You'll be hard pressed to find a better (let alone any other) game set during histories most exiting period. So your duty and plant the Queen's Colours in faraway lands, bringing glory to yourself and your country and civilization to the dark continent! Where Crusader Kings II can be called an assassination simulator, and Europa Universalis IV a map painting sim, Victoria II could very well be labelled as an economic game at heart, with conquest simply serving to supply your nation with what it needs to conquer more land for more resources for more land to gain more resources to...you get the picture. That is not to say it is stale in any way, far from it! Victoria II will give you hours upon hours of enjoyment. Heartily Recommended.

I will add that to get the most out of this game, both "A House Divided" and "Heart of Darkness" are absolutely necessary, they not only fix a great deal of issues with the game but make colonizing a much more immersive and challenging task and sure to bring all the more glory to your Queen and Country!

At first I thought this game was like Civ, then I realized I was horribly wrong. I lost my job at KFC, my dog had died under my computer and my wife had left me. But all in all, I think it was worth it. I mean I haven't touched Civ V all this time!

11/10 would waste another life playing it.

This is my absolute favorite game of all time and my longest played game ever with 712 hours on steam + 100+ hours on other computers. And I'm here today to tell you why you should invest your money into buying this beautiful pile of ♥♥♥♥, even at full price.

Note: This review is played with all the expansions "Heart Of Darkness" and "A House Divided", these expansions are absolutely NECESSARY to get the fully enjoyable Victoria II experience (But don't get the rest of the DLC, waste of money)

For starters, this game is not for the casual player, far off. This game is a part of the very small and obscure genre of Grand Strategy video games which is made by the Swedish Developers of Paradox, but the genre is slowly growing. Grand Strategy games are very much focused on portraying a grander scale of the already existing genre of strategy (for example 4x Civilization), But with this grander scale also comes hard to learn controls, mechanics and A LOT of trial & error if you don't like watching spoonfeeding guides. And adding insult to injury, this is also the most complicated Grand Startegy game of them all, compared to games like Crusader Kings & Europa Universalis. But if you are willing to play a game for several hours just how to learn to play it, watch tutorial videos and get repeatedly ravaged by the AI, proceed reading this review.

A simple rundown of the game: Victoria II is a game about country/empire managing where you play any country during the time period from 1836 to 1936. You control the economics, build industry, watch your population grow and wage war with the goal of being a dominant power in the world.

Let's start with the content. Put simply: It's endless. You want a game which takes up to 30+ hours just to finish one campaign, and then restart a new one with another of the 200+ playable countries within the game? (Even more if you add mods like HPM, GSG & NNM) There's no goal in the game except surviving from 1836 to 1936, other then that, you set up your own goals . Want to conquer the entirety of Africa as Egypt? Do that. Want slavery to survive and prosper in North America? Do that. Want to turn uncivilized ♥♥♥♥holes into empires and great powers? Do that. Want to be the dominant world police as Canada? Dude, do that. It's all up to you.

What I also like with the game is that every country in it's own right is unique and feels different, some less and some more. Great powers contain a lot of flavor and will offer a lot of historical facts, trivia, decisions and events that will both hinder and help you. Some nations lack in these areas, but is easily fixable by mods out there.

The most important mechanic in this game, which is ultimately the extremely unique population system. Every nation (and uncolonized land) have it's dedicated population at the start of the game, and it will day for day to the end of the game grow. This is the most addicting mechanic of the game, trying to make your nation prosper in the best way possible. POP's has they are called, pretty much defines everything in the game. They pay the taxes you need, produce the goods your selling and buying, work in the industry you build and the most important one, they are the soldiers in your army. If every soldier die in one of your divisions, that division dies off with them. There are no imaginary soldiers that appears from nowhere and refills your army here like in CKII & EUIV, Every pop in the game counts, and every death is a casualty for your nation.

The graphics in the game is very simple and really is just a giant map of the world. But considering what kind of game it is, it does the work and even in my opinion, very charming. While the game always start you out in terrain mode, I suggest you always play in Political Mode, which colors every nation in it's unique color. The game offers many ways to see the game with different kind of modes in the map veiwer. From looking where population density is highest in your country to where you can currently colonize in the world. Mods exist to further improve the graphics with better huds, bloom and textures.

The soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal, with amazing orchestral victorian music which sets up the mood and atmosphere to wage war against your enemies. Even if you are not going to buy the game, you should do yourself a favor and listen to the soundtrack of this game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMtVu-ZtwEk

And for those who enjoy modding and playing with mods, this is the game for you! I can safely say that this is one of the most easily moddable games out there. Even I during my free time have created custom countries and events for the game. So if you want to spice up the experience, make your own country and scenario! But if you are to lazy to do that, do not worry. Victoria II's mod community is huge and surprisingly keeps this old obscure game alive even to this day.

Want more nations for your game? (150+, more events and more decisions): http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?683896-HoD-New-Nations-Mod
Want to play in modern times? http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?689900-Modern-Age-Mod-for-Heart-of-Darkness
Want the Zombie Apocalypse to hit the world 1836 and then try to rebuild the world? http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?537039-AlterVicky-Apocalypse-1836

The modding possibilities are endless, which in my opinion is the games strongest point after the revolutionary POP mechanic. Make your own or play the amazing mods that people make even to this day

And that wraps up my review. Put simply, I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ love this game and if you like what you are reading, you should consider buying the Victoria Collection right now, or wait until the game hits a sale.

10/10 would play again

You can play as communist Texas. 10/10.

But seriously:

Victoria II isn't the prettiest grand strategy game that's ever come around. The economic system in particular requires about seven PhDs and consultation with the Elder Gods to understand, and sometimes it feels like you don't really have any control over the politics of your country beyond slight nudges. Some would argue that's the entire point, but I digress.

Where Victoria II will grab you, and hold you, is the sheer diplomacy system. Whereas in EU4 one country will simply superblob, Vicky has a very nice system of balance. Countries rarely blob, and even when they do, they're only one catastrophic war away from being knocked down to size. And just like other Paradox games, Victoria II is incredibly easy to mod. Don't like your flag? Change it! Want to rename a political party? Change it! Feel like modifying a few provinces to balance out the economy? All that's needed is a few corrections in a text file.

PROS:

- Combat feels the most balanced of any Paradox game. Even Art of War.
- Politics system will always have you coming back for more
- Incredible attention to detail. Every country has its own republican, monarchist, fascist, and communist flag.
- Great power mechanic makes it actually feel like you're actually playing as one state among many, instead of just one human vs the same computer wearing different hats

CONS:

- Economy system is an absolute mess.
- Since Heart of Darkness, sieges take far, far too long.

FINAL VERDICT:

First off, I do NOT recommend this to anyone but gamers who have a grand strategy game or two under their belt. Anyone else is just going to take one look at the industrial and demographics screen and uninstall the game. But for those who learn its mechanics, Victoria II will pay back in dividends.

Yeah, it's pretty good.

Play as Germany and invade Mexico.

Because im 12 and reckless. 10/10

This game is fantastic. I remember in my first play through of the vanilla game in the middle of a massive world war between just myself (Germany) and the UK I noticed the People's Republic of the United States with an independent Manhattan Commune. In my next game with the A House Divided and Heart of Darkness DLC I played as Germany again but this time Russia released Poland as a sovereign nation become a democracy and lost world power status. At the same time French rebels would make it a democracy, then they would revolt to make it a communist government and then revolt again for the democracy all the while losing its industry and military and falling to 16th most powerful nation. As I dissected the Austrian Empire to be only the Danubian Federation (A smaller nation missing most of its eastern territories) to be the 20th ranked country. Then after taking the resource rich Manchuria and Mongolia from the Chinese I was involved in a great war caused by the crisis system (allows smaller nations to get great powers to back their claims on other countries). Spain and the Ottoman Empire, who had colonized almost all of Africa save South Africa backed me up against the French, UK, the Danubian Federation and Italy during which I took most of India from the British and made them give the rest of it to their Indian Satellite nation Hyderabad.

You can completely change history in a warped manner, Have the Ottoman's regain their former glory, help Spain reconquer their former colonies, form Scandanavia and take Finland back from Russia, westernize as Panjab and take India from the British. Maybe you want to westernize as China and have your legions of soldiers annex Russia, Japan invade Germany. Building the Panama canal as Japan and doing all the things listed above are possible in Victoria 2 as if you can figure the complexity of the economy and population that pushes the game to more interesting heights each time you play.

The most complex, historically accurate and rewarding grand strategy game I have ever had the pleasure of playing. If you are interested in European history circa 1830-1936, this game is a must have! I have played several Paradox titles (EUIV, CKII) but Victoria II stands in a league of its own. The sheer amount of depth provided lets you feel like you are actually in command of an entire nation. The learning curve is not terrible, but an online tutorial (letsplay.com, youtube) is definitely recommended. This game pulls you in and never lets go. Therefore I can whole-heartedly recommend that you go forth and conquer savage natives, for Queen and country!

