Victoria 3

I love Victoria 3

Nobody does grand strategy quite like publisher Paradox Interactive and its game dev branch, Paradox Development Studio. These are the minds behind a number of beloved series, such as the medieval drama engine of Crusader Kings, the colonialism simulator known as Europa Universalis, and one of the most in-depth World War II strategy offerings ever in Hearts of Iron. And then there’s Victoria, a series that gives players control over a nation of the world during one of the most complex moments of global growth and change in history: the Victorian era.

At the risk of sounding like an uneducated pleb, Victoria 3 is a seriously complex game. Existing fans of the series will be nodding right now like a parent whose child has just told them the sky is blue and stinging nettles hurt, but as a newcomer to this particular franchise I was genuinely surprised by just how deep the rabbit hole goes. Not to mention how many rabbit holes there are. Paradox are counted among the very best creators and publishers of civilisation sims. If it carries their name, either for development or distribution, you can almost guarantee a degree of quality and attention to detail rarely matched by any but the genre-leaders. I’ve always entered their universes with a certain amount of trepidation and come out feeling oddly smarter than when I went in, whether a new universe like