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[Iz 🌟]

I'm surprised I held off on making a topic on these for so long, this is a topic for all grand strategy games as developed by Paradox Interactive, best Swedish games developer, probably best developer overall. I may have briefly spied one of the developers when I was leaving Stockholm on Sunday *.*

Because they're games that are all FAIRLY similar to each other, and they probably won't get enough to get a topic on their own (I acknowledge already I'm going to be very lucky if this is anything more than me and Jacob back and forthing screenshots here) in that they are all big map games where in a certain period of history (or the future, where Stellaris is concerned) you paint the map your colour according to either your own personal goals (let's make Albania a huge trade power or convert the Christian world to paganism or Buddhism) or a very large and varied set of Steam achievements with interesting and challenging goals if you're lacking in inspiration. Somehow manages to avoid controversy despite it literally being about playing geopolitics with ethnic and national groups over actual land. It's because it's rather abstract I guess.

They are, in chronological order:

Crusader Kings 2: Set in the Medieval age from either 1066 or two DLCs that allow you to go a bit earlier, this game is dynasty-focused where you play as a ruler and their family. Plot murders, schemes and power-grabbing to fit in outshine any of the fantasy/historical dramas on TV at the moment, and with actual historical characters from England to India. And maybe do a bit of crusading. It's evolved a little bit beyond its title, which is an understatement as current patches allow for werewolves, demon-worshippers, tiger-wrestlers and Cornish.

Europa Universalis IV: Set in the Early Modern Age from 1444, expand empires across the world. The most Risk-like of them all and for my money the most enthralling, as you play nations on the brink of the age of discovery and colonialism and guide them into their first stages of nationalism. And destroy the filthy Ottomans/French/Muscovites/Polish/Great British/Austrians (delete as appropriate) to ensure that your underdog Burgundy/Byzantium/Bavaria/Lucca/Albania/Hormuz/Ryukyu (again, delete as appropriate) becomes triumphant and spreads their much nicer colours across the map.

Victoria 2: Haven't really played this as it's the last of the previous generation of Paradox games, with no Victoria 3 as of yet. It's obviously set in the Victorian Age, again, whole world included on the map, and is I hear a fairly perfect economics simulator.

Hearts Of Iron IV: A WW2 game where you're not restricted to playing the 'Greatest Generation American soldiers' landing in Normandy, praise be! Starts in 1936 or 1939, again, you can play anyone, even, like Paraguay, if you choose to, and is pretty much a logistics simulator as you either blitzkrieg or protect the independence of nations you like.

Stellaris: Starts in 2200 and if you remember Spore, this is the space stage of that but good. Expand your empire across the galaxy, playing as either humans or aliens and being whatever sort of xenophobic quasi-religious civilization your depraved mind can come up with.

There are mods that allow you to take save games all the way from 769 (earliest CK2 start date) all the way to Stellaris. Not that that's practical but it's an interesting sidenote.

They do all have a pretty hefty amount of DLC which is a bit of a necessary tradeoff for a developer that keeps working on their games and adding overhauls in free patches. HOI4 and Stellaris just got huge free updates for example that turned some flawed but good games on launched into something a lot more exciting even without any DLC.

And now I'm going to use this to boast about my use of free time to Buzzjack x