Recent reviews by TheSpicyAlfredo

If you want to have fun Vanilla play-though on the countries included in this DLC, this DLC is worth the money. As a lead-developer whose made focus trees for a major Vanilla+ mod for Hearts of Iron 4 (Road to 56). I can say with confidence that these National focus trees are more polished and though-out then what can be found currently on the workshop. The effort the development team put in making sure the content is fun and better then what was built before in previous DLC's is evident to me. While this isn't the first DLC I'd recommend to buy for someone whose new to Heart's of Iron, I believe for a player who puts a ton of hours into Vanilla Hearts of Iron that this DLC is worth the price of admission.

This game isn't a Victoria 2.5. If you go into this game excepting a modern port of Victoria 2 or 1:1 squeal to it, you'll be very disappointed like many other steam reviewers understandably are. Victoria 3 is something different from Victoria 2. The game's core gameplay loop is more focused on the economic and internal health and running of a nation. With some classic Victoria 2 game mechanics retrofitted on top of that core gameplay. Victoria 3 is more of a “line go up” and production line game, in the same vein as “Factorio” and “Satisfactory.” Both of which are games I enjoy.

Victoria 3 does the “line go up” and economic simulator rather well. It’s punishing, hard, fair, and addictive. Its biggest shortcomings are some of the classic Victoria 2 gameplay tenets, such as diplomacy and war. This is where veterans of Victoria will find the game most lacking and disappointing. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the game needs a good coat of polish and bug fixing. This pain area is greatly felt in the AI department. The launch version does feel a little half-baked and more of a late beta build.

If you enjoy economic simulators, I would give Victoria 3 a try. If you’re on the fence, wait for Paradox to hammer out the bugs and flesh out more of the game's diplomacy and historical flavor a few months down the line.

Positives:
+ Excellent Economic Simulator
+ Addictive Gameplay Loop
+ Amazing soundtrack and sound effects
Neutral:
+/- Plays like it’s own game and not so much like Victoria 2
Negatives:
- Diplomacy gameplay is lacking
- Bugs
- AI is very unpolished

Score: 7.5/10

Preface: I became apart of the Development Team as an unpaid volunteer QA tester after purchasing the game for myself with my own money. So given that I do have an inherent bias and interest in giving the game a glowingly positive review. With that said I’ll briefly go over the game’s strengths and some reasons why this game may be or not be for you.

The game has a unique and beautiful user-Interface that is akin to computer terminals of the late cold war. Also taking cues from a decent dose of 80’s pop culture, with different color setups if the default scheme isn’t to ones liking. The game is easy on the eyes.

The gameplay itself is a unique take on grand strategy with a 1v1 format with two factions representing the USSR and the USA. If you don’t come from a grand strategy background the game can have a decent learning curve. In-game resources do a okay job of explaining the game elements though outside tutorial resources are recommended if you struggle to learn the game. Overall I would recommend the game for a fun cold war based grand strategy with simple but deep ‘rock, paper, scissors’ based combat, and surprising strategic depth with historical based events and leaders. Though if you’re new to grand strategy this may not be a good game to jump into the deep end with. If it is you first jump into the genre and you still would like to give the game a try I would say watch some tutorials on the game to help you get a sense of the game elements before making the purchase decision.

Tl;dr: Great UI, simple but complex combat system, awesome historical context given to in-game events, and elements, decently steep learning curve.

Having played a few king of the hill game modes, I was going to write this of as a cheap cash grab. Boy was i wrong, it's a hella lot of fun.

89/100

A fun shooter that intingles you with its competive depth and gameplay. I must play for the competive online gamer. Highly recommend.