Recent reviews by Grug

Very mixed game. 40% of the time you're having fun ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on hill people and growing stronger, the rest is anti-fun that ruins the whole experience. You have to deal with being bombarded with trade deals and having to import grain to feed your people when this should all be managed automatically. You have to deal with loyalty, constantly having to bribe, befriend and grant estates to people just to keep going. Sometimes, your admirals and generals will defy your orders and walk away from battles getting you killed. There are powerful families that you have to constantly put in positions of power or else they will become disloyal. If two or more powerful people become disloyal, there will be a countdown to a civil war unless you can bribe them enough to back down. There are constantly new elections, so the progress you made on your previous character gaining influence will completely reset itself. This game is further evidence that democracy is a failed system, because it makes you want to slaughter every corrupt politician and take power yourself. If you want a game that makes you feel like an utter cuckold with no control over your own destiny, get this game.

This game gave me a brain tumor. There are so many tabs, resources to spend and the interface is so confusing. The combat basically comes down to how many troops you can death stack. Homefield advantage, whether you're defending or attacking, highground don't matter. The game punishes you for doing well. If you annex a country, you'll just get curb-stomped by a coalition. You don't get to choose who your rivals are, you get a choice from 4 and all of them are stronger than you. When you declare war on someone, you lose 2 stability and it takes like a year to gain 1. I played as Castille and thought I would unite spain. I got a Casus Belli against Aragon and destroyed them, but wasn't allowed to take any land and was stuck with no manpower. The game punishes player choice and fun. 4/10 get HOI4 instead.

Yay, a bunch of new stuff to research. Too bad there isn't a dedicated naval research bar, or more research slots so it will all be ignored.

Play with mods, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run, do not do an achievement run,