Friday morning was the start of the long-awaited PDXCON Remixed event, a digital convention celebrating all things Paradox Interactive. As expected, PDXCON's kick-off presentation featured a variety of announcements across Paradox's range of grand strategy franchises. The biggest announcement being the return of Victoria, a series that's been awaiting a sequel for over a decade. Victoria 3 is now in development, though release information remains unavailable for the time being.
While Victoria 3 is without a doubt a grand strategy game, Paradox prefers to refer to it as a society simulator. Its currencies are the needs and desires of national populations, dealing with diplomatic, economic, military, political, and technological aspects of a historical state. Balancing everything at once while striving toward the future is the player's goal in Victoria 3, but as history shows that's no simple matter – even if it's just a simulation of the real thing.
Paradox describes Victoria 3 as one of the studio's "most detailed historical worlds." Players will once again be returning to the 19th century's Industrial Age, when "scientific and social progress" drove forward at an unprecedented pace. According to Paradox, 100 different countries will be playable in Victoria 3, with plans to reach across the entire world down the line. And while some regions won't be playable, including most of Africa and parts of both North and South America, these Decentralized Countries will still have appropriate names and governments.
One thing that Paradox makes clear in its announcement of Victoria 3 is that, while this is an entirely new game, it remains dedicated to the ideas behind Victoria 2 and its predecessor. In other words, this is not a wargame like much of Paradox's other offerings. Wars are a part of the game, but only in service to the larger mechanics of managing the internal workings of a Victorian-age country. There are plenty of alternatives for those looking for a grand strategy game with map painting.
As exciting as Victoria 3's reveal was, Paradox remained quiet about its release plans for the game. In other words, it clearly needs more time in development before Paradox will be ready to provide a release window or date with confidence. What Paradox did share was that Victoria 3 will be coming to PC not just through Steam and the Paradox Store, but via Xbox Game Pass as well.
Victoria 3 wasn't the only announcement Paradox made during PDXCON. Other reveals include the major Royal Court expansion for Crusader Kings 3, Empire of Sin's first expansion Make It Count, Prison Architect's fifth expansion Second Chances, the Federations expansion for Stellaris, and new content creator packs for Cities Skylines.
Victoria 3 is currently in development for PC.