Victoria 3

 PC
User Score
4.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 100 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 100
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 100
  3. Negative: 49 out of 100

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  1. redhott
    Nov 5, 2022
    4
    It is a 4/10 because it is not what a AAA company like PDX should be okay with. After all, 700 employees, not counting the freelancers. There is a high chance that this marks the end of PDX.

    Here's the problem (after 60 h), as many pointed out on Steam: Shallow economic gameplay. The economy system behind the gameplay is cool but the actual player experience is repetitive, boring,    It is a 4/10 because it is not what a AAA company like PDX should be okay with. After all, 700 employees, not counting the freelancers. There is a high chance that this marks the end of PDX.

    Here's the problem (after 60 h), as many pointed out on Steam:

    Shallow economic gameplay. The economy system behind the gameplay is cool but the actual player experience is repetitive, boring, and micro hell. This is what you do most: Watching your building queue, and then check your building type config every 3 min. Just urgs.

    Horrible wargame mechanics. It is likely the worst wargame of all time. No tactics. Almost no strategy. All that matters is best equipment and the biggest army.

    Naval warfare is likely the upmost horrible I've ever seen. You do not sink ships anymore. You weaken their morale? You've built the newest navy in the world, to compete with UK? No problem. UK can switch its ship tech within a few weeks. And, if you manage to win all naval engagements... well, UK still has 100+ ships but this times the morale is 5 %? It will become a meme soon, I guess.

    Army and navy teleporting. So, warfare is all about teleporting. Within a few weeks to the other side of the world? No problem. In reality, in that time, a ship travel across from NY to SF (without Panama Canal) took 200 days. In this game, barely a few weeks.

    No real anti-blob mechanics. In this game, you can blob the world after a decades. Your allies will not anything about it, and your enemies do not care.

    Laws and government are, on the one hand, more interesting. On the other hand, it has never been easier to abolish slavery, serfdom, or to establish women's rights. You can abolish slavery as the US in 2 years. It destroys the last remaining national and cultural differences and challenges quite early on. Eventually, all govs and nations look and feel the same.

    Flavour and nations. They all play the same. All economies play the same. All governments too.

    So, if PDX was a small indie studio with inexperienced directors and designers, it'll be fine. But PDX is bigger, and more experienced. Granted, the folks in charge of this game seem to lack experience or talent. Maybe some folks who never were in charge before, who were newly promoted after being for years in the second row. Because how else did they come up with this mess? This game was clearly not designed nor managed by a talented management team. But even if we neglect that, this is by no means okay for a 700 or so employee company. Even Epic Games has 2,200 employees, works on much bigger and more complex titles, and yet manages them better than PDX. It means, PDX seems to be in deep internal trouble.    … Expand
  2. ohbane
    Nov 9, 2022
    5
    I am surprised how many fanboys are defending the malpractice of this particular AAA studio, Paradox Interactive, which is why I decided to create an account and write a review. We know that the same people would not defend EA, Ubisoft, or Epic Games like that. Yet, somehow, they are fine with Paradox because what? It was once smaller? Paradox is a publicly traded company with a team sizeI am surprised how many fanboys are defending the malpractice of this particular AAA studio, Paradox Interactive, which is why I decided to create an account and write a review. We know that the same people would not defend EA, Ubisoft, or Epic Games like that. Yet, somehow, they are fine with Paradox because what? It was once smaller? Paradox is a publicly traded company with a team size of approx. 1,000. Paradox should do better than 5/10.

    So, what's the fuzz about Victoria 3, then?

    Well, if you've played Victoria 2 before, you will likely be quite or perhaps a bit more disappointed. If you are optimistic, you'll say that you hope it will get better over time once they get rid of the inexperienced game director and that it hopefully does not end like Imperator (or all the other Paradox games that got canceled or aborted eventually).

    I'd say Victoria 3 is not that bad... it is just not a good game. UI issues. Serious gameplay issues, not just in terms of warfare but also the actual economic gameplay, as many pointed out (there are so many good economic games out there, and Victoria 3 is not as fun to play as the others, economically speaking, despite all the fancy and deep economy system in the background). And once you've figured out how to exploit the economy model, you'll win every time but also notice how every nation, every culture, every government, and economy type plays the same -- and this is a game design issue. Victoria 2, HOI4, EU4 and Stellaris are better designed in this regard.

    The latter is, in my opinion, the actual issue everyone is either meh or not okay with, making them go mad or defend the company. The game is not well designed. It suffers from a bad game direction and an inexperienced game designer. Maybe it is just a lack of talent. We know from EA and Ubisoft that they struggle with talent in game design and game direction in particular, right? So, why would we assume that Paradox would not suffer the same (after multiple years of average to below-average game releases and a large team of approx. 1,000)? I mean, guys, please. We are all adults. We know that this game could be remembered as a turning point of Paradox -- to the better (hopefully), or the worse (if you take the past years into account and if Paradox does not release something truly magical and great soon).    … Expand
  3. annovictoria
    Nov 13, 2022
    1
    I am into Anno 1800 with thousands of hours, but I also did some 120h in Victoria 3. A few points:

    I've been wondering why nobody points out how the art style of Anno 1800 was stolen here, to the worse. Understandably, projects influence each other, but in this case, the UI style, the illustration style, even the color set and the music, and many small details are a rip-off of Anno    I am into Anno 1800 with thousands of hours, but I also did some 120h in Victoria 3. A few points:

    I've been wondering why nobody points out how the art style of Anno 1800 was stolen here, to the worse. Understandably, projects influence each other, but in this case, the UI style, the illustration style, even the color set and the music, and many small details are a rip-off of Anno 1800. This is not okay for a publicly traded AAA company like Paradox, like a lack of talent.

    The warfare system is not worth mentioning. But the team behind it is still defending it, which would be funny if it would not indicate some talent issues among the directors.

    The diplomatic system is also not worth mentioning compared to Stellaris, CK2/3, or Victoria 2. There is a great Steam comment where someone illustrates how hillarious the system is.

    However, the economic gameplay could have been a lifesaver here. After all, there is quite some depth in the background. But the actual gameplay is rather lackluster and badly designed. I see the Anno 1800 influence here, compared to Victoria 2. But the micro hell of the building configurations... Did they test it? No one complained about how annoying it is, how often you check on it, like very 1-2 minutes? Not only is Anno 1800 but there are better economic games out there which solved all these issues already and are better at it.

