Recent reviews by Shifter

Amazing game with real life quests!
We won Helldivers!!!

Enjoy delivering LIBER TEA!!!

I can completely understand the hate this games receives because of its poor optimization, however I got lucky. Had only minor visual glitches and the game hasn't crashed on me jet after 23 hours of gaming.

FPS also were decent for my pc. Played on 1080p High and almost never dropped bellow 30FPS. Normally the game hovers around 45-60FPS. For me that is completely OK for a single player game.
CPU: I7 8700k and GPU: 1080

Story was amazing, loved it!

I have been told multiple times by my friend to buy this fantastic real time strategy game. I took me some time until I was convinced to spend my money on this game, because I was waiting on a sale (This game is totally worth buying full price, however it is frequently on sale).

First impressions:
I was fortunate enough to have someone experienced, to teach me the game mechanics, because Europa Universalis 4 is very complex games, that requires a lot of time and effort to learn. Personally, it took me around 30 to 50 hours of multiple playthroughs with different countries to completely understand the basics. However now with over 120 hours of having played this game (as of writing this review) I really understand what I am doing.

Singleplayer:
Personally, I wouldn’t recommend playing singleplayer at first to someone who is new to the game. Look for someone experienced who can teach you the basics first. If you know what you are doing, singleplayer is a great way to relax or if you want a challenge you can start a game in ironman mode. Ironman mode is an optional gameplay feature that restricts control over the saved game, disallowing the player from correcting mistakes and changing decisions made during the course of play. So basically if you screw up you cannot reload a save file.

Multiplayer:
I find multiplayer the best way to experience the game. Concurring the world with your friends, creating colonial empires, handicapping yourself for example to defeat Europa as an underdeveloped tribe together and many other things, give the game a huge variety. The game can change form slow pace gameplay, like building an infrastructure to intense battles to defend or conquer land, in an instant. Every new playthrough with your friends, even with the same countries, feels like a new adventure.
I personally think playing against real players is the greatest way to enjoy this game. Even though the AI is smart and is being improved constantly it can sometimes be predictable and okaying against Randoms or friends will give you the best experience.

Are there any negative aspects to this game?
Yes, there are some negative aspects to this game. Some are minor like the steep learning curve and some are rather negative, like needing all the DLCs to fully experience the game and if you really want to get the game with all the DLCs, you will spend easily more than 80€ (As I already said the game and the DLCs are frequently on sale, which cuts the total price more that 60% to around 40€). If you play alone without most of the DLCs the game feels like it is missing some key features. However, this can easily be bypassed if one of your friends already owns the DLCs, because if you play with your friends a multiplayer session and the host owns the DLCs, everyone connected can experience the additional features of the DLCs without paying. That’s a great move by paradox studios.

Summary: So, should I buy this game?
You defiantly should buy it. I have rarely found strategy games, that had me addicted, saying multiple times a day to myself: “Come on, 5 more minutes are ok! You can go to sleep then”. The complexity of this game is what makes this game so great and addictive to play. Even though the price is expensive, EU4 is frequently on sale cutting its price by around 50-75%. Furthermore, for the beginners I strongly suggest watch tutorials that explain the basics so you don’t feel lost at the beginning. If you are not willing to invest time in learning this is not a game for you.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy Europa Universalis 4.


This was my first review if you have anything to say, that I can improve for my next review pls do tell me.