''Europa Universalis IV'' is a 2013 grand strategy

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

in the ''

Europa Universalis ''Europa Universalis'' is a Grand strategy game, grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published in 2000 by Strategy First. Development The game was originally based on a French board game of the Europa Universali ...

'' series, developed by

Paradox Development Studio Paradox Development Studio (PDS) is a Swedish video game developer founded in 1995. It is closely associated with its parent company and video game publisher, Paradox Interactive. It is best known for its grand strategy wargame series ''Europa U ...

and published by Paradox Interactive as a sequel to '' Europa Universalis III'' (2007). The game was released on 25 August 2013 for

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OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

, and

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

. It is a strategy game where players can control a nation leading up to and during the

early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

- from the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

following the Battle of Varna (1444), the final crusade, to the

Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and history of Europe, Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly (French Revoluti ...

with the timeline finishing on 2 January 1821 to coincide with the death of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

on 5 May 1821. Players navigate their nations with conducting

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

diplomacy Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of State (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international syste ...

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

, and

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

fare.

Gameplay

The game includes different bookmarked starting dates called "scenarios", with the world state, borders and events reflecting their historical equivalents for each. The game itself is an interactive map of

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

divided into the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

s that compose nations. Each of these provinces contribute to their country either positively or negatively, as provinces can both provide resources to a nation and serve as a point of unrest and rebellion. At the beginning of the game many provinces are considered "uncolonised" and are meant to represent possible land colonisable by other nations. The gameplay requires the player to lead a nation by finding a balance of

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

, and

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

. The player does so through their choices as sovereign of their nation, and the spending of resources available to them: prestige, power projection, stability, gold (ducats), manpower, legitimacy for

monarchies A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

, republican tradition for

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

s, devotion for theocracies, horde unity for steppe nomads, meritocracy for celestial empires, and monarch power (administrative, diplomatic, and military). Players can choose to conquer the world by military might, become a colonial superpower, establish trade dominance, etc. as one of over 500 different nations. The game is a

sandbox A sandbox is a sandpit, a wide, shallow playground construction to hold sand, often made of wood or plastic. Sandbox or sand box may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Sandbox (band), a Canadian rock music group * Sandbox (Gu ...

environment; there is no strict win condition for players. A player's game ends when the player's nation is annexed (removed from the map) or when the date reaches the year 1821.

Diplomacy Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of State (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international syste ...

is a large aspect of the game, as creating

alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

s (or

vassal state A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to ...

s and

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

), improving opinions, and preventing defensive coalitions are vital to a player's survival. Espionage can also be employed against enemy states to claim their territory or incite rebellion in their provinces, along with other dubious ends. Combat can be waged on both land and sea, during which the game attempts to simulate real-world factors such as morale, discipline, varying unit types with associated strengths and weaknesses, competency of leaders, terrain, and supply lines. Trade is also an important part of the game, where the world is divided into many trade nodes, and trade flows through each of the nodes and can be collected by merchants. Many major

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

s, such as

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Orthodox Christianity Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

, and

Shia Islam Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

, are present in the game and can provide distinct bonuses to their practitioners. Players can employ missionaries to convert their provinces or can engage in policies of universal religious freedom. For example, the Catholic faith makes use of the

Papacy The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, which can allow a nation to have control over the Pope or to use its influence for other rewards. Native American and Aboriginal religions are also present in the game, most commonly utilizing a system of selecting a bonus for the lifetime of the present monarch. Furthermore, many of the world's institutions, from

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...

, are also present in the game. Institutions normally appear around a certain year, and begin spreading through provinces. The rate of institution spread and where the institution spawns are malleable to player actions. Once reaching requirements, usually consisting of a ducat cost and a certain amount of institutions present in the player's provinces, the player can embrace the institution. Foregoing embracing an institution for too long increases a nation's technology cost; embracing an institution gives an institution-specific nation bonus, as well as purging any technological maluses that the lack of institution may have incurred. Technological advancements are invested in over time, and require the expense of monarch points. They provide benefits to the nation as detailed below: * Administrative technology unlocks advancements such as increased productivity, new forms of government, new buildings, and the national idea system. * Diplomatic technology unlocks advancements such as naval units, improvements in trade, new buildings, and improved colonial expansion. * Military technology unlocks advancements such as new types of land units, improved unit morale, combat tactics, and new buildings. Gameplay is influenced by random events that arise periodically for the player. These events can be either helpful or harmful. Some of these random events are driven by an individual country's history, while some can apply to any country and serve generally to enhance the "flavor" of the game. Some events are also motivated by various institutions that occur throughout the history of the game, such as the Industrial Revolution. Players can choose to play single-player mode versus the AI, or multiplayer over a LAN or the Internet against a mix of human and AI opponents. Single-player also has the option of "Ironman" mode, which locks several settings such as difficulty, and removes the control of saving the game from the player. This means that any mistakes are irreversible. It is, however, the only way to receive any of the game's many achievements.

