New Europa Universalis IV expansion will bring the Rights of Man to Renaissance Europe

It's been just a hair over three years since we awarded the grand strategy game Europa Universalis IV a 91% in our review, which makes this a fine time for Paradox Interactive to announce that a new expansion, “Rights of Man,” is on the way. 

“This expansion to Paradox Development Studio’s best-selling historical strategy game introduces a number of small changes that add up to a deeper and more dynamic experience,” the studio wrote. “Near the top of this list is the Great Power mechanic, where the most developed nations have access to new diplomatic options to bully or entice weaker neighbors. Keep that development going, or lose the powers you paid a high price for.” 

Other notable features in the expansion: 

  • New goals for Coptic and Fetishist religions
  • Greater control over adopting new cultures in your empire
  • Leader Traits giving battle hardened commanders added prowess
  • More detailed military instructions for Subject Nations
  • Revolutionary Republics now have Factions to balance
  • Ottoman Empire gets new Harem Politics events and options 

The list concludes with a “much much more,” but you get the idea: There's nothing here that's going to revolutionize the game all by itself, but collectively it adds up to a fairly significant evolution. The release of the Rights of Man expansion will be accompanied by a free update to the EUIV base game, which Paradox said “will have the first major overhaul of the technology system since launch.”    

A release date for Rights of Man hasn't been announced, but Paradox said it's coming soon.       

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.