Pretty fun, probably most complex game I've played in terms of how much you have to/can learn to get a basic sense of what's going on as presented to you.
Unironically learned a lot about history from this game, I guess a lot of overviews and tidbits that you can do more in depth diving into if you're interested. First time I heard about the Thirty Years' war, or what a Manchu is, or what a Holy Roman Empire is from this game, or how to ship slaves and create an Atlantic triangle.
The map is beautiful truly, game takes on an epic feel if you get really immersed into it. Soundtrack helps with that.

I remember my first Great War against the Ottoman Empire as Spain. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers on each side's coalition in the mid game. Multiple attack points and fronts, attrition, money and population-bleeding. I didn't really know the deeper mechanics of the game at that point so I really actually had no idea who was gonna win, I just built up as large an army as I could and tried to rope in as many allies as possible to match Otto's strength and size on paper and let loose the dogs of war because I was afraid he would become too powerful if unchecked in his upwards trajectory and that was the make-it-or-break-it point. I did win and that was probably the decisive point of the whole game as no one else could challenge me after that point. So yeah like all strategy games against the AI I suppose there's the problem of difficulty and dynamism, but it is what it is. You could pick a small country or do some specific challenges if you want more of a skill test.

I only played three games actually and have 300 hours in it. One as Spain, one as England and one as Brandenburg.
Side note uh I think you should look out for deals and bundles for this game on other websites because the steam page is showing me it costs like $200 for everything now? I remember I got it from the epic games store during an event or sale and paid like $20 or less? cant remember precisely.

Pretty fun, probably most complex game I've played in terms of how much you have to/can learn to get a basic sense of what's going on as presented to you. Unironically learned a lot about history from this game, I guess a lot of overviews and tidbits that you can do more in depth diving into if you're interested. First time I heard about the Thirty Years' war, or what a Manchu is, or what a Holy Roman Empire is from this game, or how to ship slaves and create an Atlantic triangle. The map is beautiful truly, game takes on an epic feel if you get really immersed into it. Soundtrack helps with that. I remember my first Great War against the Ottoman Empire as Spain. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers on each side's coalition in the mid game. Multiple attack points and fronts, attrition, money and population-bleeding. I didn't really know the deeper mechanics of the game at that point so I really actually had no idea who was gonna win, I just built up as large an army as I could and tried to rope in as many allies as possible to match Otto's strength and size on paper and let loose the dogs of war because I was afraid he would become too powerful if unchecked in his upwards trajectory and that was the make-it-or-break-it point. I did win and that was probably the decisive point of the whole game as no one else could challenge me after that point. So yeah like all strategy games against the AI I suppose there's the problem of difficulty and dynamism, but it is what it is. You could pick a small country or do some specific challenges if you want more of a skill test. I only played three games actually and have 300 hours in it. One as Spain, one as England and one as Brandenburg. Side note uh I think you should look out for deals and bundles for this game on other websites because the steam page is showing me it costs like $200 for everything now? I remember I got it from the epic games store during an event or sale and paid like $20 or less? cant remember precisely.