Europa Universalis IV

Europa Universalis IV, like Age of Empires II, is set in the Middle Ages, but it goes all the way up to the end of the early modern period at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It is more interested in grand strategy than traditional RTS games, making it similar to Crusader Kings 3 in that diplomacy is far more important than military might.

Still, there are a lot of moving parts to keep track of if you want to be successful in your campaigns, and the historical basis for Europa Universalis IV is dense enough to make it the history game for aspiring historians. It's almost as if global politics is complicated! While Europa Universalis IV was released in 2013, it is still receiving expansions to this day, so getting into it now means you'll likely have even more game to dive into later.

Europa Universalis IV is a historical grand strategy game that ranks among the best of all time. It's another Paradox game, and it also covers an underrepresented period in gaming history, the Early Modern period. The game here is one of centralization, colonization, conquest, and religious strife. The fact that Europa Universalis IV is more focused on outward expansion and conquest adds a strategic dynamism to the game.

The fact that players can choose almost any faction, large or small, and see how far they can go or even simply take the entire world is a compliment in and of itself — there is so much freedom and flexibility. The emphasis on conquest in Europa Universalis IV has the potential to become stale and repetitive, but the sheer volume of content is guaranteed to keep players interested for many gameplay sessions.

Pros:

• A wise balance of depth and accessibility
• Europa IV provides a stress-free multiplayer experience and the visuals look vivid and impressive
• The world map in Europa IV is richly detailed, with changing seasons, animated trade routes, and detailed military unit models

Cons:

• The interface's layers of menus are a design choice that gamers in Europa must get used to, and they can be confusing for newcomers
  
  

Rating on Fanatical: 4.1/5

Price on Steam: $39.99
See it on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/236850/Europa_Universalis_IV/

Official site: paradoxinteractive.com/games/europa-universalis-iv/about