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Victoria 3 Review

Game: Victoria 3
Genre: Grand Strategy, Simulation
System: Steam (also available on Windows, macOS & Linux)
Developers | Publishers: Paradox Development Studios | Paradox Interactive
Controller Support: Keyboard & Mouse
Price: US $49.99 | UK £41.99 | EU €49.99
Release Date: October 25th, 2022

Review code used, with many thanks to Johnny Atom PR.

Victoria 3 is the latest grand strategy game from Paradox Development Studios, the hotly anticipated new game in their previous grand strategy series, Victoria I and II. I haven’t played either of the earlier games, but I have played my fair share of grand strategy games. So I dove in with anticipation.

Take on the World

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1836 until 1936

Coming into the game as a new player, you are greeted with a few tutorials to play through to help teach you the ropes. The tutorial contains lots of tooltips, nested tooltips and info panels to help with this info-heavy game. They do an excellent job of passing on the info, though you will be reading a lot.

Outside of the tutorial, there are campaign modes. For example, there is Economic Dominance, where the goal is to have the highest GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in the world. The goal of the Hegemony campaign is to take over as many countries as possible. Then, finally, there is the Egalitarian Society campaign, where the goal is to have the highest standard of living in the world. These are only suggestions, though, as you’ll still be able to play any country on the map.

There is also a sandbox mode where you can tailor the gameplay to your needs. First, you pick your nation to lead from the many world nations on the map. Then, from 1836 until 1936, you will build your ideal society during the tumultuous years of the exciting and transformative 19th century.

1836 until 1936

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tutorial and campaigns

I struggled to learn the game when I first started playing Vicky for this review. Taking your first steps into Victoria 3 is pretty intimidating. Also, the tutorial wasn’t up to much when I first got the review code. However, since then, the game has been updated, and the tutorial is much better. As a result, I quickly got the hang of the game.

The game is based in an age when warfare is far from the only way to get what you and your country want. As a result, there’s a depth and focus in Vicky that is missing from most strategy games.

Guide your Nation

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Welcome to the age of progress

In guiding your nation, you will have to deal with pops (population), government parties and interest parties who would like nothing better than to kick the reigning government to the kerb.

However, you’re more like an overseer than directly controlling and managing your nation. At the same time, you tweak and modify the grand strategy machine to steer it into one course of action or another. But, hopefully, you are managing your nation in the right direction to ensure its continued growth and success.

Population

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countries list

Your pops consist of farmers, labourers, machinists, shopkeepers, clerks, and academics. All fall into different classes and pressure groups, divided by political belief, religion, culture, and many other things. However, they also all have needs that should be satisfied and goods that they require to live life to a decent standard.

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Detailed map

Random events occur while playing the game, usually when you least expect them. Events can be anything from a dangerous killer roaming the streets of London (Jack the Ripper) to a major conflict happening on the other side of the world. Since the game is based in the victorian era, which was an entirely different time, you will also be enacting laws that nowadays wouldn’t be allowed and are frowned upon. Oh, and the AI enemy factions also like to throw mega spanners into your carefully laid plans.

Build your Nation

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growing city

You’ll be constructing buildings to increase your goods supplies and trade with other nations on the map. As well as keeping an eye on the monetary value of final goods and services (GDP) that your pops produce. Of course, if trading and diplomacy fail, you can always unleash a war on another country as a last resort.

As raw materials don’t always come cheap, so you start looking overseas or at less-developed neighbours. Victoria 3 doesn’t make you colonise or engage in colonialism. However, it sure gives you an understanding of why that developed in the age in which the game is based, and your strong economy always comes at someone’s else expense.

Go to War If You Must

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War afoot

War is a dicey move in Victoria 3, mainly because it can be expensive and demoralising for your pops. However, I did have a few wars in some of my games. Though you won’t be surprised when I say I haven’t won any of the wars, that day will come.

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signs of war

You don’t participate in the war in Victoria 3 like in other grand strategy or 4X games. Instead, you send your commanders to the front line. You don’t move individual army units across the vast map in Vicky. War kind off occurs in the background while you carry on running your nation. I love that war is not the be-all and end-all of the game. There are solutions to diplomacy problems other than going to war and bashing ten bells out of another nation.

Detailed World and Wonderful Music

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Tech tree

The game looks fantastic and very detailed. For example, you can zoom in from a flat map, where every country is an outline painted a different colour. As you zoom in, you’ll see the mountains, clouds, and birds flying across the sky.

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Britain’s trade market

Zoom in further, and the roads, cities, trees, and towns appear. Then, as you construct railways or add more buildings, you can see them change the landscape.

The music in Vicky is as grand as the game, with a full orchestra soundtrack; the music is excellent. As part of the pre-order bonus for Victoria 3, you’ll receive the soundtrack from Victoria II, and it’s well worth a listen to.

Tooltips Galore

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Tooltips, many tooltips

Victoria 3 has an impressive system, with many tabs and levers to pull and press, but the UI is readable and easy to use. Tooltips are a big thing in Vicky; they pop up all the time but do work as a great teaching tool.

If you need help, you’re also pointed in the right direction by a journal tracking some significant short-term and long-term goals. There’s a lot of stuff to look at, but the trick seems to be figuring out which bits you can ignore most of the time.

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Interest group

While playing the game, I noticed a few grammar and spelling mistakes in the tooltips. These will be rectified in a future update, I would imagine.

Vicky runs well on my laptop; the game didn’t give me any performance issues. I did lose my saved files when the game was updated a few weeks ago, but that is part and parcel of being a reviewer and something you get used to.

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Politics

Conclusion

Victoria 3 is a deep, engaging, grand strategy game to get lost in. It is pretty clear that Paradox Development Studios have put a lot of care and attention into the game to make it accessible for new players to try.

It’s a slow and well-structured game that rewards patience for players who like to see their long-term planning play out. However, I don’t think it is a game for all strategic players to enjoy; the micromanagement will put many players off the game. But players like myself who love the game’s deepness and strategy will be rewarded with hours of enjoyment.

Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up  Two thumbs up

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