    I will return to Victoria 3 after 1-2 years of patches, but for now, it is too badly designed for me. It has neither the gameplay excitement of EU4/CK3, nor the economic gameplay depth of Victoria 3, nor the warfare and conquest fun of, say, Victoria 2, HOI4, or Stellaris. It is, therefore, kind of nothing to me -- maybe because it tried to compete with Anno 1800 too hard.    … Expand
  4. Coot
    Oct 30, 2022
    7
    Game is great, music and graphic is great, but for now, it is unpolished, and a bit monotonous. Give it a year or two it would be amazing.
  5. indieinsights
    Nov 3, 2022
    3
    When I read that the IGN reviewer, who gave Imperator once 8/10, gave Vic3 the same rating, I knew we were in trouble. After 100+ h into Vic3 I feel confident to say this: It is not bad at the surface, but beneath... it is just not good enough. It may end up like Imperator. Warfare is teleporting armies and fleets across the world. You've won a front? No problem. Your armies teleport backWhen I read that the IGN reviewer, who gave Imperator once 8/10, gave Vic3 the same rating, I knew we were in trouble. After 100+ h into Vic3 I feel confident to say this: It is not bad at the surface, but beneath... it is just not good enough. It may end up like Imperator. Warfare is teleporting armies and fleets across the world. You've won a front? No problem. Your armies teleport back to your capital and idle there for no reason? And from there you move back again to the same front again, in case it reopened. Or you decide to move to the other side of the world, in no time. Vic3 warfare is like made by an underfunded indie strategy game dev with a lack of talent. I've never seen anything as bad as this one here. On the other hand, trade, resource balance, and buildings are micro hell: and it gets worse the bigger your nation is. Literally, every time you conquer a new province, or you annex someone, or you do production research, you do this: again and again and again, you go through every single building type and config it (because it shows that building type with default "mixed" config which means it could be anything, so you better quickly config it to what it was a minute before; and do that every 10 min or so). Diplomacy is pretty shallow too. So, the economic system behind the gameplay, which everyone is excited about, is quite cool, even though it can be extremely easy exploited (like those videos about single-island mega nations after a few decades). But the actual economic gameplay (open trade tab > check balance > queue new buildings) cannot compete with many other economy-building games, imo. And I think that this is Vic3's biggest trouble: it is probably one of the worst wargames ever made; but at the same time, it is a below-average economy game (even though we know that the economic system behind is deep); and the diplomacy system is not even worth mentioning compared to EU4, CK2, Stellaris, or Vic2. All is left is hope, I guess, that Vic3 will not end up like Imperator. So, if you are into PDX games in general, wait for sale. Not worth it. And yes, I tried to love it but it is too broken, too badly designed, with so many bugs and issues. I will give it a try after 1 year again though.… Expand
  6. carkisx1
    Oct 26, 2022
    6
    The game is very unbalanced in economy, everything is expensive and slow to build... the war is incredibly boring, you put the option "go to the front" to your general and the artificial intelligence does everything for you. On the other hand, I like the complexity of what they did with the population and government (internal politics), there are a lot of options to choose and ways...The game is very unbalanced in economy, everything is expensive and slow to build... the war is incredibly boring, you put the option "go to the front" to your general and the artificial intelligence does everything for you. On the other hand, I like the complexity of what they did with the population and government (internal politics), there are a lot of options to choose and ways... although unfortunately if the economy is broken, this is not enough.… Expand
  7. uxelduxel
    Oct 29, 2022
    2
    2/10 likely to be another Imperator. Even if you look beyond the RNG mess of Warfare its not that "good" a game.
  8. Woauus34
    Oct 29, 2022
    6
    At this stage I cannot recommend this game. I enjoyed playing it for about 20 hours, but this feels more like an actual beta than a full release for a full price. There are too many things missing from this game to give it a pass right now.
  9. Murpy
    Oct 28, 2022
    5
    It's a very bland and surface level game. Coming from someone whose played almost every paradox game its just a 5/10 at best. It might be ok for people getting into paradox games, as I think its by far the easiest one they've made. I think it's the second worst game they've made only better than the goat march of the eagles.
  10. RogerT
    Oct 28, 2022
    2
    As a veteran Paradox gamer (Began with HOI2 and played all of Paradox's main titles since) I had very high hopes for V3, until I saw their shockingly bad and empty war system. Victoria 3 had the depth of a free online browser and its gameplay consists of clicking on what to build in a specific order to increase your economy so you can build more stuff and keep the pops happy. It's aAs a veteran Paradox gamer (Began with HOI2 and played all of Paradox's main titles since) I had very high hopes for V3, until I saw their shockingly bad and empty war system. Victoria 3 had the depth of a free online browser and its gameplay consists of clicking on what to build in a specific order to increase your economy so you can build more stuff and keep the pops happy. It's a browser type button clicker with no strategy, no tactics, no personal direction - nothing. You just click what to build so you can build something else, so you can then build something else. It's painfully boring... My main gripe is with the system of war. Firstly, you build barracks, employ generals and choose the basic area you want their forces to attack. The rest is in the hands of the AI. This means that there is almost ZERO strategy involved, it all depends on what you were able to build coupled with some luck... In previous Vic titles and other paradox titles, you could win wars with the odds stacked against you using your own strategy, such as holding back your forces and keeping them in good order until the enemy was impacted by attrition and you could join with a friendly army to defeat a larger enemy army. You could place your army at an advantageous position and win a battle. Leave the enemy grow tired of trying to storm your forts... Vic 3 has NONE of this. NOTHING. The main part of Vic 2 and other PRD titles was engaging in wars with a healthy economy, industry and politics. So when you go to war you can feel like a general, a strategist, whatever. This has no indepth war mechanics. It's insane. I honestly feel very angry its so bad. THANKFULLY I got to play this for free, personally if this game was 10e I'd prob still give it as pass. Don't waste your money. It's getting 2/10 and the only reason is for the map graphics and the clicky clicky part of it...… Expand
  11. Emperormti
    Oct 27, 2022
    1
    Honestly it's just an economic simulation. And even that at least in my opinion is done poorly. The buildings and trade are very bagley explained and I can't get a hang of it. The "war" is done very weird with the fronts. You don't recruit units but the general who arledy comes with units? The hell is that! Colonisation as well, you pass a law and press like 2 buttons, it's just a waitingHonestly it's just an economic simulation. And even that at least in my opinion is done poorly. The buildings and trade are very bagley explained and I can't get a hang of it. The "war" is done very weird with the fronts. You don't recruit units but the general who arledy comes with units? The hell is that! Colonisation as well, you pass a law and press like 2 buttons, it's just a waiting game. I would happily refund the game but sadly I bought it on GMG and well I can't. Honestly it's money wasted. A lot of it too.
    So enjoy my money paradox and I will not be buying any dlc in near future.
    Look I enjoy games like hoi4, endless space, CK3 etc. While this game isn't for me, I can't refund it so I might as well mess with it a little.
    In conclusion Victoria 3 is a big disappointment for me.
    I don't recommend    … Expand
  12. vola9699
    Oct 28, 2022
    0
    For good experience u need buy 1000 DLC's for 10000$
    Game is broken. Cyberpunk 2.0
  13. SPIDozen
    Oct 26, 2022
    3
    We have been waiting for a better Victoria 2 not a Frankenstein of CK3 EU4 and something from Vic 2 such as music that didn't change at all even tho they called it "remastered ost".
    Many systems were broken and unfinished to the point being boring, and clearly need a rework, but devs already have a year plan of DLCs in the steam page. Economy is boring clicker which is easy to do and has    We have been waiting for a better Victoria 2 not a Frankenstein of CK3 EU4 and something from Vic 2 such as music that didn't change at all even tho they called it "remastered ost".
    Many systems were broken and unfinished to the point being boring, and clearly need a rework, but devs already have a year plan of DLCs in the steam page. Economy is boring clicker which is easy to do and has no actual balance, they may fix part of it but in the core it's a EU4-HOI4 economy, build more-get more.
    Game is made by the worst visual designers, visually unappealing and straight up downgrade which creates more submenus than stellaris or EU4 which is superior to it's visual information conveying. CK3 graphics are decent but they are clearly used there just because they invested in developing and have it as a fast option. Victoria 2 at least had an appealing unified design and pixel art with nice pie charts and graphs with real photographs. But Vic 3 is just a compelation of every recent paradox
    They deleted the best part of the game, war. This game doesn't allow for a deep diplomacy, it even got rid of the old tension points which were a cool feature to create a Global Great War while mostly being peaceful.
    Doesn't have any old features from other games for Multiplayer, they just forgot about it, same for the bugs, even made more.
    Also a lot of woke themed stuff in the way invents are layed out, 19th century was brutal for many.

