I have been playing this series since Geopolitical Simulator 3 - Masters of the World, and I've played both the 2019 and the 2021 of this fourth edition. This game was always a one-of-a-kind experience, albeit a very buggy mess of one. The 2023 version is basically a carbon copy of the 2021 version (which itself was almost a carbon copy of the 2019 version), with additional issues that really demonstrate the lack of depth in this game. The way the economy works in this game makes no sense at all.

If you're coming in expecting any type of economics-based gameplay where your policies can cause meaningful change in your country's GDP, currency exchange rate, and overall wealth, then look somewhere else. Also, this game is either super hard or super easy depending on your luck vis-a-vis bugs, and depending on whether you abuse certain broken features (such as running an ever-increasing "Wine Tax" that generates billions and billions of revenue for you without any drawbacks) or not.

This game is skin deep, and this is incredibly obvious if you reach the end-game. In the previous versions, getting to that point was very difficult, and so I had fun, and spent tens of hours per campaign. With this version, I feel like I've accomplished all I want to accomplish in the game after about 7 hours of gameplay. Compare this with newer titles that have come out since the first release of this game's original version like Victoria 3, and you'll realize that this title simply does not hold up.

Edit: And I forgot to say that warfare is a joke, too. All you need to do is get commandos, rush the enemy's capital, drop inside the presidential palace, and they will surrender in a few days. By the time the UN resolution condemning you kicks in, the war will have ended and no one will attack you :)

Tl;dr: while the game might seem like a unique but unpolished gem at first glance, just like its previous iterations, it is in fact just a broken, simple, and outdated game that promises way more than it delivers. Diplomacy in this game is basically a joke, the economic simulation is non-functional, and all the gameplay systems are very unbalanced. Don't waste your money on this game, don't even try it. Get Victoria 3 instead.

I have been playing this series since Geopolitical Simulator 3 - Masters of the World, and I've played both the 2019 and the 2021 of this fourth edition. This game was always a one-of-a-kind experience, albeit a very buggy mess of one. The 2023 version is basically a carbon copy of the 2021 version (which itself was almost a carbon copy of the 2019 version), with additional issues that really demonstrate the lack of depth in this game. The way the economy works in this game makes no sense at all. If you're coming in expecting any type of economics-based gameplay where your policies can cause meaningful change in your country's GDP, currency exchange rate, and overall wealth, then look somewhere else. Also, this game is either super hard or super easy depending on your luck vis-a-vis bugs, and depending on whether you abuse certain broken features (such as running an ever-increasing "Wine Tax" that generates billions and billions of revenue for you without any drawbacks) or not. This game is skin deep, and this is incredibly obvious if you reach the end-game. In the previous versions, getting to that point was very difficult, and so I had fun, and spent tens of hours per campaign. With this version, I feel like I've accomplished all I want to accomplish in the game after about 7 hours of gameplay. Compare this with newer titles that have come out since the first release of this game's original version like Victoria 3, and you'll realize that this title simply does not hold up. Edit: And I forgot to say that warfare is a joke, too. All you need to do is get commandos, rush the enemy's capital, drop inside the presidential palace, and they will surrender in a few days. By the time the UN resolution condemning you kicks in, the war will have ended and no one will attack you :) Tl;dr: while the game might seem like a unique but unpolished gem at first glance, just like its previous iterations, it is in fact just a broken, simple, and outdated game that promises way more than it delivers. Diplomacy in this game is basically a joke, the economic simulation is non-functional, and all the gameplay systems are very unbalanced. Don't waste your money on this game, don't even try it. Get Victoria 3 instead.