"Europa Universalis 5": the most complex strategy game of all time?

Simon Balissat

31/10/2025

Translation: machine translated

"Europa Universalis 5" simulates 500 years of world history. The huge strategy game is complex, buggy and extremely addictive. I still don't know exactly what I'm doing.

Testing a video game is usually quite simple. Game, write down your thoughts, highlight positive and negative points, categorise, done. That's what I thought until now. I have now found my master in «Europa Universalis 5».

Even after almost two weeks of playing the game, I understand very little about most of the features. Not even 100 years have passed in the virtual land in my game, which means I have only reached a fifth of the simulated time. Winston Churchill said in 1942: «This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning». It is on this premise that I am writing this test.

Which country do you want to play? Yes

«Europa Universalis 5» is a gigantic strategy game that simulates the world during 500 years between 1337 and 1837. Not in months, weeks or days, but hour by hour. The whole world. I can take over every single country that existed in 1337.

The goal? I make it myself. Historical events may steer me in certain directions, but I'm never obliged to go in that direction. I don't have to conquer the Balkans with the Ottomans. As Schwyz, I don't have to found a confederation. As England, the 100 Years' War can degenerate into a ten-day skirmish. It's all in my hands, or rather in my tables.

As is usual with such opulent strategy games, almost everything takes place in menus and submenus. I can display various information about my country on a map: What natural resources does my empire have? How well developed are my provinces? What is the weather like? I then optimise in endless tables, which are roughly divided into topic blocks such as «Diplomacy», «Economy», «Production» or «Military». I switch between the map and the tables as if I were a clerk at the Federal Office of Topography.

Greater Zurich Area

The easiest way to explain this is with an example. I take the city-state of Zurich in the year 1337. The city is not part of the Swiss Confederation and is therefore quite alone. Surrounded by the Goliath Austria, I initially set my sights on neighbouring Toggenburg. I declare Toggenburg my rival, insult them as cow dung and also install spies to give me a good reason for war.

In a battle, I wrest the Toggenburg land. Next, I form an alliance with Austria to expand my territory to Schwyz with the help of the Goliath. That's what I thought. Unfortunately, the Austrians are annoyed about sending their troops from Vienna, which is why the war ends in a medium-sized disaster. Thanks to a few gold pieces, I can sign a peace treaty with Schwyz without having to give up any land. Lucky for me.

What now? My wheat and wool resources barely bring in any guilders, and surrounded by the empires of Austria and Bohemia (which has stolen Aargau from Austria in the west), I have to reorient myself. So I try to break away from the market in Nuremberg. That's where my traders have been buying and selling their goods up to now. In the Middle Ages, that's like travelling the world, so I have very little influence there. Why not open my own marketplace?

Inside marketplace

After a few years, I have enough gold to make Zurich the new trading hub. Now all the neighbouring countries also trade via this marketplace and I always make a nice profit. The city soon reaches its limits and I want to expand it into a major city. It's clear that this will cost a lot of money. What I didn't read in the small print: In addition to 1200 guilders, I also need a population of over 30,000 «Pops». That's the name of the people in «Europa Universalis 5». Well, I'm trying to encourage migration to the city of Zurich with my minister, but somehow my location marketing isn't working. When I click through the laws, I realise that my borders are closed to migrants. But why? Oh well!

When the plague broke out, I had ordered this fifty years earlier to protect my pops. Well then, open the borders and run straight into the next problems: Parliament didn't approve the change, stability in the country suffers. It gets worse: the new arrivals from Francs, Austria or Bohemia don't get on at all with the Gold Coast chic in Zurich. Another minister becomes the integration commissioner and harmonises the new arrivals with our cultural group. It is not clear what means he is using to achieve this. However, it shouldn't be language courses and integration lessons. It's fine with me, because I'm finally making Zurich what it always wanted to be: a big city!

Progress thanks to automation

This episode shows how complex the mechanics of «Europa Universalis 5» are. As a complete beginner, I learn with every decision and every action. Keeping an overview and anticipating consequences are both the key to success and a source of frustration. Fortunately, many things can be automated. I spent an hour trying to understand the complex trading of goods and then gave up in frustration.

In the same way, the computer cancels out my soldiers because I have no muse for it. On the other hand, I retain precise control over what I research and which buildings I build. Research and urban development are important to me. And in a few months' time, there will be a tutorial on YouTube that explains trade so simply that I'll understand it too.

It goes without saying that such a gigantic game also has a few bugs and quirks. In the German translation, some texts are suddenly in English. Sometimes words and references are missing completely. In addition, the performance is subterranean, especially on the three-dimensional map and on the fastest time level, where days fly by in seconds. The developers still need to make significant improvements here. Even «Victoria 3» had similar problems at launch, but they seem less striking to me in Europa Universalis.

What I can't gauge is how deep the game is after several hundred hours of play. I'm in the infatuation phase, everything is new and exciting and I want to try everything (no sexual innuendo). That could change after several campaigns and become a daily grind. At the moment, I'm still totally thrilled when a pop-up tells me that I can canonise my long-dead first mayor.

Luckily, to paraphrase Churchill, I'm only at the «end of the beginning».

«Europa Universalis 5» is available from 4 November - for PC. My version was kindly provided to me by Paradox Interactive.

Simon Balissat

Teamleader Editorial

Simon.Balissat@digitecgalaxus.ch

When I flew the family nest over 15 years ago, I suddenly had to cook for myself. But it wasn’t long until this necessity became a virtue. Today, rattling those pots and pans is a fundamental part of my life. I’m a true foodie and devour everything from junk food to star-awarded cuisine. Literally. I eat way too fast. more

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