We take a look at super-mod-that's-become-a-game Magna Mundi

Strategy-fans will know that our beloved genre as many layers, and many faces. Turn-based, Real-time, Grand, Tactics, mainstream, hardcore... different gamers have different tolerances for the various nuances within the genre, but no-one can doubt that when it comes to strategy, a key ingredient is passion. It takes a special kind of gamer though to have so much passion for a game that they want to take it – as complex and deep as it already is – and times that by a thousand.
 

"So... how was your day?"

Magna Mundi is the latest project to come out of Paradox Interactive's mod-to-game (not official name) series, which if you don't know is a series of popular mods for some of their titles that have been given a budget and support. This one is based on the Europa Universalis franchise, and has been overhauled to keep up with the latest technologies that Paradox is using internally. You browse the online communities of some of these games, especially in the mod section, and can't help but marvel at the lengths some of these fans go to to make a game fit their vision. Now imagine what that would look if they'd had some money.

This game is, for all intensive purposes, just a little bit insane. Saying that they'd cranked it up to 11 would be a gross understatement – everything from the management systems, to events, economy, to the make-up of the globe itself has been added to and/or improved on. There are now over 400 playable countries, 4000+ events, 1000+ different troop types, different regions of the world have unique and specific interactions on the national level – from the Holy Roman Empire to the Shogunate, (I'm pretty sure they've somehow managed to fit a mini-Sengoku into this game) and the game spans from the Renaissance to the Napoleonic era.

Magna Mundi is less about dominating than it is about merely existing. The mechanics have been twisted so that it's not about painting the globe in your colour, and more about being true to history. Historically plausible expansion is accounted for an allowed, but we're told you'd have a hard time going beyond that. They'll also be limitations on how big your armies can be as well. That may sound like a negative, but from the looks of things there'll be plenty for you to do anyway.
 

On the surface, looks just like any other Paradox title...

Every nation you play will have internal factions that you'll have to contend with in terms of influence and power – military, religious, peasants and a couple of others – and if the most powerful faction isn't on your side then you may not be in power long. Well, you will be, actually – a civil war is not the end of the game. Your government simply changes and the country will suffer a bit because hey, those things aren’t exactly pleasant.



A lot of the way the team manages many of these aspects is through events. That's why there's so fricking many of them. As well as providing a small sense of narrative to the over-all gameplay, specific triggers and chains will also shape your country. Army gets too big? Event chain. Internal faction that hates you getting too strong? Event chain. Modernization going to fast? Event chain. Pausing the game? Event chain. Hell, even writing this preview has already triggered several event chains.

The sheer vision that's been put in this product means that you shape the game as much as the game shapes you. Those of you who like the more sandboxed nature of a lot of Paradox's internal titles may choke at the bit a little here, because you won't be able to do anything the team don't think you should be doing (like re-writing history, which is always favourite). They don't want to see mega-empires, or radically implausible events... they want you to live history as much as shape it, so always bear that in mind. Still, we're not talking about Hearts of Iron III levels of restrictions here, but just trying to keep things in perspective.
 

There are several of these unique regional interfaces, depending on world location. This is the one for Japan

There's more, man is there more – directives, corruption, recon, the merchant marine, the technology system, but I think you get the idea now. Every gamer has an image in their head as to what they'd like a particular game to be like – these guys are actually realising that dream by building their dream version of a much loved paradox franchise. Paradox and EU fans will not want to miss this one. Magna Mundi is currently slated for release on January 17th, 2012.

Most Anticipated Feature: That's like asking what your favourite thing about the universe is.