For a long time, Victoria 3 was a sarcastic meme among long-standing Paradox fans – a game they dearly wanted, but believed would never come. Now it’s finally a reality, seeing you direct a country’s political, economic, and military pursuits across a historical sandbox simulation, navigating the economic-political stand-offs of the 19th and early 20th centuries. This guide records the final Victoria 3 release date and announcement trailer.
With the game now long since released, heavily played, and expanded upon, you can get more information in our full Victoria 3 review.
For fans of the genre, we’ve also got complete guides to the best grand strategy games and best 4X games available on PC.
Victoria 3 release date
Victoria 3 was released for PC and Mac on October 25, 2022.
The much-anticipated grand-strategy game was first revealed at PDXCON Remixed 2021, and we covered it enthusiastically during development, interviewing game director Martin Anward in May 2021 about its emphasis on diplomacy over warfare, mixing alt-history with historical simulations, and efforts to cater to new players as well as strategy veterans.
Paradox also shared packets of development information with fans via regular dev diaries on its official forums and other formats over the following year and a half until its final release.
Victoria 3 trailer
The initial Victoria 3 trailer, first published on May 21, 2021, is a high-art announcement video that shows off some concept art under a spiffy voiceover, and appropriately sets the tone of the innovative era. Watch it below.
Victoria 3 gameplay
The game’s initial reveal gave us an understanding of Victoria 3’s gameplay focus, right off the bat. It isn’t a mere reskin of other Paradox titles, nor a simple graphical enhancement of its predecessor. Victoria 3 brought some exciting gameplay features to the table.
At launch, the game included over 100 playable countries, and spanned the years 1836 to 1936. Each in-game day is split into four ticks of turn-time, with the map divided into states and smaller provinces.
Central to Victoria 3’s gameplay is the series’ famous Pops system. Modelling the demographics of your nation and its changing behaviour, Paradox called Victoria 3’s Pops system its most detailed yet, simulating the entire world’s population in the Victorian era: over one billion people. Class, religion, culture, education, and more are recorded across workers and dependents.
You won’t be dealing with Pops directly, however, but spend much of your time mediating between the competing political interest groups within your state, such as the Intelligentsia, Industrialists, Rural Folk, Devout, Junkers, and more.
Their composition and strength are determined by the Pops in your country, and their beliefs influence their support or opposition towards your actions. You’ll be manipulating the preferences of these interest groups, and playing them off against one another, to obtain the legislation and national action you desire.
Billed as an economic and political management grand-strategy game, Victoria 3 has a strong diplomatic focus. Game designer Martin Anward told us that war wouldn’t be the focus of the game, and a new ‘diplomatic plays’ mechanic lets you engage in aggressive foreign policy without resorting to battle.
In a diplomatic play, one nation demands something from another state, such as a colony or province, at the threat of invasion. The opposing nations can then persuade other, larger states to join their side at the negotiating table through the promise of a reward. If you can leverage the power of these big states to propel the threat of conflict and intimidate your opponent into submission, you’ll get what you demand without ever declaring war.
Paradox was keen that Victoria 3 appeal to new grand strategy game players, without sacrificing complexity. Crusader Kings 3’s nested tooltips make a return, and Vicky 3 packs other new UI enhancements designed to ease new players into the game. For example, a ‘lens system’ allows you to take actions on a macro scale, so you won’t need to fill your screen with off-putting pop-ups.