Since I wrote my last review of Victoria 3, I had about 300 hours, and at the time of writing (March 28th 2025) I have 950 hours. While the game has improved monumentally since my last review, and I do applaud the dedication the developers have in regards to refining the game, it still is not in a good state. Rather than go through all the problems individually like I did last time, I'll keep it brief. Despite the set dressing, this is not a game about the Victorian period. Most problems with this game can be attributed to one of two core issues; Not much really happens in the world, and some design choices seem to be made with a fundamental misunderstanding of the period.

Example of strange design choices I like to use are Positivism and Corporatism. While they did exist, they were not politically powerful forces in their own right, nor were they widespread, finding their most success within the Latin-speaking world. Despite this, both of them would influence movements that were much more successful, the former influencing Structuralism within the social sciences, and the latter influencing various far-right movements (the two represented in-game being Fascism and Integralism). However, that is not the impression you would get from Victoria 3. Rather than fringe localized movements with larger influences than one might otherwise expect, they are potent and universal political forces in the world. Even if you are charitable enough as to include similar movements under their respective umbrellas (various technocratic movements under Positivism and various third-positionist movements under Corporatism), the potency and universality of these political movements is still dramatically overstated.

On the other end of the spectrum, historical or plausible events such as the various national unification and/or liberation movements, the gradual deterioration and eventual disintegration of the Austrian and Ottoman empires, the growth and consolidation of vast colonial empires, the prevalence of diplomatic conferences to peacefully resolve disputes, the concept of the European Balance of Power the rise of private enterprise and the global market at the expense of the old order, the destabilizing revolutionary waves across Europe (whether they be republican or socialist), the buildup leading to the first world war, and far more that I must omit for the sake of brevity, are all either poorly implemented or entirely unrepresented, leading to a very stagnant world.

These two fundamental problems, along with various problems with many of the game's core systems which will eventually be fixed, is why I recommend that you go ahead and skip this for now, but keep an eye on it to see if anything changes.