''Victoria II'' is a grand strategy game developed by the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

game company

Paradox Development Studio Paradox Development Studio (PDS) is a Swedish video game developer founded in 1995. It is closely associated with its parent company and video game publisher, Paradox Interactive. It is best known for its grand strategy wargame series ''Europa ...

and published by

Paradox Interactive Paradox Interactive AB is a video game publisher based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company started out as the video game division of Target Games and then Paradox Entertainment (now Cabinet Entertainment) before being spun out into an independen ...

. It was announced on August 19, 2009, and released on August 13, 2010. It is a sequel to '' Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun''. Virtual Programming published the Mac OS X version of the game on September 17, 2010, which is available on the App Store. The game was localized for Russia by

1C Company 1C Company (russian: Фирма «1С», ) is a Russian software developer, distributor and publisher based in Moscow. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, related services and video games. In Russia, 1C is c ...

and Snowball Studios. Like its predecessor, ''Victoria II'' has the player control one of approximately 200 states of the world between 1836 and 1936. The player is in charge of a number of tools for managing the economy, science, domestic politics, diplomacy, army and navy. The main difference from other global strategies of Paradox Interactive is a significant emphasis on the details of internal processes occurring in the state, and the developed system of diplomacy available to the great powers. The game has many historical aspects to it, such as the ability to

colonize Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

places that, at the time, were not under the control of any European power, such as

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

, and parts of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. Additionally, the game possesses a multiplayer mode, in which up to 32 players can play simultaneously. In 2021 Paradox announced a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

, ''

Victoria 3 ''Victoria 3'' is a 2022 grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. It is a sequel to the 2010 game ''Victoria II'' and was released on 25 October 2022. Gameplay ''Victoria 3'' ...

'', which was released October 25, 2022.

Development

A sequel for '' Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun'' was announced on August 19, 2009 as part of GamesCon 2009. Johan Andersson, the lead programmer for Paradox Interactive at the time, talked about the changes in gameplay compared to the previous game and showed the first screenshots of the game, which showed a map of Europe and various interface elements. Shortly after the announcement of the game, the head of Paradox Interactive Studios, Fredrik Wester, publicly stated that, due to the low sales of the first game, he did not believe in the success of Victoria 2, he voted for another project to be put in development, and that he was ready to shave his head should the game see a profit. On the contrary, Johan Andersson, the initiator of the project, was confident that the game would be successful, referring to the requests and votes by fans and the opinion of the development team. In the end, Andersson and Wester made a bet that, if Victoria 2 was successful, Wester would shave is head, and if it was not, he would have sole control over which game would release next. It was revealed in a German interview with Fredrik that 70,000 copies would need to be sold for Victoria II to be profitable. On June 17, 2010, when it became known that there would be many pre-orders giving the game good sales, Wester asked Jessica Chobot at IGN to shave his head and upload the pictures to

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. The game was developed by a development team consisting of producer, designer and programmer Johan Andersson, project leader and programmer Thomas Johansson, designer and tester Christopher King, programmers Dan Lind, Fredrik Zetterman, Olof Björk, Henrik Vohraeus, Bjorn Johannessen, Sara Wendel-Ertqvist, artists Yunus Jakobsson, Fredrik Persson and composer Andreas Waldetoft. The development team covered the progress of development in their diaries, which were published to Paradox's official forum by Christopher King. Between November 2009 and June 2010, 29 numbered diaries and two bonus diaries were published. A working beta version of Victoria II was demonstrated in June 2010 at the E3 show held in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. The game was presented by the producer, Johan Andersson, who demonstrated the main gameplay and talked about innovations the game would bring. On August 10, 2010, a playable demo was released, allowing you to play as the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Gameplay

''Victoria II'' spans the globe from 1836 to 1936 with over 200 playable nations.Victoria II Announcement
, Paradox Plaza Like its predecessor, ''Victoria II'' focuses on internal management, covering the industrialization and social/political changes in a country with 8 different government types. The game gives a lot of importance to the economy of a country by having a complex market system with over 50 types of goods and factories. While warfare is a component of the game it is not the primary focus as in other Paradox Interactive games such as the ''

Hearts of Iron ''Hearts of Iron'' is a grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Strategy First. Based on the Europa Engine, it was originally released in 2002 for Microsoft Windows. A Mac OS version was released by Vi ...

'' series. Nations' populations are divided into cultures, religions, classes and

occupations Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

. There are several different population groups (or "pops"), such as

aristocrats Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word' ...

, army officers, clergy, soldiers,

labourers A laborer (or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor types in the construction industry workforce. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in which their only possession of significant material value is their labor. Industries e ...

