‘Universalis V’ Europe is the most ambitious strategy game in history. And brings surprise: he was born in Spain

‘Universalis V’ Europe, the last installment of the legendary Strategy saga of Interactive Paradox, is an ambitious jump in depth, realism and complexity for the Fans of the genre. The series, venerated for two decades and competing face to face with giants as civilization It reinvents itself to offer unprecedented historical simulation. But the most interesting of all is that, after four deliveries developed in Swedenthis fifth part is being developed entirely in Spain by the Paradox red study, based in Barcelona.

It goes more. We attended the presentation that Paradox red carried out in the Comic-with Malagajust a few weeks after its launch on November 4, and between Sonia Linares (Director of Operations), Álvaro Sanz (Head of Content Design) and Matías Tiscornia (2D Art Coordinator) made it clear that the title was, above all, “” Ambitious. We have people with 7000 hours played at our games, people who live the saga. ” And it is from a superficial first glance: “The fourth install

500 years of simulation. And so with everything: in ‘EU4’ there were 900, and here, 2,000. In the previous delivery, 16 combinations of land (climate, topography and vegetation), and now we will have 672. in ‘EU4’ there were 367 cultures, and in ‘EU5’, 2,000. And if there were only 27 religions there, we will now have 300. 16,000 kilometers of map and more than 500 years of history, from 1337 (the beginning of the War of the Hundred Years) until 1837 (the dawn of the Victorian era). That is, the players will live the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the absolutism, the revolutions and other key periods structured in six ages (traditions, rebirth, discovery, information, absolutism and revolution). Exhausting but infinitely stimulating.

Three pillars. To stand this ambition, the game has been based on “three organic pillars: first, A credible world based on systems, mechanical, etc. simulations; Second, an almost infinite rejugability, that thousands of hours occur for the family’s freedom of action; And third, that the game is really from the community: we have spent the last year and a half of development going to the forum every week to be part of the creation of the game, talk to the community directly, ask what they want, to make fixes and changes instantly, all thanks to the community. “

Maximum detail. All this sets in an obsession with absolutely demential detail: for example, the team presented us with a panoramic view of how the game in 1337 was contract according to variables controlled by the player. ” There are mechanics for exploration and colonization of territories, “with the possibility of sending populations to colonize, create commercial companies and exploit resources.” And of course, possibilities of diplomacy and war.

Even music. In total, “more than 100,000 lines of content, more than 60 countries with unique content made by hand, more than 8,000 events, 2,000 decisions, hundreds of forms of government, laws, privileges and situations. More than 1,300 historical characters have also been investigated. And that only in 1337 dynamic that changes according to the player’s actions.

And much more. And with this we are only scratching the surface of what the game contributes, since decisions have been made of enormous complexity. For example, “if there is an empire that includes different ethnicities within it, it is tried to reflect the genetic and cultural burden throughout the country.” And all this embodied, as the art coordinator told us, in “Illustrations of events, disasters and dynamic organizations, showing the cultural diversity of the game and how the same event can manifest itself differently in different cultures.”

That is, a huge and even effort to the ambition of the project, for an entirely developed game in Spain but has an absolutely international scope. So much, which covers five centuries.

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