So Paradox is announcing a new game at gamescom (I believe the 8th of August?) that they have been working on for quite some time, and they are regularly posting teasers on the forums:
This will be our first new major IP released since the original Crusader Kings over 10 years ago.
Seven and Three are important numbers.
There will be no stabbing of pigs.
Terrain truly matters in this game.
Game Director is Henrik Fåhraeus, 15 year industry veteran, lead designer behind the Crusader Kings and Hearts of Iron series.
Elections and Technological Development are important parts of the game.
Based on these I think the two most likely eventualities is a new Rome game or a space game, either would be great!
Runemaster was cancelled. Never a good look to cancel an announced game, but at least they didn’t release a disappointing one (i’m assuming that’s why it happened)!
the name “Augustus”, but the the reveal is in August…
Seven and Three are important numbers. (Roman kings and the triumvirate)
Elections and Technological Development are important parts of the game.
While this points to an Ancient china game
This will be our first new major IP released since the original Crusader Kings over 10 years ago. (it would be strange that a new roman game is considered a major IP)
Seven and Three are important numbers. (the seven warring states and the three kingdoms)
There will be no stabbing of pigs. (this seems to be a hint that it’s not ROme, or at least that religion won’t play such a big role).
Nice pick up of Augustus being announced in August, that can’t be a coincidence! Do you really think Technological Development being important fits a Rome game?
I hadn’t considered a China game, that would be really interesting. However, I think the fact it is a new major IP counts against a China game, as usually the more ‘focused’ games have been side projects while the geographically massive ones have been the major games. It is grand strategy after all. It could still fit Rome as the last game was called “EU: Rome” while this one could cover a larger time period, eschew the “Europa Universalis” pretitle, and perhaps also include a larger number of playable civilizations. Ancient World Universalis rather than Rome 2, etc…
I think Rome is too obvious a choice for this one, but that’s just a gut feeling. I’d love a China game, but I’m not sure where Elections would fit in? Of course, Elections would fit in with a Roman republic game, but as I said before…
Whatever it ends up being, I’m happy they have said they’ve learned their lesson with the reveals of Runemaster and HOI4, in terms of announcing them way too early. Hopefully this one is much further along and we don’t have to wait years and/or see the game cancelled.
Well a sci-fi CK2 would about the best 4X ever made, and definitely a breath of fresh air to the genre…
A Roman Republic inspired Space 4X???
Edit: As for China: China has been revealing itself as a HUGE market for PC games. Of course F2P is the king, but there are significant inroads being made by premium games (or subscription driven ones). Basically, it’s the only market poised to grow like crazy, since there are so much untapped consumers (let’s be honest here, EU4 and CK2 have probably sold as much as any game in those genres can really sell in the west. They can repeat the success, but significantly improving on it is going to be difficult). But the Chinese market does prefer games the identify with culturally. The ROT3K games keep doing moderately well for their budgets in the Asian markets, and they are a far cry in terms of polish and depth from Paradox games (and I guess not significantly cheaper if at all). While I agree a China game is unlikely, I don’t think it would be a bad move for Paradox strategically if they’d want to get into that market.
I would love to see Paradox take their game design out of history and into someplace where they can take a gameplay first approach. As much as I love their games, their continued fumbling for historical detail can be painful. It would be nice if they could just concentrate on “we’re doing this because it plays better” and not “we’re doing this because we’re trying to simulate stuff that happened”.
Maybe, but their earlier Rome game didn’t do too well and Rome TW 2 isn’t that old, so I don’t see the interest. And it would be a stretch to call it a new IP, which is what they are saying.
For some reason I’m thinking of that game Mythic Entertainment announced (but later abandoned): Imperator Online. Sort of a Roman Empire in space theme. That would hit 2 of the 3 ideas being bandied about here. Oh wait, maybe the antagonists could be a space Chinese empire - there you go, all 3 ideas are covered!
This is a project we’ve always dreamt about doing, something all of PI have been involved in, not just the PDS developers.
I’m not sure how to interpret the second half of it. All of PI have been involved in the dreaming? Or the development?
Anyway, a long suppressed dream finally coming true points to a space game to me, unless by “always” he means since EU: Rome was released and they were wanting to go back and redo it for ages.