300 hours in I have realised this game is not actually about running an empire, it's about making you its ♥♥♥♥♥. 11/10 no regrets.

You can make America communist. 10/10 would waste life on again.

Wow, this is my favourite Paradox game now. Unlike EU3 and 4, war is the means, not the end. The end is your economy and population. You use war to support your economy, not the economy to support your wars. Lots of interesting themes like capitalism, industrialism, socialism etc. So fun.

I mean who doesn't want to play as the socialist state of Zulu?
10/10

1. Unify Italy
   
2. Spawn Fascism
   
3. Grab Dalmazia and Nice
   
4. Colonize Africa
   
5. ???
   
6. PROFIT!!! Get Steamrolled by the rest of Europe.

not enough opportunities to exterminate my pops to live out my power fantasies to compensate for my inferiority complex

6/10

Victoria II is the Godfather of grand strategy games if you ask me.

The combat is complex enough without going to the extreme of Hearts of Iron 3. That's not the point of the game, though. Warfare in Victoria II, like in real life, is a means to an end, not the point itself or why you should buy the game.

What makes it truly shine are the politics and economics which give Victoria II the best stuff to play around with during peacetime out of any other Paradox game, something sorely lacking in pretty much all the others, as well as machanics that provide a narrative to your campaign that makes it feel like you're actually playing a nation in the world, and not simply part of a multiplayer game with AI opponents.

It makes diplomacy a lot more interesting and plausible than usual by modeling a system for instigating geopolitical crises, so gigantic wars between major powers erupt for actual reasons instead of endless gamey world conquest (except against uncivilized nations, which you can pretty much do with as you please, but that's historical for the time). Even the tiniest nations are playable because you can use the crisis system to get major powers to back your claims to conquered cores. Playing Greece and want your northern cores back from the Ottoman Empire? You can never defeat them alone, but if you can get the United Kingdom or Russia on your side, it's entirely possible to fulfill your wildest revanchist dreams.

It has a deep (but not impenetrable), economic system that makes makes that aspect of the game very interesting and engaging, as opposed to just placing a merchent guy on the map and collecting fees. This era saw the rise of industrialism and tycoon capitalism, and they've done that justice.

The politics system is very good as well. Poor, middle, and elite classes all have their own wants, needs, political desires, etc. that break down to an impressively small scale. The white yankee catholic factory workers will want one thing, while the black protestant southern miners will want something else. If you don't handle politics smartly, you can have a revolution on your hands, which could even end with your government ideology completely changing. It's entirely possible for the United States to become a fascist state, a Marxist-Leninist republic, or even return to monarchy.

It's simply the deepest, best, most fun game Paradox has ever released in this man's opinion.

For starters, this game is only for those who love immersive Risk type games. Specifically a in-depth strategic game. However, this makes it very complicated to learn how to play, effectively. (For me at least). But, once I did a few tutorials, I got the hang of things, and enjoy the game fully now. This is really one of my favorite all time games, ever. Across all platforms, its just so great of a price, and a game. Its just fantastic. I'm not much of spoiler, so I'll leave the specifics for you all to figure out. To me, this is worth every cent. Heck, I enjoy this game so much, I'm buying another copy of it for a friend. So long as the price stays down. All in all, I recommend this game 100%. Cheers!

i think that this is a great game,it provides a simulation for every country in 1836 ands you can change history from what it was to some thing different e.g america invades austrailia another e.g britain takes brittany from france,this game has so much to offer, i would give it a 9/10 rating ,1 more e.g atjeh annexes bali.

Game crashes right after instalation, giving and error of: File exception 622.

The solution is to do the following:

1. Go to the folder /Steam/SteamApps/common/Victoria 2/map/cache/
2. Delete all of the contents of this folder, but NOT the folder itself.
3. Go to the folder /Steam/SteamApps/common/Victoria 2/
4. Run v2game.exe
5. Your map cache should now be reconfigured. Exit the game.
6. You should now be able to run Victoria 2 normally, using the Victoria 2 launcher (victoria2.exe) or Steam.

Other than that, I enjoy this game.

Had it for less than a week and already poured 39 hours into it.

I'd recommend it any day.