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

bureaucrat A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size, although the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government. The term ''bureaucrat'' derives from "bureaucracy", w ...

s and others. As in other Paradox titles such as ''

Europa Universalis ''Europa Universalis'' is a grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published in 2000 by Strategy First. Development The game was originally based on a French board game of the same name by Philippe Thibaut t ...

'', historical missions called "decisions", which are micro-objectives in the larger game, have been added. There are thousands of historical events and decisions as well. These events and decisions can lead to the creation or disintegration of nation states. ''Victoria II'' contains a number of changes and improvements from its predecessor. The interface was streamlined when compared to the original game, which was described by producer Johan Andersson as, "the interface God forgot". Automation of various tasks has been added, including trade and population promotion. The

education system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...

has received an overhaul by having clergy educate people of the same religion, and each population group now has their own

literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in Writing, written form in some specific context of use. In other wo ...

levels. Education and literacy's importance is reflected in the vast technology system that contains thousands of inventions. Additionally, the functioning of ideology in the game was tweaked such that population groups are more sensitive to changes in their country's situation, as well as inclined to agitate for specific levels of political and social reforms.

Economy

The economic system in ''Victoria II'' attempts to simulate the flow of resources in a world market. Every province in the game produces a resource in resource gathering operations (RGOs). Some resources, such as wheat, are demanded principally by the population. Other materials, like iron, are consumed primarily by industry, but are still tradeable. The production and unemployment system from the original ''Victoria'' has been revised to better reflect market forces, whereas in the original, the state provided the funds for resources and the player possessed a wide range of options with which to build their economy, provided they had access to the proper

raw material A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. As feeds ...

s. All resources can be collected or produced by industry. The game also has a cottage production system simulating pre-industrial economies.

Diplomacy

''Victoria II'' contains a deep political simulation reflected in 8 different types of governments, 7 ideologies and a new

sphere of influence In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military or political exclusivity. While there may be a formal a ...

system,

gunboat diplomacy In international politics, the term gunboat diplomacy refers to the pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of naval power, implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare should terms not be agreeable to ...

, and a new election system with

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

s and legislatures. The diplomacy in ''Victoria II'' is similar to that of other Paradox titles. Each country has a relation value of −200 to +200 which represents how much they like each other. Diplomatic and in-game actions shift this relationship around and it factors into the AI's decisions. However, Paradox Interactive has expanded parts of this system. War goals from

Heir to the Throne An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

, an expansion for

Europa Universalis III ''Europa Universalis III'' is a grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows in January 2007, and was later ported to OS X by Virtual Progr ...

have been integrated though they function in a slightly different way. More war goals can be added as the war progresses, although this depends on the population's temperament. Failure to achieve a war goal will increase the population's militancy, which can lead to revolts as well as a loss of prestige. In the game controlling a

Great Power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power i ...

, one of the eight countries with highest total score, gives special diplomatic options not available to other countries. Great Powers do not just influence how a country sees them; they have the added ability to use their influence on other countries to change their perception of other Great Powers. The struggle for influence that the Great Powers wage around the world is not a simple bilateral basis but occurs with each other inside different countries, giving an added dimension to diplomacy which was not present in the original Victoria.

Warfare

Warfare is regarded as a lesser priority than politics and economics in ''Victoria II'', though it follows the basic pattern used in other Paradox grand strategy games, with armies moving between provinces and engaging enemy armies and capturing enemy territory. The basic combat system is a combination of the systems used in ''

'', '' Europa Universalis: Rome'', and ''

Hearts of Iron III ''Hearts of Iron III'' is a grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. The Microsoft Windows version of the game was released on August 7, 2009, while the Mac OS X version was released ...

''. A key component to combat is "frontage": the number of units in an army at the

front line A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or unin ...

, which decreases as technology improves to simulate the change from the roving armies of the

Napoleonic Era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislativ ...

to the continuous trench lines of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Several aspects of the military have been changed from ''Victoria''. The base unit has been reduced from a 10,000-unit

division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

to a 3,000-unit

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

, which is no longer raised from a national manpower pool but directly raised from a provincial soldier POP, to which the brigade remains connected. A new aspect to the military is

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...

. This is a value that gives a bonus (or penalty, if low) to capturing provinces and defeating enemy armies; in prolonged combat, however, the reconnaissance value drops. Units such as cavalry and aeroplanes have high reconnaissance values and are intended to be used as scouts. The overall objective is to move your country on into a new era, in a period of great change.

Expansions

''Victoria II'' has received two main expansion packs, as well as minor cosmetic DLC.

