This game is fantastic. I have 1500 hours in Stellaris, and 1000 in EU4, and have spent 160 hours in the last two weeks playing this game (yes, I know, that is absurd). If you are expecting EU4 two, this is not it; while the gameplay loop is similar to all other 4X games, this is more than just the map-blob game. Unlike EU4, this game has significant *satisfying* support for playing tall. Sure, there are "meta" strategies for optimal gameplay, but there is so much content that cannot be meta-gamed. That is to say, you have agency over how you wish to run your country, how you wish to play your game, without feeling forced into playing a certain (read: optimal) way—in many cases there is no "optimal," there is just what you prefer.

The biggest hurdle to this game is the learning curve. Even with thousands of hours in previous paradox games, I found myself having to dedicate nearly 10 hours of playing the tutorials and watching supplemental youtube content just to get a grasp on the *basics* of the game. Now, after 160 hours, and a full Venice and full Muscovy campaign, I feel like I have a strong grasp on 75% of the game, an okay grasp on 15% of the game, and a pretty weak grasp on about 10% of the game.

If you can suffer the chore of learning the basics, it is incredibly rewarding and captivating. I cannot wait to dump thousands of hours in to this game.

As of writing this review, I have encountered very few bugs, though the game has crashed maybe a total of 4 times. I believe this is due to a a miniscule memory leak, as each crash has occurred after 10-14 hours of straight gameplay, and the game is noticeably slower the longer the session goes on (this is separate from the natural slowing down that occurs as you advance through the ages and more of the map is revealed, requiring more processing power).

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☑ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☑ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
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