It took more than a decade for Paradox Interactive to announce a follow-up (opens in new tab) to its epic 19th-century grand strategy game Victoria 2, but it won’t take more than a year to release from there: Paradox. dropped a new Victoria 3 (opens in new tab) trailer today showing off some of the gameplay and that’s the important bit – revealing that it will launch on Steam on October 25th.
That’s a big deal for Paradox fans, for whom Victoria 3 was like Half-Life 3: a highly anticipated sequel that looked like it would never actually happen. As with so many things online, the long wait took on a life of its own in the form of a meme, which Paradox chimed in with a meme contest (opens in new tab) shortly after Victoria 3 launched.
(image credit: Paradox Interactive)
That’s not the only big piece of society simulator news coming out today. We’ve also got our first gameplay preview (opens in new tab) and, while Victoria 3 is still a few months away from full release, calling our initial impressions “promising” feels like a huge undersell.
“Victoria 3 is a breathtakingly ambitious simulation that’s unlike anything that’s come before,” wrote our previewer. “There are some places where it gets cumbersome because of the complexity of all the moving parts, especially when it comes to economy. But I can barely pull myself to do anything else for 10 days to play it.”
And honestly, are you even really playing a Paradox sim if the complexity just doesn’t get cumbersome anymore?
Victoria 3 is now available for pre-purchase on Steam (opens in new tab) for $50/£42/€50, or a bit more for the Grand Edition, which includes various bits of additional content, including the first expansion. Preordering either version will also get you a copy of the remastered Victoria 2 soundtrack, which is really great as a preorder bonus.
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