    IMO every positive review made on this piece of DLC-milk machine is plain and people who wrote them hasn't enjoyed good strategy games in a while.    … Expand
  14. MiloTheORange
    Oct 26, 2022
    0
    Long time paradox fan and player, since 2006, I've always supported most games but also called out Paradox when they made a mistake or a bad game. This is a mistake. Warfare is terrible, the game is unpolished and is a rip off for $ 50, especially when we live in times when people have little spare cash. Fix the game.
  15. Kerber
    Oct 27, 2022
    3
    Standard paradox business model just much more transparent as victoria was in the past really challenging and not first time gamers friendly game. Now is dumbed down to be easy play where warfare is ridiculously simplified but economy is also impacted along with population choices
    Game feels like skeleton, for sure to be built up with dozens of expansions.
    I’m sure this will look more    Standard paradox business model just much more transparent as victoria was in the past really challenging and not first time gamers friendly game. Now is dumbed down to be easy play where warfare is ridiculously simplified but economy is also impacted along with population choices
    Game feels like skeleton, for sure to be built up with dozens of expansions.

    I’m sure this will look more coherent in couple years so unless you want to be beta tester just get it in two years with bunch of expansions at steam discount. Until then don’t expect victoria 2 sequel but more theme hospital simulation just with countries.    … Expand
  16. TheSimplyZero
    Oct 26, 2022
    0
    So. It's just broken. Game not save setting; it freezing when i open country with a lot of trade-path's; bot's are dumb, they cant make a great economy and go in a permanent crysis with no end, what breaks every players economic sistem; game have a lot of micromanagement, too mach micromanagement, i played in victoria 2, stellaris, crusader kings 2-3, hoi4, eu4, sengoku, imperator:rome,So. It's just broken. Game not save setting; it freezing when i open country with a lot of trade-path's; bot's are dumb, they cant make a great economy and go in a permanent crysis with no end, what breaks every players economic sistem; game have a lot of micromanagement, too mach micromanagement, i played in victoria 2, stellaris, crusader kings 2-3, hoi4, eu4, sengoku, imperator:rome, i've played in them hunder...thousands of hours, and i have no problems with it, but this... you need keep an eye on EVERY of dozen's product price, keep on eye on i repeat EVER farm or factory and you need make it work, make it work in the game where price of goods change every second, that's "brillant idea", i've played on Portugal, and it was sh*t, i imagine what going on countries in first ten, like in Britan; Wars, there is no wars in this game, only some of cubes which goes brrrrr, no tactic, no strategic, only cubes; Diplomaty, it's broken like every each element in this damn game, every each that countries make are some dumb cray thing, sometimes i've thinking that ai in this game just make some random stuff, i keep getting union offers with some random countries wich whom i have no entry point, at the same time countries with good relations and with interests in my region may refuse any of diplomaty option, even trade-union or trade-aggrement, WTF Paradox Interactive. And i yet not say about more localisation and visual bags. Imperator: Rome at the start works much better and have much content in it. I turn a blind eye on many of **** things later, but this is too much...… Expand
  17. Ratanka
    Oct 30, 2022
    10
    When you know what you get its an 10/10, if you expect a wargame it is not. it doesnt try to be a wargame, if you read all the negative ratings itsn early all "war mechanics are bad" ... jaeh it doesnt try to have good ones.
    this is a game to manage your country over this time and the war is just a side mechanic you have to deal with while managing your country
  18. Gme
    Oct 29, 2022
    0
    Paradox is the only developer that gets away with releasing Early Access games without labeling them as such, and then making people pay for the updates. The game also has no functional UI and they forgot to put in army and navy mechanics. This game will be abandoned and forgotten.
  19. holmraven
    Oct 31, 2022
    9
    Game is far from being fully fleshed out, but regardless it is an amazing game. Doesn't even feel like paradox game, it feels like something entirely new, where you don't just mindlessly stare into map for 1 hour just for something to actually happen like in hoi4.
  20. Nikapol
    Nov 1, 2022
    3
    My first game in this series was original Victoria, even not Victoria Revolution. But I don't want to complain how this game is different from previous games. That is actually a good thing, as they feel dated.

    The issue is that this game is basically a "Cookie clicker". You click to build more factories, wait a bit, click once more, wait a bit, click once more... There is nothing of    My first game in this series was original Victoria, even not Victoria Revolution. But I don't want to complain how this game is different from previous games. That is actually a good thing, as they feel dated.

    The issue is that this game is basically a "Cookie clicker". You click to build more factories, wait a bit, click once more, wait a bit, click once more... There is nothing of interest in this game. No significant difference between countries, no specific events. Lots of crashes, different bugs (especially with war ai and colonization).

    Victoria 3 is bad as third game in franchise. But even if it was a first game, still I would give it low score. Just another weak game from Paradox. I don't know how many DLCs should they create and how much $$$ should I spend to make it a fun game.    … Expand
  21. FredDie86
    Oct 26, 2022
    0
    Another shallow DLC platform yey. After 10 hours it already feels boring and unfinished. Looks pretty tho, better than CK3.
  22. Varra
    Oct 30, 2022
    10
    Very good start for the game. Of cource it is still empty, as wel, as any other paradox game, but new mehanics looks interesting. Also, new army system feels more fair than destroing ai with x10 less loses
  23. ScarlettFire
    Oct 26, 2022
    7
    While the internal politics of the game are remarkable, and I do appreciate a grand strategy game that focuses more on economy and internal politics than external geopolitics, the geopolitics aspect of the game has suffered greatly. Everything feels overly complex yet too simple, with barely anything explained to you in an adequate manner, an issue that is not present in Paradox's otherWhile the internal politics of the game are remarkable, and I do appreciate a grand strategy game that focuses more on economy and internal politics than external geopolitics, the geopolitics aspect of the game has suffered greatly. Everything feels overly complex yet too simple, with barely anything explained to you in an adequate manner, an issue that is not present in Paradox's other games like CK3 or EU4.

    If you LOVE internal politics in your games, I do recommend it, but most of my game was spent in the buildings tab. I would recommend waiting until this game gets the updates it needs, and do hope it isn't abandoned like Imperator was.    … Expand
  24. Htimez2
    Oct 27, 2022
    0
    This game is neither historical or fun, they push to to make your government as far Left and as far woke as you can possibly go, with zero historical realness or accuracy, minor third world countries have same tech and technological advancement and economy as larger actually advanced and civilized countries. This is paradox bowing to the woke making this game unrealistic and as "equal" asThis game is neither historical or fun, they push to to make your government as far Left and as far woke as you can possibly go, with zero historical realness or accuracy, minor third world countries have same tech and technological advancement and economy as larger actually advanced and civilized countries. This is paradox bowing to the woke making this game unrealistic and as "equal" as possible, equality/equity is not how things were in the 1850's. Also if you ask simple questions about the in game push for politics in the dicussion board with 200 people agreeing with you, they ban you from commenting in the steam discussion section. SO don't ask about in game mechanics if they happen to be about political decisions because you cant ask about "politics" in a political game.… Expand
  25. DarkRamb
    Oct 26, 2022
    10
    Unfinished and buggy but I can spare some 3000 hours of my life to play, why not
  26. Nyrome
    Oct 30, 2022
    0
    I cant believe it. I have followed the game since dev diary 1 and I cant explain how angry I am about the game.To keep it short, dont buy it. Apart from all the bad mechanics,bugs and uncapable AI it is impossible to play the game after 1890s-1900. Because it is so damn laggy! I mean how can you release a game like this? You are taking away 1/3 of the game. Nevermind, war mechanic is bad,I cant believe it. I have followed the game since dev diary 1 and I cant explain how angry I am about the game.To keep it short, dont buy it. Apart from all the bad mechanics,bugs and uncapable AI it is impossible to play the game after 1890s-1900. Because it is so damn laggy! I mean how can you release a game like this? You are taking away 1/3 of the game. Nevermind, war mechanic is bad, as mentioned THOUSAND times. Economy was kinda good to build in first 15-20 hours, then you get bored of it because AI sucks at economy. Imagine Great Britain starting with 70M GDP and making it barely 250M till the end of game, France for example is doubling the Great Britain. Whole game looks like a beta, If I would be optimistic, I would say this game needs a year or two, ONLY if they decide to listen what community wants.For now, dont waste your money and time.… Expand
  27. paoturk
    Oct 27, 2022
    9
    While there is plenty of room of improvement, this game is off to a very promising start. If you're new to the Victoria franchise, but have enjoyed ck3, tread carefully...it's a very different game. If your imagination can run wild to a spreadsheet with a beautiful gui and are interested in the intersection of economics and politics, then this game is for you!