''A House Divided''

''A House Divided'' was announced at the

Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 (E3 2011) was the 17th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 7, 2011, and ended on June 9, 2011, with 46,800 total attendees. E3 201 ...

as an expansion pack with an aim on " mproving thepolitical and economical aspects of the game, with focus on the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

era". It was released on February 2, 2012, for Windows and on March 30, 2012, for OS X; it is currently only available for purchase by download. It includes the following features: *A new starting point in 1861, allowing players to experience the American Civil War from the start. *The ability to manufacture

reasons In the most general terms, a reason is a consideration which justifies or explains an action, a belief, an attitude, or a fact. ''Normative reasons'' are what people appeal to when making arguments about what people should do or believe. For exam ...

to go to war with other countries, all in the name of the great game of power. * For uncivilized countries, various new reform paths to ultimately become equal to the western nations. *The ability for Great Powers to invest in building infrastructure and factories in other countries to strengthen their ties to them. *A deeper political system with new national focus options and new types of reform. *A new system of popular movements that can be appeased or suppressed, but if ignored, will become the revolutionaries of tomorrow. *An improved interface, with more information easily available and improving gameplay. *

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

is now divided into cliques, known as substates, allowing for more interaction in the Far East.

''Heart of Darkness''

The ''Victoria II: Heart of Darkness'' expansion was released on April 16, 2013. It includes the following features: *A brand new

colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

system; *A new naval combat system; *Significant changes to land combat (particularly

forts A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, recon/siege); *A number of top-level interface upgrades including many new map modes; *Introduction of international crises and many events, allowing smaller nations to achieve their aims with the aid of Great Powers; *Introduction of newspapers which provide information about events around the world; and *Several tweaks to industrial production.

Other DLC

A selection of smaller DLC has been made available for purchase for ''Victoria II''. These have little to no effect on gameplay but alter the game's appearance or music, and are significantly less expensive than their larger counterparts.

Music packs

* ''Victoria II: Songs of the Civil War'' Special pre-order content: * ''Victoria II: Lament For The Queen''

Cosmetic packs

* ''Victoria II: A House Divided – American Civil War Spritepack'' * ''Victoria II: German Unit Pack'' * ''Victoria II: Interwar Engineer Unit Pack'' * ''Victoria II: Interwar Cavalry Unit Pack'' * ''Victoria II: Interwar Spritepack'' * ''Victoria II: Interwar Artillery Spritepack'' * ''Victoria II: Planes Spritepack''

Reception

Victoria II received generally favourable reviews, achieving a 75% average on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' said that there was much less

micromanagement In business management, micromanagement is a management style whereby a manager closely observes, controls, and/or reminds the work of their subordinates or employees. Micromanagement is generally considered to have a negative connotation, main ...

than in its predecessor. The reviewer stated: "Thanks to a friendlier interface and tutorials, Victoria II is a lot more playable and enjoyable than its predecessor."Gamespot
''

GameShark GameShark is the brand name of a line of video game cheat cartridges and other products for a variety of console video game systems and Windows-based computers. Currently, the brand name is owned by Mad Catz, which marketed GameShark products fo ...

'' was less enthusiastic. The reviewer said: "As a strategy game, Victoria II frustrates me. It is an orgy of detail for detail's sake, yet the information I really want never seems to be at hand. The decisions I make seem mostly inconsequential, changing the game only by a slow process of accretion. Modeling has overtaken game design. Watching Victoria II is hypnotic and frequently awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, you only occasionally might want to play it."GameShark
The release of ''A House Divided'' drew increased praise and averaged 76% on Metacritic, and ''Heart of Darkness'' further increased positive reviews, averaging 81%. ''Gaming Nexus'' gave the final product a verdict of 8.5 ("very good") and commented that "after some patching and a couple of expansions, ''Victoria 2'' is rounding into shape. It is still deep with a killer learning curve, but it is starting to feel like a fun game rather than a buggy spreadsheet."

Sequel

In an Ask Me Anything thread on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...

in October 2013, PDS manager Johan Andersson stated that they would consider making a sequel to ''Victoria II'', but that this would likely come after ''

Hearts of Iron IV ''Hearts of Iron IV'', also known as HOI4, is a grand strategy computer wargame developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. It was released worldwide on 6 June 2016. It is the sequel to 2009's '' Hearts of Iro ...

''. In December 2015, a beta patch was made for ''Victoria II'', long after it was assumed that no further patches would be released. This prompted speculation that there could be refreshed interest in the ''Victoria'' series, although in a Reddit thread these rumours were played down by Paradox developers. During an interview for the company's Paradox Podcast in February 2018, CEO Fredrik Wester mentioned "I'm not a firm believer that Victoria II is the most prioritised game to make a sequel out of", that he won't be the one making the decision either and that it would come "before 2025". At PDXCON 2021,

was announced.

was released on 25 October 2022.

References

External links

*
Official wiki
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