Paradox explains why Europa Universalis V is the most complex grand strategy game ever

Fans of the series love their map painting and micromanaging, and it seems both can be found in heaps in the new EU game.

Europa Universalis V looks to be the grandaddy of grand strategy, but if you're wondering how this game steps up from the franchise's past, we asked the developers at Gamescom. Following our preview at the event, Gamereactor spoke with Markus Hofmann of Paradox Tinto, where we asked how this really steps up the complexity EU is known for.

"We did put a lot of detail into the map itself. There are a lot of locations, there are thousands of countries that are playable at the start of the game," Hofmann said. "We have simulated all of the population of the 14th century, of 1337, in that map and tried to give the most complex experience you can have in a grand strategy game."

Hofmann also spoke about players seeing 500 years of history play out before them. When we asked how they managed to remain accurate in their history, he had the following to say:

"We have a research team led by a doctor of medieval history, which, of course, helps us a lot in trying to find sources, gathering sources, reading through sources, and then putting this into the amount of detail."

Check out our full interview below, and our EU V gameplay impressions here.