    There are some qualms with    While there is plenty of room of improvement, this game is off to a very promising start. If you're new to the Victoria franchise, but have enjoyed ck3, tread carefully...it's a very different game. If your imagination can run wild to a spreadsheet with a beautiful gui and are interested in the intersection of economics and politics, then this game is for you!

    There are some qualms with the military aspect of this game, however it's never been my interest, so I'm happy to be spared the micromanagement. Speaking of which, my primary complaint is the building system in larger countries, which can be micro intensive. Internal political simulation is well executed, and diplomacy has it's strengths and weaknesses compared to other paradox games.    … Expand
  28. Skogen21
    Oct 30, 2022
    10
    Victoria 3 is another great strategy from pradox interactive. The game covers the period from 1836 to 1936. As usual with Paradox, the game is more or less a sandbox for "what if" history. Strengths and weaknesses (in my opinion):
    + market and meeting demand and supply (relatively complex, but not complicated system)
    +society and its gradual change from agrarian to industrial +diplomacy    Victoria 3 is another great strategy from pradox interactive. The game covers the period from 1836 to 1936. As usual with Paradox, the game is more or less a sandbox for "what if" history. Strengths and weaknesses (in my opinion):
    + market and meeting demand and supply (relatively complex, but not complicated system)
    +society and its gradual change from agrarian to industrial
    +diplomacy and escalation of tensions
    + graphics
    + the game is in quite good condition and polished. I know a lot of people complain, but personally I didn't come across anything major. Honestly, I expected worse.
    -unsatisfying war mechanics. In general, I like the idea of ​​automatic control of battles, I don't miss individual units on the map. But I would have expected a little more depth and more options to wave the fights.

    Overall, they are very satisfied with the game after a few hours. Of course, the potential of the game is enormous. I currently rate the game 9/10    … Expand
  29. GERULAS
    Nov 1, 2022
    0
    A total trash and a pure garbage, wait for 1843958349859438 DLC's to fix everything
  30. bwort007
    Oct 30, 2022
    0
    Dont listen to the kiddy hater croud. Most of them didnt played the game. Paradox has a wide audiance today and os many kids come here.
  31. Jay_Raynor
    Nov 5, 2022
    10
    A great game as long as you know what you're getting in to.
    This is not HOI4, EU4 or CK3. (And it's not a remake of Victoria 2)
    It's a different kind of strategy game. It focus on resources management and economics. It's a nice change from the other paradox games and I will definitely ceep play it alongside the other paradox games. I see a lot of people complaining about the simplified war    A great game as long as you know what you're getting in to.
    This is not HOI4, EU4 or CK3. (And it's not a remake of Victoria 2)
    It's a different kind of strategy game.
    It focus on resources management and economics.
    It's a nice change from the other paradox games and I will definitely ceep play it alongside the other paradox games. I see a lot of people complaining about the simplified war mechanics and complex economics.
    War is not the focus. So if you want more in depth war mechanics play HOI instead.
    If you want simpler trade/economic mechanics and more focus on warfare play EU4 or CK3 (or CK2 if you prefer it instead).
    And if you don't understand the game. DO THE TUTORIAL! Don't complain because the game isn't a copy of others paradox games and because you don't understand the game mechanics.
    And if you want to live in nostalgia land you can still play Victoria 2. They didn't delete the game just because they released a sequel.    … Expand
  32. T4p0k
    Oct 30, 2022
    0
    At first, Victoria 3 creates a pleasant impression. It seems to be a well-developed economy, a redesigned diplomacy and a dynamic society... But after playing a little more, you realize that the game and its mechanics are empty.

    Although the economy is well-developed, however, if you look into it, you understand that it is not complicated. The player is only required to build those    At first, Victoria 3 creates a pleasant impression. It seems to be a well-developed economy, a redesigned diplomacy and a dynamic society... But after playing a little more, you realize that the game and its mechanics are empty.

    Although the economy is well-developed, however, if you look into it, you understand that it is not complicated. The player is only required to build those buildings that produce scarce goods. You follow this simple rule and already in the 80s you have no equal. Which by the way speaks about the stupidity of AI. Diplomacy is also not finalized - countries cannot enter into current conflicts. The terms of the peace treaty are clear already before the start of the war, it is impossible to add new claims in the course of the war, which is stupid and unrealistic. And of course the degraded system of war. The game is certainly not about war, but all that a player can order his generals is which front he should attack or defend. This deprives of any challenge and the outcome of the war can be predicted before it starts the war. A lot of attention was also paid to domestic politics, but there is no challenge here either. The interest groups are too passive and almost do not offer any resistance to the adoption of laws.

    And most importantly, after playing a game for one country and transferring to another, you realize that they are no different. Nothing at all. The game has very little replayability. And on top of everything else, Victoria 3 is not optimized and is sold as a full-fledged AAA game, which of course does not correspond to reality.    … Expand
  33. MinesomeMC
    Oct 30, 2022
    3
    Its Victoria 2 mixed with CK3 and HoI4 but dumbed down. The game feels lackluster, and is missing a lot of flavor. The War system while it could've worked just doesn't work very well. I enjoyed the niche of moving my troops where every I wished as well as moving my navies through the ocean. Now I only get to assign them to frontlines and hope that rngesus assigns more troops to a battleIts Victoria 2 mixed with CK3 and HoI4 but dumbed down. The game feels lackluster, and is missing a lot of flavor. The War system while it could've worked just doesn't work very well. I enjoyed the niche of moving my troops where every I wished as well as moving my navies through the ocean. Now I only get to assign them to frontlines and hope that rngesus assigns more troops to a battle than the enemy. Economy is alright but is a bit confusing, which is something Victoria 2 has also had an issue with which just requires the player to learn more. The political system seems a bit lackluster as well, while the diplomacy is interesting and you can get land without going to war in a way similar to crises, except its ignited by you the player or the AI. This is fine, but the fact you can only receive the first cb if they back down, just sucks. I feel the war system needs a rework, diplomacy needs more options, etc. Which will likely happen, but till then ill have to give it 3/10.… Expand
  34. Mavero66
    Oct 28, 2022
    9
    A unique gem - I struggle to think of any game, even among PDX titles, past Vickies included, with so comprehensive and well integrated economy and politics gameplays. If that's your thing and/or you're a XIX c. history geek, it really is a treat. It's even, arguably, a quite accurate modelling of real life connections between the economical, sociological and political life of a nation.A unique gem - I struggle to think of any game, even among PDX titles, past Vickies included, with so comprehensive and well integrated economy and politics gameplays. If that's your thing and/or you're a XIX c. history geek, it really is a treat. It's even, arguably, a quite accurate modelling of real life connections between the economical, sociological and political life of a nation.

