

When I started playing EUIV for review, I forgot there wouldn’t be any helpful tutorials out there for me to fall back on. I did it with Europa Universalis III, with the Hearts of Iron games, and even with Crusader Kings II. With that in mind, let me tell you what my “grand strategy” has traditionally consisted of when approaching a new Paradox title: launch the game, marvel over the epic menu music, load the tutorial, complete the tutorial, feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on the game, start a real campaign, play twenty minutes, realize I understand nothing at all, watch as my empire crumbles to dust, exit the game, and load up YouTube videos with titles like “Learn to Play Europa Universalis!” or “Europa Universalis for noobs!” On the trade map, arrows represent trade routes.

You spend a lot of time looking at beautiful maps in this game.
