Europa Universalis II

Paradox's 2001 real-time grand strategy sequel covering world history from 1419 to 1820.

Europa Universalis II is a grand strategy game made by Paradox Development Studio and published by Strategy First, released on December 11, 2001. Built as the sequel to Europa Universalis, it lets the player steer one nation through world history between 1419 and 1820. Rulers must juggle the economy, armies, alliances, science, exploration, colonies, religion and domestic stability over five centuries. Rather than using turns, time runs continuously, and the player can pause to issue orders or change the speed. Its huge roster of playable countries and its heavy use of historical events made it a key step for the series.

Quick Facts

Developer

Paradox Development Studio

Publisher

Strategy First (NA)
SWE
Vision Park
Ubi Soft (UK)

Producer

Peter Kullgard; Fredrik Malmberg

Designer

Johan Andersson; Joakim Bergqwist

Artist

Timo Väisänen

Programmer

Johan Andersson

Engine

Europa Engine

Genre

Grand strategy

Facts from the source article.

Background

The game runs on the Europa Engine and was developed as a follow-up to Europa Universalis. Strategy First brought it to the PC in 2001, and Virtual Programming handled a Macintosh port that MacPlay published. A Linux version was started but never came out. For Asian markets, Paradox produced Europa Universalis II: Asia Chapters, which added new graphics and scenarios built around Asian history, along with a more detailed map that gave Japan, Korea and China extra provinces. The game was a finalist for Computer Gaming World's 2002 Strategy Game of the Year, an award that went to Freedom Force, and Metacritic lists its reviews as generally favourable.