Game profile
Victoria 3
An economy focused grand strategy game set in the 19th century that manages industrialization, trade chains, politics and social groups of a nation. Wars tend to result from economic and political decisions rather than being a goal in themselves.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Strategy / Simulation, set in a historical period. Visually it is deliberately stylised rather than photorealistic, and the overall tone stays somewhere between light and heavy. The world is open, so wandering off and ignoring the main path is part of the deal. It rewards long uninterrupted stretches more than quick check-ins.
It is genuinely demanding, and repeated failure is part of how it is designed. There is no story to speak of, the systems carry everything. Competitive play against other people is part of the package. It runs on 3 platforms. It sits in the mid price bracket.
What stands out
- 19th century economy
- industrialization and trade
- politics driving war
This fits you if
- you enjoy being made to think
- you can sit down for a proper long stretch without interruptions
- you like getting lost and ignoring the main objective for hours
- cutscenes annoy you and you just want to play
- you want real resistance and are fine with dying a lot
- you enjoy competing against other players
Look elsewhere if
- you want to relax and not be punished for mistakes
- you play mainly for narrative
- you do not have 100 hours to give a single game
- you only ever get short bursts of play time
How long is Victoria 3?
About 100 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 17 weeks, or 50 sessions.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 77 out of 100, which puts it above 18 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 1044 overall. That is the lower end of this database, critics were more reserved here than with most titles. The number does not tell you whether a game is exactly right for the right evening, though.
For comparison, Strategy averages 82 points across the database, so this one sits 5 points below its own genre. The figure rests on 44 collected ratings.
Released in 2022 and 4 years old. Recent enough to look and run modern, old enough to be patched and often discounted.
The facts
- Release year
- 2022
- Genres
- Strategy, Simulation
- Playtime
- approx. 100 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Demanding, punishing
- Story weight
- None, pure gameplay
- Play with
- Solo, Competitive
- Setting
- Historical
- Visual style
- Stylised
- Price bracket
- Mid price
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox
- Critic rating
- 77 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria 3 | 2022 | approx. 100 hrs. | 77 | Mid price |
| Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic | 2024 | Endless game | n/a | Mid price |
| Corsair Cove | 2026 | Endless game | n/a | Mid price |
| Factorio | 2020 | approx. 100 hrs. | 90 | Mid price |
If you liked this, try these
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- n/a Corsair Cove Shared: Strategy, Simulation, Historical, longer
- 90/100 Factorio Shared: Strategy, Simulation, rated higher
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- 75/100 Reigns Shared: Strategy, Simulation, Historical, shorter
- 74/100 Football Manager 26 Shared: Strategy, Simulation, longer