Paradox Interactive's 'ultimate society simulator' arrives in October

It took more than a decade for Paradox Interactive to announce a follow-up to its epic 19th century grand strategy game Victoria 2, but it won't take much more than a year to get from there to release: Paradox dropped a new Victoria 3 trailer today showing off some gameplay and—this is the important bit—revealing that it will launch on Steam on October 25.

This is a big deal for Paradox fans, for whom Victoria 3 was a bit like Half-Life 3: A much-demanded sequel that seemed like it would never actually happen. As with so many things online, the long wait took on a life of its own as a meme, which Paradox leaned into with a meme contest shortly after Victoria 3 was launched.

Victoria 3 meme — (Image credit: Paradox Interactive)

That's not the only big bit of society simulator news to arrive today. We've also got our first gameplay preview and, while Victoria 3 is still a couple months away from full release, calling our initial impressions "promising" seems like a vast undersell.

"Victoria 3 is a breathtakingly ambitious simulation unlike anything that's come before," our previewer wrote. "There are some places where it becomes cumbersome due to the complexity of all the moving parts, particularly when it comes to the economy. But I could hardly drag myself away to do anything else for the 10 days I got to play it."

And honestly, are you even really playing a Paradox sim if the complexity doesn't get cumbersome now and then?

Victoria 3 is available for pre-purchase now on Steam for $50/£42/€50, or a little bit more for the Grand Edition, which includes various bits of additional content including the first expansion. Preordering either edition will also get you a copy of the remastered Victoria 2 soundtrack, which as preorder bonuses go is actually pretty cool.

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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.