    Also - great UI, for such a game with such deep mechanic, and surprisingly nice graphics too.

    It's sad to see that such an extraordinary game is getting review-bombed. Of course, it's not for everyone, in fact it's almost as niche as it gets for strategy games, but you cannot honestly say the game sucks at what it is trying to do. I mean warfare, in particular, which is treated as an extension of diplomacy and largely a capacity contest, which is perfectly consistent with the focus on economy and politics. Also, this is what war looks like from a politician's point of view. If you want Hearts of Iron XIX c. then, well, you need to look for a good mod for HoI and make one yourself. This is not the place.

    One complaint I have is that diplomacy and AI does not make as much sense as it should. But it really is a problem of most if not every grand strategy and 4X game, or even strategy more broadly.    … Expand
  35. coppykappa3
    Oct 27, 2022
    10
    Really good graphics and gameplay! truly a step forward for the franchise , graphics are stunning too.
  36. upgrade1
    Oct 27, 2022
    10
    Tam bir simülasyon oyunu yönetimi çok iyi
    Bir devleti yönettiğinizi hissettiriyor size
  37. Belonogy
    Oct 26, 2022
    10
    The best paradox game so far! a true masterpiece. There will always be dissatisfied with the game, but I recommend them to play Tetris, which without add-ons
  38. xtom
    Oct 28, 2022
    9
    Excellent strategy game that focuses on economy and politics. Presentation is top notch. The war system is not as hands-on as other games but I think it really works well here for the most part and keeps the overall pace of the game flowing.
  39. Hllbrhmtzcn
    Oct 27, 2022
    10
    this game is not hoi4. If you want a map coloring game, play hoi4. Men who have not played Victoria 2 in their life give 0 points, the steam score is mixed. Is this a joke, in Victoria 2, after 1890, will you control the troops or manage the state? There was a very heavy order. yes the game has some cons true but the game gives us what it promises this game is not hoi4 dot
  40. alexgmcm
    Oct 28, 2022
    9
    The core of the game - economics and internal politics are very well done. Especially the economics.

    The war system could be improved to give more player agency with different options and strategies. But I think the direction they are going in with less micro is the right one, it just needs a bit more depth. The diplomacy system is in a pretty bad state though - Great Powers will    The core of the game - economics and internal politics are very well done. Especially the economics.

    The war system could be improved to give more player agency with different options and strategies. But I think the direction they are going in with less micro is the right one, it just needs a bit more depth.

    The diplomacy system is in a pretty bad state though - Great Powers will often intervene in extremely minor diplomatic plays and be willing to mobilise their entire reserves despite the massive cost this incurs for almost no gain for them. The AI really doesn't seem to take the cost of war properly into account. There is also no option for Status Quo in Diplomatic Plays which means either one side has to give in and concede war goals, or go to war. Furthermore, there is no way to make deals without threatening warfare - I can't swap some colonial possessions or purchase territory etc.

    So in general the core focus of the game is incredibly good (thus the 9/10) but the diplomacy really needs improvement.    … Expand
  41. Vogelzu
    Oct 27, 2022
    10
    It is an amazing game just what I expected of paradox dev team Congratulations!
  42. templario09
    Oct 27, 2022
    9
    I like it a lot because I feel that it is very new for the franchise, the graphics are beautiful, impressive government mechanics and it is impressive how improved it is with respect to the previous game
  43. merrygin
    Oct 28, 2022
    8
    Victoria 3 is an economic and political simulation, which makes it unique in paradoxes portfolio, where usually a lot of the economics and politics are just feeding into war and expansion. If you just want to reenact the great conquests of the 19th century (the game runs from 1836-1936) this game will disappoint you! If you want to see your nation prosper and enojoy molding your peasantsVictoria 3 is an economic and political simulation, which makes it unique in paradoxes portfolio, where usually a lot of the economics and politics are just feeding into war and expansion. If you just want to reenact the great conquests of the 19th century (the game runs from 1836-1936) this game will disappoint you! If you want to see your nation prosper and enojoy molding your peasants into modern citizen, then you won't find a better game at the moment.

    I love the different options to push your nation along into the modern times and the careful manipulation of politics. Thats the core loop of the game and while it still has rough edges and room for improvement, it really really works. It's also really pretty! Whoever tells you this looks like a mobile game - seriously, they have no idea what they are talking about.

    There is much to expand, for sure, though. There needs to be more flavor in weaving the narrative of your nation, for example with more events. Interactions with individuals in your country need to be expanded, they feel a bit bland. The game does try, with different leader personalities, some dynamic events, etc. - it just needs a bit more of that, and maybe an expansion of the political system, with a proper government, ministers, etc. The warfare is obviously a hot topic right now. It's simply not the core of the game, so if you primarily want to conquer stuff, this might not be for you. But even if not, the warfare needs more work - you need more ways to manipulate not only how your army is set up but also how actual wars are fought.

    Overall, if you enjoy economics focused games like the Tropico series or Anno, you'll definitely have a lot of fun with this and for all the problems it does have, it seeps potential. They got the hard stuff right already, now they can (and definitely will) go and expand on it, which is, in my opinion, all the game needs to become a full 10/10.    … Expand
  44. myndpyre
    Nov 8, 2022
    9
    For 5 years the community has screamed at Paradox to make Victoria 3, to the point it was a running joke. The community screamed for the game to be modernized, and more accessible. They asked that economy and diplomacy, not brute warfare be the example of the time period.

    Paradox Delivered. The community is now roasting Paradox for actually listening. Paradox now has to either    For 5 years the community has screamed at Paradox to make Victoria 3, to the point it was a running joke. The community screamed for the game to be modernized, and more accessible. They asked that economy and diplomacy, not brute warfare be the example of the time period.

    Paradox Delivered.

    The community is now roasting Paradox for actually listening. Paradox now has to either stick to it's guns and core game systems for V3 or try to revert these systems back to the very difficult V2 system.

    For everything that was asked for, you have. The game runs solid, ESPECIALLY for a Paradox Plaza release. This is the game you asked for, enjoy it. If you want Victoria II, it will probably be on sale shortly for 10 bucks.    … Expand
  45. wolfaust
    Feb 6, 2023
    8
    Before you play: This is a society-builder game, not a wargame. That is why Victoria 3 is unique.

    Please, consider feeding your pops and do not act quickly to wage war. It is bad in long term. Because, just like in real life, war is bad, and war shouldn't be an option at all. War is just a result of bad diplomacy. Successful diplomacy and economy is the most important factor for a    Before you play: This is a society-builder game, not a wargame. That is why Victoria 3 is unique.

    Please, consider feeding your pops and do not act quickly to wage war. It is bad in long term. Because, just like in real life, war is bad, and war shouldn't be an option at all. War is just a result of bad diplomacy. Successful diplomacy and economy is the most important factor for a prosperous nation.

