older titles. Many fans of the Europa Universalis series thought it focused too much on pretty graphics and missed all the important details and features that EU should have. As a person who has only played two Paradox title, EU IV included I can't say much on that, what I can say is in my opinion it's a very good game. The reason I really like it is partly because of the graphics, many Paradox titles look bland and lifeless making for something not particularly interesting to look at. EU IV has really good graphics and is therefore a joy to look at and play, obviously that isn't the only reason. Overall I think it has enough depth and with each update Paradox adds more to the game for free, to go with the ridiculous amount of expansions. If all of that is not enough then check out the mods on the Steam Workshop. My favourite is Veritas et Fortitudo which adds a huge amount of content and features to the game. The fact is that mods add even more re-playability to the game so once you've had your fill of the base game check out the Steam Workshop.
The point is that the game is great and if you are a fan of strategy games such as the Total War series then I think this will be right up your street. Personally if you want to try a Paradox Interactive game then EU IV is probably best as it concentrates on streamlining and tends to be more simplistic and easier to play than their older titles.
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