Europa Universalis IV

Gameplay

The game itself is an interactive map of Earth divided into the provinces 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. The gameplay requires the player to lead a nation by finding a balance of military, diplomacy, and economy. The player does so through their choices as sovereign of their nation, and through the spending of resources available to them: Prestige, Stability, Gold, Manpower, Legitimacy for Monarchies, Republican Tradition for Republics, and Monarch Power (Administrative, Diplomatic, Military).

Players can choose to conquer the world by military might, become a colonial superpower, establish trade dominance, etc. The game is a sandbox environment, and while there is no strict rule on winning the game, a loss occurs when the player's nation is removed or annexed from the map. Diplomacy is a large aspect of the game, as creating alliances and vassal states, improving opinions and monitoring expansion and coalitions is vital to a player’s survival. Espionage can also be employed against enemy states in order to claim their territory, or incite rebellion in their provinces, as well as other dubious methods. Combat can be done on both land and sea, and it attempts to simulate real world factors such as morale, discipline, competency of leaders, terrain, and supply lines.

Many major religions are present in and influence the game and provide distinct bonuses to their practitioners. Players can employ missionaries to convert their provinces or can engage in policies of universal religious freedom. The Catholic faith makes use of the Papacy, which can allow a nation to have control over the Pope or to use their influence for other rewards. Technological advancements are invested in over time, and will require the expense of monarch points.

Gameplay is influenced by random events that arise each year for the player. These events can be either helpful or a hindrance. Some of these random events are driven by factual history pertaining to an individual country, while some are there to force a player to make tough decisions, and otherwise to enhance the flavor of the game. 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 achievements that can be won.

Expansions and mods

All DLCs are optional in Europa Universalis IV, and may be applied to the base game in any combination. The largest DLCs come in the form of expansions, which significantly alter the mechanics and features of the game. There are also flavour packs (which add new events and minor mechanics, 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 which have no impact on the game itself, but coincided with the release of expansions.

Expansions are often accompanied by a coinciding free patch to the game, which as well as adding fixes to the mechanics, also adds some content in the theme of the expansion.

Conquest of Paradise

Conquest of Paradise focuses on the New World. It adds an expansion to the mechanics of tribal nations, most prominently Native American ones. It also adds a random new world generator which randomizes the landscape of North and South America. The accompanying patch also added colonial regions, protectorates and new starting nations as well as many other small additions and fixes. Released 11 January 2014.

Wealth of Nations

Wealth of Nations includes new mechanics for trade and merchant republics. The most prominent additions also include trade companies, privateering, and construction of the Suez, Panama, and Kiel canals. The accompanying patch included a new rival system, policies, and extra ship designs. Released 29 May 2014.

Res Publica

Res Publica focuses on governance and trade. New mechanics pertaining to elections are introduced, along with election events for the Dutch republics and a national focus. The Republican Dictatorship form of government is also included. The accompanying patch included extra idea groups and Merchant Republic factions. Released on 16 July 2014.

Art of War

Named after the treatise on warfare by Sun Tzu, this expansion focuses on military mechanics. It expands on the Thirty Years' War and the Napoleonic era, improves diplomacy (especially surrounding conflict and peace treaties), expands vassal mechanics and adds new options for waging war. The accompanying patch amongst other things overhauled rebel mechanics, improved the map and added large interface, AI and gameplay improvements. The map improvements increased the number of provinces on the game map, in regions which previously lacked detail, such as Asia and Africa. It was released on 30 October 2014.

El Dorado

El Dorado, named after the mythical El Dorado, improves largely on the nations of Central and South America. This includes Nahuatl, Inti and Mayan religions, a "doom counter" for the Central American tribes, improved mechanics and added events. Exploration and colonisation of these areas is also expanded upon - for example, the Treaty of Tordesillas is added and conquistadors can explore into terra incognita to search for the Seven Cities of Gold. A custom nation designer is included. The accompanying patch included new events for South and Central America, improved terrain and general improvements to gameplay. It was released on 26 February 2015.

Common Sense

Common Sense, named after the famous pamphlet written by Thomas Paine, focuses on diplomacy, religion and internal development. New religious gameplay is added, focusing on Protestants and Buddhists. Parliaments are added, and a special parliamentary government is granted to England. The coinciding patch included new religions, improvements to the peace system and a reworking of the fort system. The number of building slots were also decreased, but the existing ones made more powerful. It was released on 9 June 2015.

The Cossacks

The Cossacks, named after the East-Slavic region, adds additional diplomacy options and a wide variety of internal politics for peacetime. Primarily this is represented through the "Estate" system, which allows provinces to be assigned noble landholders, the church, burghers, and more in return for various bonuses and modifiers. Additionally, The Cossacks adds mechanics for horde government types and adds mechanics to the Tengri religion. It was released on 1 December 2015.

Mare Nostrum

Mare Nostrum, translated as "Our Sea" in Latin, was the Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea. As its name suggests, this expansion introduces new content connected to naval warfare, trade and espionage. Now one can put ships on a naval blockade mission or on a hunting naval mission. One can also create trade leagues, offer Condottieri to other countries to fight and a new timeline feature where one can at any point through the campaign click it and watch how the world has evolved throughout the game. The accompanying patch made significant changes to espionage, added new map modes, two new systems for states, territories, and corruption, as well as various new provinces for Ireland and Africa. It was released on 5 April 2016.

Rights of Man

Rights of Man is the ninth expansion for Europa Universalis IV. It was announced on 19 August 2016. It was released on 11 October 2016 along with the 1.18 "Prussia" patch. The DLC and patch included a new Great Powers system where the eight most powerful nations were listed as "Great Powers" and could access new diplomatic features such as making minor nations break their alliances with other Great Powers. The patch also included new governments for Prussia and the Ottoman Empire, and a massive reworking of the technology system called the Institutions, which add penalties to any nation which hasn't embraced a given institution (such as Feudalism, Renaissance, etc.), and made the process of 'westernization' obsolete.

Mods

Aside from the official expansion packs, third-party mods are freely available. Most mods are available from the Steam Workshop. The mods can modify or remove existing features, and add new features, such as new unit models or new gameplay mechanics.

Europa Universalis IV has a large following of modders. Popular mods include Extended Timeline (which added history from 2 AD to 2016), A Song of Ice and Fire (which adapted the world from the Game of Thrones series into the game), and complete overhauls such as Veritas Et Fortudo.

Critical reception

Europa Universalis IV was met with generally favourable reviews, receiving a score of 87/100 on aggregate website Metacritic. Critics praised the improvements from Europa Universalis III, especially the new mechanics and graphics. T.J. Hafer of PC Gamer described the game as an "engrossing simulation that conquers the common ground between your average Civilization V player and the long-time devotees of grand strategy". Negative feedback focused on the tutorials, combat mechanics 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 the "Golden Horseshoe" award in the category of "Game of the Year" on the Polish website gikz.pl. It also won "Best Strategy" and "Best Historical" in Game Debate's 2013 awards.

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 June 21, 2016, over 1 million copies have been sold.