    The rest? Well, you know what to do...    … Expand
  46. Tardies
    Dec 10, 2022
    10
    I'll just describe my experience in this game. Economics in this game made very well. Here is just one simple example:
    I chose Belgium, I annexed all of Benelux and built a socialistic country. Pop is 12M, GDP is 120M. The Balance is +20K. Everything looks good. I am North German Federation protectorate which means I am integrated in the North German market. But then happened such a    I'll just describe my experience in this game. Economics in this game made very well. Here is just one simple example:
    I chose Belgium, I annexed all of Benelux and built a socialistic country. Pop is 12M, GDP is 120M. The Balance is +20K. Everything looks good. I am North German Federation protectorate which means I am integrated in the North German market. But then happened such a terrible thing. My balance dropped. Dropped not to -7K nor -20K, not even -60K. My balance dropped to -700K per week. I was confused like "wtf is happening rn?". About 600K per week were spending as a subsidies to my urban buildings, resources, agricultures and developments, the GDP was 60M. The fabrics produced sth, the workers worked, but no one buys my products. I scrolled out then. There was a civil war in Germany and bc of that no one could buy my products bc they were too expensive for them.    … Expand
  47. sprf
    Jan 17, 2023
    4
    The community was opposed to radical changes made to economy and especially warfare system even before game made it to it's release day, but the real problem is that Victoria 3 is really shallow in terms of content, and, unlike it's predecessor (Victoria II), can't offer enough replayability for you to come back to the game. It may be wide as the ocean - but the truth is that it's deep asThe community was opposed to radical changes made to economy and especially warfare system even before game made it to it's release day, but the real problem is that Victoria 3 is really shallow in terms of content, and, unlike it's predecessor (Victoria II), can't offer enough replayability for you to come back to the game. It may be wide as the ocean - but the truth is that it's deep as a puddle.

    Also, Vicky 3 is very unoptimized in late game (close to 1900's) because the game has to render each individual PNG for every building in construction queue, and a construction progress bar for each one - this slows down the game dramatically, no matter how powerful your PC is. And AI is a complete joke, offering absolutely no challenge, because they're programmed in such a horrible way that they bankrupt themselves by building too many ports.

    As of now, Paradox has yet to fix all issues, not even talking about the problems at the core of game itself, so I do not recommend this game right now.    … Expand
  48. Anbulbay
    Dec 7, 2022
    9
    Best "Economy Simulator".
    Many people's thinks this is a war game and send bad reviews, but this game isn't a wargame.
  49. MEDVE1978
    Dec 26, 2022
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. At first glance it seemed a very good game, more a political strategy than anything else. It seems like a very detailed and nuanced game with insane depths. But unfortunately this is just a facade, a mask. Under the detailed surface there are many uniformed processes, too many.
    So the problems:
    1. Politics: you have a couple of interest groups. Some of them are always unhappy and start revolutions. Sometimes because of simply stupid reasons. I had revolutionary threats because of women's rights, children's work and because couple of guys wanted less freedom of speech. It's almost always difficult to get through with the right laws, simply because noone wants them and you can not influence anyone to support your cause. Yes, you can bolster groups but its simply very expensive. So it is almost impossible to have legislation like compulsory school (In my recent playthrough I have a very rich Scandinavia, the richest country in the world with relatively few citizens, but still only the trade unions want to abolish child working).
    2. Budget: it is not easy to navigate that. You open a tab, then an another to see the cause why your budget is leaking, but its complicated.
    3. Buildings: micro management at its finest. You have to set almost everything manually. There is a setting for auto expanding the buildings, but there is no setting to auto subsidize one if it needs money (you either subsidize or not and if the building turns immensly profitable you have to change manually). There is also no auto setting of the production methods: if there was a method using wood, iron and coal and one using wood, steel and electricity you can not set the system automatically to adapt to the resources available, you always have to set manually.
    4. Market and trade: market and trade are chaotic, which is not a problem at first glance. However you have simply very limited options. You can not limit the trade you are doing with other nations, you have only the abilities to totally stop trading with everyone or have 10-20% tariffs (or to embargo them). This leads to other nations simply getting everything they want from you, while you being unable to control your markets.
    5. Diplomacy is very diverse at first sight but its also just a mask. You can have a protectorate / vassal / puppet etc. , conquer, annex. With the minor actions you can embargo, trade agreement. However there is no spying, assasination plots, defamation etc.
    6. Population and migrations. Most great migrations are **** they make no sense at all. Croatian people migrating to Senegal, Sweedish people to Indonesia etc. Some populations are always discontent. You colonize a little country in Africa make it into a wealthy island in a sea of poverty without slavery, with education, industry etc. Regardless the inhabitants will revolt because of cultural reasons.
    7. The weakest link: war. Many people have written bad things about it. Yes, you can simply issue 3 orders: attack front, defend front, stay. But that's not the biggest problem. The war feature is almost completly broken: Some time ago I was attacking Tidore (in Indonesia). Half part of Tidore was in Celebes the other part in an other island. My army began attacking the enemy and I gained a quick victory. But only partly, because there was a sea straight separating Tidore. The army did not attack the other shore, it traveled back overseas. I had to start a naval invasion and wait 2 months before it attacked again. Other case: I had a colony in Africa. The main tribe revolted and created a revolutionary state. I collected my military to crush the rebellion and had 5-1 advantage. The combat began I was steamrolling the enemy. Than the revolutionary state broke into two parts. Suddenly the new state crushed the old one and I was not in war with the new one! This way they seceded and I had no means to attack them for 5 years. As also others said: commanding a major power you attack a little tribe or sultanate somewhere. It has no real significance, few resources. The tribe has no chance, and you are not infamous. But than, simply Great Britain or France or another great power joins in and you find yourself in a major war because of nothing.

    So this game had really big opportunities and it could have been a really good game but it just fails.
    The micro management makes it too slow and monotone, while the rewards are too little. You create a new building with new technology and you think you will make big money with it. You are wrong, the new building / production method will need much more resources and you will have to obtain them. If it functions because there will be not enough specialised workers (there will be not, even if you build many universities). So its an endless rabbit hole. You are grinding yourself through the game but few solutions bring satisfaction.    … Expand
  50. Justaposter
    Nov 16, 2022
    0
    I think this game is solid but it is missing a few key things that would make the game for me alot better,

    1. Is the Politcal system PDX games helped me learn alot about economics and politics and though after actually learning about how different government systems work, I just think Victoria 3 does not have accurate rempresentations for political systems, however I think It has a lot    I think this game is solid but it is missing a few key things that would make the game for me alot better,

    1. Is the Politcal system PDX games helped me learn alot about economics and politics and though after actually learning about how different government systems work, I just think Victoria 3 does not have accurate rempresentations for political systems, however I think It has a lot of potential in this department, for example In Victoria 3 for laissez faire and capitalistic systems of government they use the fact that you the player decide what buildings are built in different states and have a "capital investment pool" to rempresent the fact that you the player "aka the government" are not spending the money. Also these buildings are businesses and are represented as such by the fact that they have cash reserves and these have a limit but in real life the robber barons had like infinite money and they humanize the element that these are businesses and they can become chains. and they only judge of if they are dong well if people are employeed which is not the only metric of indicating if a buisness doing well, in other words PDX should be giving artificial caps to businesses only based on its "building level"

    I think that they political systems do not follow government types based on real life for example the US or other non parliamentary democracies are not represented well in game because they still follow the idea of "building a government" which is not apart of those systems. Particularly the United States often and though this may differ based on the progression of any save is that their are two main parties and all others do not have significant power. Also for politics they ability to pass laws is WAY TO OP. like they are not based on what political party holds the most power or not if the prime minister might be ousted. I feel like in all of the Victoria 3 and alot of PDX their is no Political pressure other than revolts and in Victoria 3 radicals.

    I think changing by adding a more sophisticated political system would help the game immensely in its depth and immersion.

