Paradox Interactive has done it. I can't say it did it "again," because it usually botches every single launch and release and forces us to wait for years until its game becomes "good." But EU5 is the exception, and its overwhelming launch-day content makes it PDX's finest release.
I've already put in some 10 or so hours into the game, starting as Holland with a few ducats and a dream to one day unite the Lowlands into the glorious Dutch Republic. The road there was going to be tough, I knew as much from my thousands of hours in Europa Universalis 4.
But what I was not prepared for in the slightest was the immense and overwhelming complexity of EU5's new and detailed systems, which were nautical miles above what its predecessor had.
The first few hours saw me staring at screens I had no clue about. Pops were demanding various resources, food was nowhere to be seen, and I kept losing money but knew not where it was going. It was chaotic, disorganized, complicated, but that's precisely what invited me to dig deeper, try harder, and eventually turn this small county into a colonial powerhouse.
I had to figure out how to manage supply and demand, listen to the parliament for once, and learn how to even conquer a province that I needed for my ultimate goal. Everything I knew in the thousands of hours spent with other Paradox games was out the window and had to be relearned, reconfigured. It took a while, but I managed it, and once I got the hang of the countless systems that were more Victoria than Europa Universalis, things started to really "click" for me.
My country suddenly expanded, Holland was now a Duchy, the first expeditions to Terra Nullius were sent, and before I knew it I was in control of the Netherlands, but still far from a republic.
It's an incredibly challenging game, one that tests your very understanding of grand strategies and has so much content on launch that it puts most other PDX releases to shame, even with all their DLCs. The base game here is as wide as the Atlantic Ocean you so desperately wish to cross in search of better fortunes, and deeper than the greatest mines of gold of the New World.
A fantastic, demanding, and incredibly fun experience that took the simplified base of Europa Universalis 4 and sprinkled in just the right amount of CK and Victoria into it. Johan, you mad lad, you've outdone yourself.
Paradox Tinto has set a new precedent for the company, and every time a new grand strategy launches, we'll be looking back to EU5 as the new baseline.
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