Recent reviews by Mortheim

It isn't the most exciting game, but it is fun in its own way

A nice little cozy game. While somewhat lacking it still can entertain you for an evening or two.

good gam 10 of 10

5 dollars for day and night cycle? Like, for real? In the game that counts time by cycles you sell them as a DLC?

The content added by this DLC is so minuscule that I am not sure how it is priced at 10 dollars.

I really want to love Victoria 3. I believe that developers do their best. But, at this moment, I can't recommend this game to anyone - neither veterans of Paradox GSGs, nor people who want to try something new in strategy genre.

First, I want to say a couple of good things about this game:
+ graphics - they are good, I won't lie
+ fronts - while they are an unusual thing for most of Paradox GSGs, I like them. It is a new refreshing system.
+ base systems. They are serviceable and you can build a good game around them.

Now to the bad things:
- trade. Trade is boring. There isn't a lot of things that can help you manipulate it and, mostly, AI won't produce anything in any reasonable amount for you to want to trade (so you are forced to colonize as nearly any country).
- investors. Now your pops can build factories using their own money! Unfortunately, they weren't taught how to do it. They will build factories in regions where there are no peasants or unemployed left. They will overload region with factories, so infrastructure collapses, then they will build a railroad, but there is no people who can work there... They also just randomly build things w/o considering demand.
- flavor. It is terrible. There isn't a lot of it and most entries don't provide you with any reasonable bonuses - just slap a 5 year throughput and call it a day.
- diplomacy. I still have to see a diplomatic play resolve peacefully. For example, playing as France (top 1 GDP, top 1 prestige, top 1 naval and military power) I start diplomatic play to make a protectorate out of a small African state. And they decide to fight against me. And it happens as any country, with any goal. Integration with great relations? War. Protectorate? War. Ban slavery? War. War. War. There are no peaceful resolutions.
- manipulation of public opinion. Basically non existent. Decrees are too few and you can't promote ideology without bolstering (like you could in Victoria 2). Agitators cover this somewhat, but it is still not enough.
- characters. Some of them are terribly represented, interest groups are set up from birth, etc. Considering how some people affected the world and shaped continents/countries, it feels too rudimentary.
- economy. Government planning - the simulator. This game feels like spreadsheet.
- construction. Now economic system allocates part of your construction to private sector. Considering that this isn't how it works and that you can't influence this in any meaningful way (for example - better offers for construction companies from the state) it feels like a stick with which you are punished. And if you go Laissez-Faire you are basically killing your industry (Read part about investors).

This is not the full list, but I think it is enough to understand - Victoria 3 is not a finished product. It feels like a second stage of beta test at the moment. Please, wait 2 or 3 years before even considering buying it.

It is fine I guess

Feels like a cut content from the base game.
Adds a couple of decisions for Norse cultures:
Blot - bonuses to popularity and relations.
Runestone - different bonuses for provinces. And also has a popularity bonus.
"Pay prestige - give bonuses to courtier" button.

More men-at-arms for norse cultures. Now you can counter nearly EVERY other type of Men-at-Arms.
Really restricted duels. Basically you won't see any if you won't focus on them.

Oh, and "Varangian adventure" to conquer big chunks of lands and leaving your old vassals to themselves. Meeeh.

Imho - it isn't worth it.

While this game improves a lot on some aspects of the previous title, its mid to end game feels like an overthought. Historical outcomes are sometimes even less likely to occur. Every country in the world has levies, even if it contradicts how that society worked. Some regions are weaker than the others even if historically it was the other way around.

The game constantly crashes, lags and disconnects.