    Another things is taxes and government wages and administration, it is wayyy to simple in this game its just the click of a button and the only effect government has is how much it taxes people which though is important this is not the only jobs in govenerment besides legislators/rulers have so paying low government wages is only consequence being basically not making an interest groups happiness decrease is not a good understanding of what government does it not accurate at all

    Also everyone says the war system needs to be fixed please It is super broken.

    I think their is a lot good things about Victoria 3, I feel like diplomacy and international relations are a lot better than in Victoria 2 I think it was way to easy to take advantage of just meme-ing certain strategies and gaining leverage over certain resources in Africa was the main way to win. Where as in this game I think their is a much more diverse way of being good and effectively doing things right in Victoria 3. Also I think Victoria 3 allows much more understanding of the importance of the market to the player in this particular game especially the import and export of goods, usually in Victoria 2 you would usually let the AI do the trade stuff for you because of the way trade worked in that game, where as in this game it is made to be understood by the player and not only between the AI themselves, basing it on price and understanding why those prices are important. I also like feature of Standard of living which was not a feature in Vicky II it helps me understand what my economic policies are doing to my pops where as in Victoria II the only focus just green line go up or down. and if another party or different people are swung in control. I also like that your punished alot more for war in this game because of how the market works for small arms and the way production of these things was changed. I also think surprise to many the pop system is way better in this game because migration makes way more sense though I think still can be much improved and before you just knew what your pops were now you know what they need to increase standard of living. AMAZING CHANGE, I thought It was super helpful and I also think the tech system has alot of benefits and I think clearly Paradox went out of their way to understand they way Tech changes the economy. that I will tip my cap

    Overall I think this game is a 7/10 and if they tweak and fix the politics and war system and how the politics and government works in this game works based alot of presumptions and over simplifications the war system is not fun, and the economy is decent but just not what I want it to be I think this game is tetering on greatness but I give it slack because what I want is not accesible to any player at all so for accesibilities sake it is like this    … Expand
  51. Adalwulf
    Nov 6, 2022
    1
    Dumbed-down version of Vic 2, optimized for selling dlc and respecting progressive sensibilities. Save your money and play Vic 2 with mods.
  52. Pidaroxi
    Jan 7, 2023
    0
    Ще не вмерла Україна
    І слава, і воля!
    Ще нам, браття-молодці, Усміхнеться доля! Згинуть наші вороги, Як роса на сонці; Запануєм, браття й ми У своїй сторонці. Приспів: Душу, тіло ми положим За свою свободу І покажем, що ми браття Козацького роду. Гей-гей, браття миле, нумо Братися за діло! Гей-гей пора встати, пора Волю добувати! Наливайко, Залізняк І Тарас Трясило    Ще не вмерла Україна
    І слава, і воля!
    Ще нам, браття-молодці,
    Усміхнеться доля!
    Згинуть наші вороги,
    Як роса на сонці;
    Запануєм, браття й ми
    У своїй сторонці.

    Приспів:

    Душу, тіло ми положим
    За свою свободу
    І покажем, що ми браття
    Козацького роду.
    Гей-гей, браття миле, нумо
    Братися за діло!
    Гей-гей пора встати, пора
    Волю добувати!

    Наливайко, Залізняк
    І Тарас Трясило
    Кличуть нас із-за могил
    На святеє діло.
    Ізгадаймо славну смерть
    Лицарства-козацтва,
    Щоб не втратить марне нам
    Своєго юнацтва.

    Приспів.

    Ой, Богдане, Богдане,
    Славний наш гетьмане!
    Нащо оддав Україну
    Москалям поганим?!
    Щоб вернути її честь,
    Ляжем головами,
    Назовемся України
    Вірними синами!

    Приспів.

    Наші браття слов’яни
    Вже за зброю взялись;
    Не діжде ніхто, щоб ми
    Позаду зостались.
    Поєднаймось разом всі,
    Братчики-славяне:
    Нехай гинуть вороги,
    Хай воля настане!    … Expand
  53. SaraJp
    Nov 7, 2022
    0
    I'm a Paradox veteran. I have played their games for around 6350 hours putting together CK2 and 3, Sengoku, Imperator, Hoi3 and 4, Victoria 2 and Stellaris. I'd rate all of these games (maybe except Imperator) with at least 8/10.

    Victoria 3 is just horrible. It's beyond boring - it's pointless. The game is far too easy if you go the only cultural build that the devs deem "correct".    I'm a Paradox veteran. I have played their games for around 6350 hours putting together CK2 and 3, Sengoku, Imperator, Hoi3 and 4, Victoria 2 and Stellaris. I'd rate all of these games (maybe except Imperator) with at least 8/10.

    Victoria 3 is just horrible. It's beyond boring - it's pointless. The game is far too easy if you go the only cultural build that the devs deem "correct". There are very few actual choices, and the pretext that every country is different is false. After five or six games, the replayability value sinks like a rock.

    Graphics are below mediocre - the map is passable, but character models are nausea-inducing. 2D art is simplistic, bland and derivative. Nothing is eye-catching, exciting or charming.

    Soundtrack is a an all-time low comparing to other Paradox Games - uninspired and repetitive.

    Historical accuracy is dreadful. Alternate history is supposed to happen AFTER the game begins, not before, Paradox. Otherwise label it as "Victoria 3: The Alternate Reality We Think Is Better".

    The economic system does not deliver. Micromanaging becomes ridiculous and laughable when you have the power to declare wars on other nations, and also have to decide if one single farm in Kentucky is going to plant a few peach trees alongside the corn fields. Trading isn't exciting - you never have the feeling of well planned trade route bringing back money. The system is just so very dull.

    I won't even touch the war system. There are already enough reviews talking about how hideous it is.

    Also, to the people saying "wait for DLC and the game will be good" - are you mad? The game is supposed to be entertaining out of the box, not four years later and costing 400 dollars.    … Expand
  54. XIMU
    Nov 13, 2022
    1
    As a paradox fan who spent 1k hours on hoi4 and at least 300 on all other paradox games, I say the current state of this game is basically an unpolished mess and painful to play with.

    First of all, the warfare mechanic is horrible. To be honest, I do like the auto-combat system, but the confusing mechanic, stupid AI, and lacking explanation made warfare in V3 the most painful warfare    As a paradox fan who spent 1k hours on hoi4 and at least 300 on all other paradox games, I say the current state of this game is basically an unpolished mess and painful to play with.

    First of all, the warfare mechanic is horrible. To be honest, I do like the auto-combat system, but the confusing mechanic, stupid AI, and lacking explanation made warfare in V3 the most painful warfare among all other strategy games. Combat width, supply, battle strategy preference, and many other major mechanics are unexplained in the game; and those that are explained such as army buffs, debuffs, remaining manpower, and types of equipment are hidden behind layers and layers of secondary windows. This makes the combat system basically a dice game, but you do not know what number you are rolling for, how many dice you're rolling, and what have you rolled.

    As a strategy game based on the historical Victoria era, there are almost no historical events in the game except the game starts on 1836 and the opium war. The black ship, Meji restoration, world expo, South Pole expedition, the Franco-Prussian war, US land purchases and civil war, and the annexation of Manchuria by Russia either don't exist or only happen rarely for AI-controlled nations. And the ironic thing is, all of the historical events mentioned above do exist correctly in Victoria 2 and are present in Victoria 3 loading screen.

    And there is a ton of major game balance problem to mention

    Also, the game is guaranteed to lag and crash on some older pc. If you are using one, good luck    … Expand
  55. BeingDS
    Nov 20, 2022
    1
    I was very excited for Victoria 3. Sadly, Paradox seems to have lost its touch. This makes two out of its last three releases that have been rushed out the back door in a flagrantly unfinished state, with clear evidence of a thoughtless, slapdash, half-baked approach. You'd think they would have learned after Imperator: Rome. Apparently not, however.

