Let me preface this review by saying that I've sunk a considerable amount of time into the various PDX 4X games.

I think what Victoria 3 does best is how it represents the economy (as it should). It essentially boils down to building more factories in an endless loop to keep the price of raw resources down while simultaneously creating more demand for your manufactured goods, While there are some irritants, like bigger countries buying up all your steel or coal (even when they themselves have a good surplus), causing prices to skyrocket, I think it is represented quite well.

As of right now, there is not much country flavour (likely to be remedied with a paid DLC, of course), and as per usual, the AI isn't very good at the game. In the four campaigns I have played so far, France and Austria seem a lot stronger than they would've been historically, while Britain and the U.S. are significantly weaker. The U.S., in particular, seems especially weak as they never start the Mexican-American war over Texas, they usually just let Mexico annex Texas.

Lastly, the warfare. I personally disagree with the way Paradox decided to go about doing it. You simply don't have enough control over your own armies; they'll just inexplicably lose to a smaller power despite having numbers and better stats. If a system similar to HOI4's frontline system was in the game instead, I think there would be massive improvements.

However, despite these shortcomings, I believe that Victoria 3 is a fun game with decent replay value. It is a little lacklustre at the moment, but this is sure to be improved through DLCs in the future.

Let me preface this review by saying that I've sunk a considerable amount of time into the various PDX 4X games. I think what Victoria 3 does best is how it represents the economy (as it should). It essentially boils down to building more factories in an endless loop to keep the price of raw resources down while simultaneously creating more demand for your manufactured goods, While there are some irritants, like bigger countries buying up all your steel or coal (even when they themselves have a good surplus), causing prices to skyrocket, I think it is represented quite well. As of right now, there is not much country flavour (likely to be remedied with a paid DLC, of course), and as per usual, the AI isn't very good at the game. In the four campaigns I have played so far, France and Austria seem a lot stronger than they would've been historically, while Britain and the U.S. are significantly weaker. The U.S., in particular, seems especially weak as they never start the Mexican-American war over Texas, they usually just let Mexico annex Texas. Lastly, the warfare. I personally disagree with the way Paradox decided to go about doing it. You simply don't have enough control over your own armies; they'll just inexplicably lose to a smaller power despite having numbers and better stats. If a system similar to HOI4's frontline system was in the game instead, I think there would be massive improvements. However, despite these shortcomings, I believe that Victoria 3 is a fun game with decent replay value. It is a little lacklustre at the moment, but this is sure to be improved through DLCs in the future.