It is functionally a well written and presented ‘choose your adventure’ political drama.
There are elements of randomness and gameplay systems, but it is not really a grand strategy game with a whole extremely complex simulation engine undergirding it, the way Paradox games are.
I would say that it does count as a strategy game in the sense that navigating toward outcomes you want does take a good bit of understanding how power politics works within basically the Cold War era, particularly from the standpoint of a non aligned nation.
Maybe you could say its like the Paradox games, if they stripped most of the numbers mechanics, made them less complex and not the focus, and were left with mainly narrative events and focus trees, but those were done in great detail.
Note
I played this game basically right when it came out, several years ago, and it may have changed since.
it is not really a grand strategy game with a whole extremely complex simulation engine undergirding it, the way Paradox games are.
This might actually be a plus for me, for as much as I want to love those games, I always ultimately get bogged down in that shit.
I haven’t played in a while, but I have over 100 hours in EU4, with at least a half a dozen of the dlc, and I can say that I still don’t truly know how to play those games “properly.” The level of detail is simultaneously insane and dumb (sometimes their approximations of real life things are understandably absurd). I love the idea of them though.
I just got a new PC with a little more juice, and picked up Victoria 3 and have been debating if I should start watching tutorial videos or not…
Completely and wildly different genre, but I’ve been very intrigued so far with Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic as a city builder with a pretty impressive amount of detail. It’s unique among the genre as the main goal isn’t financial, but more focused on the well-being of your citizens. Lots of public housing, public transport, walking paths… There are two currencies, and if you choose to deal with the West you have to use a separate currency.
I feel like if I’m going to put the time into a complex “simulation” game at this point, it might be that one.
It is functionally a well written and presented ‘choose your adventure’ political drama.
There are elements of randomness and gameplay systems, but it is not really a grand strategy game with a whole extremely complex simulation engine undergirding it, the way Paradox games are.
I would say that it does count as a strategy game in the sense that navigating toward outcomes you want does take a good bit of understanding how power politics works within basically the Cold War era, particularly from the standpoint of a non aligned nation.
Maybe you could say its like the Paradox games, if they stripped most of the numbers mechanics, made them less complex and not the focus, and were left with mainly narrative events and focus trees, but those were done in great detail.
Note
I played this game basically right when it came out, several years ago, and it may have changed since.
Interesting, thanks for the info.
This might actually be a plus for me, for as much as I want to love those games, I always ultimately get bogged down in that shit.
I haven’t played in a while, but I have over 100 hours in EU4, with at least a half a dozen of the dlc, and I can say that I still don’t truly know how to play those games “properly.” The level of detail is simultaneously insane and dumb (sometimes their approximations of real life things are understandably absurd). I love the idea of them though.
I just got a new PC with a little more juice, and picked up Victoria 3 and have been debating if I should start watching tutorial videos or not…
Completely and wildly different genre, but I’ve been very intrigued so far with Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic as a city builder with a pretty impressive amount of detail. It’s unique among the genre as the main goal isn’t financial, but more focused on the well-being of your citizens. Lots of public housing, public transport, walking paths… There are two currencies, and if you choose to deal with the West you have to use a separate currency.
I feel like if I’m going to put the time into a complex “simulation” game at this point, it might be that one.