    Many design decisions are    I was very excited for Victoria 3. Sadly, Paradox seems to have lost its touch. This makes two out of its last three releases that have been rushed out the back door in a flagrantly unfinished state, with clear evidence of a thoughtless, slapdash, half-baked approach. You'd think they would have learned after Imperator: Rome. Apparently not, however.

    Many design decisions are inexplicable. But even without getting into the weeds, the biggest problem is that at no point in development do any of the developers appear to have asked the simplest of questions: "What is the player going to do?" They sold the removal of armies that players directly interact with as a feature that would "reduce micromanagement", and that's fine... but now what is the primary gameplay loop? What is it that we are meant to be doing?

    Apparently, a lot of clicking and waiting. That is the "gameplay" of Victoria 3, such as it is. You begin in 1836, build buildings, wait for them to complete, then build more buildings to rebalance your economy due to the impact of the last set of buildings you built. Rinse and repeat, over and over and over. And suddenly is 1900, the game is 3/4 over, and you've been doing essentially nothing for most of it. At no point does the "setup" phase end and allow the player to actually immerse themselves in the setting. Not that there's anything to do even if that weren't the case.

    The user interface is a dumpster fire. This game requires the player to absorb and process vast amounts of information. What buildings to build in what order, how many to build, where to build them, what production methods to use, which things to manufacture versus trade for... all these require detailed understanding of a wide variety of factors. However, the information you need is fragmented, spread across many screens and tabs, sometimes hidden deep in nested tooltips--and at no point does the player ever have all the information they need readily at hand. You need a notebook to write things down in, and a calculator, and a whole lot of patience, to make optimal decisions. And I don't mean just "min-max" type decision. I mean lay-player level. There are mods that improve the UI, but not by much, and the glaring inadequacies don't go away.

    On to trade. For starters, you cannot stop other countries essentially stealing your goods. Any country that wants to can just start shipping away your goods, and you have no say in the matter, unless you want to embargo that nation entirely. Little is more frustrating than seeing a nation start a trade route for a good you are already short of or that is critical to one of your industries or pops. Starting and managing trade routes is a chore, and it's not clear how many units of a good you'll get or send, or what the impact on your industries or economy will be. For a game where entire production chains can collapse unless balanced on the head of a pin, this is a real problem.

    The less said about warfare, the better. Wars in this game can be largely ignored. You send your generals to the front, and then you go back to building factories and farms in an endless loop. Armies and generals are tied to regions. You can send them to overseas fronts but cannot transfer them to another HQ. This results in asinine situations like being unable to do a naval invasion because your fleet wasn't built in the same region you built your army's barracks in. There are a heap of other problems with the military mechanics, but I'd need one or more entire reviews to get into them all. Suffice it to say that this is the worst part of Victoria 3.

    Diplomacy is similarly inadequate. Everything happens via "diplomatic plays". War? Diplomatic play. Annex a vassal? Diplomatic play. Rebellion? Diplomatic play. All diplomatic plays result in war, unless one side "backs down". And even backing down is broken--if your opponent backs down, you only get your first war goal. You have no choice. You can't reject a backdown, and it results in a five-year truce. Essentially, your target can say "no thanks, take this but not these and buzz off". Also, other nations can join any diplomatic play... resulting in 19th century world wars over something as simple as Belgium attacking an African tribe. And, since war goals can't be added once a war starts (there's no post-war treaty system), something like World War I would only result in Serbia and Austria getting anything.

    There's so much more wrong, but essentially the problem is that Victoria 3 is an early-access game being marketed as a finished product. It is not. It has all the polish of a 99-cent iPhone game, the width of an ocean and depth of a puddle. It is "Boom Beach" meets "Adventure Capitalist" meets "Plague Inc." -- for $50.

    Patches are coming, but I'm not optimistic they'll be nearly enough to save this mess. If you insist on buying this, wait for a sale. But I can't in good conscience recommend it.    … Expand
  56. Gusta27
    Dec 22, 2022
    8
    One of the best strategy games ever made, very enjoyable and interesting to play, it could have more options, and it lacks in optimization asking for high minimum requirements for your PC, but it's really worth it.
  57. Atyra
    Jan 11, 2023
    7
    Victoria 3 is a hard game to rate. The term 'wide as an ocean' rarely applies better, this is truly a monstrously ambitious and grand game, but at the same time, many of that width feels barebone and leaves the player feeling more like they're playing a game of Chess than an excellent RPG experience. It's unfortunate, but this is just Paradox's standard. I do believe that in a few yearsVictoria 3 is a hard game to rate. The term 'wide as an ocean' rarely applies better, this is truly a monstrously ambitious and grand game, but at the same time, many of that width feels barebone and leaves the player feeling more like they're playing a game of Chess than an excellent RPG experience. It's unfortunate, but this is just Paradox's standard. I do believe that in a few years this could be a real 9/10, but it isn't there yet.

    Still, this is just putting it up to the very high standard that Grand Strategy gamers have for replayability and complex simulation. It's not as if Victoria 3 is a poor game in any way, it just attempts and advertises far more than it current achieves.    … Expand
  58. nclrvppr
    Jan 23, 2023
    0
    the most random strategy game I've ever seen. You want to sign a law? you will, but only with 40% chance. You want to start an offence? Only if more than 10 soldiers want too!
  59. Terpene
    Feb 10, 2023
    4
    Horribly overloaded, over baked, underwhelming game. Tedious and boring, countries have barely any uniqueness, the systems that are in-depth, you wish weren't, and the war mechanics are just line vs line. Almost an insult to fun, worsened only by how much love and effort was put into this overall mismanaged game by the art team. Now wait for 10 dlc's to come out and I'm sure it'll be aHorribly overloaded, over baked, underwhelming game. Tedious and boring, countries have barely any uniqueness, the systems that are in-depth, you wish weren't, and the war mechanics are just line vs line. Almost an insult to fun, worsened only by how much love and effort was put into this overall mismanaged game by the art team. Now wait for 10 dlc's to come out and I'm sure it'll be a little better...
    Oh, and you can't rename anything, what's the point of alternate history if you can't change anything??
    Very little meaningful choice, and tons of restrictions.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

49
#49 Best PC Game of 2022
40
#40 Most Discussed PC Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 36 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. GameCritics
    Jan 23, 2023
    55
    Overall, Victoria 3 offers a lot of play for those interested in grand strategy, with a number of detailed and complex systems to learn over time. It’s also a solid entry point for people newer to the famously complicated genre, but experienced vets looking for engaging wars or more historically-focused titles should either keep an eye on future updates or look elsewhere.
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  2. Games.cz
    Jan 19, 2023
    80
    Be patient, work through your failures. If you do, you’ll get to enjoy a truly fascinating simulation of the 19th century world with all its diplomacy, trade and social developments. War is secondary. And it’s for the best.
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  3. COGconnected
    Nov 16, 2022
    80
    If you are a grand strategy fan, and you are one of those people who avoids war whenever possible (I know you’re out there), Victoria 3 is the game for you. What it lacks in breadth it makes up for in depth. There isn’t a more sophisticated nation simulator around, and the game will only grow in time. Much like The Sims before, Paradox games tend to have dozens of expansion packs. I will probably leave Victoria 3 installed in anticipation of those. This is a gigantic, excellent strategy game and for some people (nerds), it’s going to be a fave.
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