A game that is notoriously hard to get into, but once you start grasping the basics the experience begins to snowball and suddenly you realize 3 hours have gone by in an instant.

It didn't take me long to realize that this isn't Civilization. No, the primary appeal of this game isn't to expand your empire until you come out on top, it's the journey your character goes along the way to achieve this - or, whatever goal you set. You aren't bound to any particular play style!

My first campaign saw me trying to become the king of Ireland (dubbed "noob island" by series veterans because it's isolated setting makes it ideal for learning the basics), and while that was certainly my end goal, I quickly came to realize the story my character and their dynasty were going through was the real appeal of this game.

Suddenly my starting character dies, but the game doesn't end. Now I'm playing as my granddaughter who was set to inherit the thrown only to find out I'm in a civil war for control over the kingdom with my own father (the son of my original character) who felt his birth right was stolen from him. Moments are like this were brought about by the choices I made when I started my campaign. Couple this with random events that shake up your character's narrative, stats, or even the lives of your vassals and you have an experience I can't say I've had in any other game I've played.

the one grand-type game i can always come back to regardless of my how tastes change, it seems. game loop is simple and can be repetitive at times, but the rpg elements and propensity for stories to emerge are great facilitators for the sort of prompted daydreaming that i like to get from games and other media. lots of great mods and the focus on character-driven events means all you really need is a writer to make one - which isn't to say there aren't plenty of mods that add new mechanics or warp the entire world to model some fantasy vision. essentially the reason i keep trying paradox games even though they tend to get on my nerves nowadays

Interface is terrible. It takes a really long time to learn the game because there is no proper tutorial. There's also not enough language support. There's too much DLC. You can't play the game without them. Paradox unfortunately sees their player base as a cow to be milked. The milk analogy here is of course money. Release a supposedly complete game in early access, then sell the features that should already be in the game separately in the form of additional packs to make the game what it should be. That's the way it's always been and always will be. One of the worst companies in this industry.