Development

Early design discussions for ''Europa Universalis IV'' began shortly after the December 2010 release of ''Divine Wind'', the final DLC for '' Europa Universalis III'' with development, based on the Clausewitz Engine, beginning in earnest in about September 2011. It was first announced to the public in August 2012, to coincide with a showing at that year's

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, after having been teased under the codename of "Project Truman". Throughout the game's development,

released weekly "developer diaries" via their online forums, in which they detailed some features of the game's development. These included information about design philosophy, game mechanisms that were being implemented, and features from ''Europa Universalis III'' that were being removed. During its development, ''Europa Universalis IV'' had a greater priority given to stability and quality control than previous games in the series. There had previously been a perception that Paradox's games were not worth buying until several updates or expansions had fixed stability issues. Studio CEO, Fredrik Wester, described this perception as being like "a slap in the face", motivating them to improve. Another of Paradox's major goals was to retain the depth and complexity of their earlier grand strategy games while making them easier for a player to interact with. Before release, a preview version of the game was showcased through

Let's Play A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and (in some cases) a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough ...

s and via a multiplayer event for journalists. A playable demo of the game was released on

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on 9 August 2013 with the game itself being released on 13 August. Following its release, development of the game has continued under the same model that Paradox had previously used successfully for ''

Crusader Kings II ''Crusader Kings II'' is a grand strategy game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. Set in the Middle Ages, the game was released on February 14, 2012, as a sequel to 2004's '' Crusader Kings''. On Octob ...

'', with paid DLCs being released alongside, and helping to fund, additional free patches which add more features to the base game. as of May 2024, twenty-two items of DLC have been released for the game alongside many minor DLCs offering additional graphical or musical options. In September 2020, ''Paradox Tinto'', a newly formed division of Paradox based in

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, took over the development of the game led by leader Johan Andersson. This team released all the expansions after 2020, while also focusing on bug fixes.

Downloadable content

Several

downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...

(DLC) have been released for the game. All DLCs are optional and may be applied to the base game in any combination. The most significant DLCs come in the form of expansions and immersion packs. Expansions bring broader and considerable changes to the game as they introduce new and improved gameplay mechanics along with many kinds of flavor and various balance tweaks. While immersion packs are expansions of a smaller scale as they focus on specific regions to bring them better to life by granting more flavor. There are also flavor packs (which add new events and minor mechanisms, usually specific to one nation), music packs (which add more backing music), and cosmetic packs (which affect unit models, portraits, and the map). There are also three e-books that have no impact on the game itself but coincided with the release of expansions. In March 2021, Paradox unveiled an optional subscription service to play the game's vast library of DLCs without buying each expansion. In September 2024, Paradox announced the integration of Rights of Man, Art of War, and Common Sense into the base game. The DLCs were fully integrated into the base game with patch 1.37.5 in October 2024. Expansions are often accompanied by coinciding free patches to the game, which may adjust existing mechanisms or add new ones to the theme of the expansion.

Mods

Aside from the official expansion packs, third-party mods are available on sites such as the Steam Workshop. The mods can change the game's settings, add or remove features and game mechanisms, add new land masses to the "random new world" generator, and make graphical improvements. Popular mods include "Extended Timeline", which expands the game's scope from 2 AD to the present day, the ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

'' adaptation "A Song of Ice and Fire" (Renamed "Westeros Universalis: A Game Of Thrones" in May 2023) and ''

The Elder Scrolls ''The Elder Scrolls'' is a series of action role-playing games, action role-playing video games primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The series focuses on Nonlinear gameplay, free-form gameplay in an ...

'' adaptation "Elder Scrolls Universalis", to complete overhauls like "MEIOU & Taxes" and fantasy total conversions such as "Anbennar".

Reception

''Europa Universalis IV'' was met with very favourable reviews, receiving a score of 87/100 on aggregate website

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. Critics praised the improvements from ''Europa Universalis III'', especially the new mechanisms and graphics. T. J. Hafer of

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described the game as an "engrossing simulation that conquers the common ground between your average ''

Civilization V ''Sid Meier's Civilization V'' is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K (company), 2K. It is the sequel to Civilization IV, ''Civilization IV'', and was released for Microsoft Windows, Windows in Sep ...

'' player and the long-time devotees of grand strategy". Negative feedback focused on the tutorials, combat mechanisms, and bugs. Nicholas Pellegatta acknowledged these bugs and other issues were likely to be addressed in later patches and expansions. In 2013, ''Europa Universalis IV'' won "Best Strategy" and "Best Historical" in Game Debate's 2013 awards. During the 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

nominated ''Europa Universalis IV'' for " Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year". The 2021 expansion ''Leviathan'' was the worst-rated title on the Steam platform at launch, with only 7% positive reviews. Players complained about a multitude of bugs and untested or incomplete features.

Sales

As of February 2014, ''Europa Universalis IV'' had sold over 300,000 copies. By January 2016, over 900,000 games were registered on Steam. As of 21 June 2016, over 1 million copies have been sold. As of February 2021, the game has over 2 million owners.

Spin-offs

In May 2014, Paradox released a book, ''Europa Universalis IV: What If? The Anthology of Alternate History'', a collection of short stories inspired by the game and its period, including one by

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed his ...

. The book was released as an ebook, as DLC for the game, and as a physical edition. In May 2018, at their PDXCon convention, Paradox announced that

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

s were being developed based upon four of their franchises, stating that they were on a "mission to expand the IP". The ''Europa Universalis'' game (eventually named ''Europa Universalis: The Price of Power'') was designed by Eivind Vetlesen of Aegir Games and has a solo mode by David Turczi. Jonathan Bolding of ''

'' described a preview version as "something between a high player count '' Twilight Imperium'' and '' A Game of Thrones'' with a dash of '' Napoleon in Europe''".

Sequel

On May 8, 2025, the sequel, '' Europa Universalis V'', was announced by Paradox.

References

External links

Gameplay

Development

Downloadable content

Mods

Reception

Sales

Spin-offs

Sequel

See also

References

Further reading

External links