It's almost always great for fans of a classic video game whenever an old game receives a new update or expansion. However, fans of Paradox's 2013 strategy game Europa Universalis IV are more than disappointed with the most recent expansion pack. The Leviathan expansion is so poorly received that it's managed to become Steam's lowest user-rated product, beating out the infamous Airpot Simulator 2014.
The previous lowest-rated product on Steam was a confusingly programmed and bug-filled game that attempted to cash in on the popularity of other simulation titles but lacked the charm that carried those games. Only 12% of the game's reviews are actually positive, with even some of those being joke reviews by Steam users. Many jokingly said that the game's slow pace and tedious controls made them feel like they were waiting for a plane at an airport.
Europa Universalis IV's newest expansion managed to only have 10% of its user reviews classified as positive. Leviathan was meant to add new diplomacy options to the game that would let players turn their civilizations into massive empires. The Steam store page for the expansion also notes that it reworks multiple other systems in the game. However, the expansion caused several issues that quickly tanked its reviews.
Users have been reporting corrupted save files that have ruined their games that they've put days worth of time into. While this seems to differ between reviews, many other users have said that the new mechanics introduced in Leviathan either don't function as intended or break other mechanics in the game. Bugs riddle most of the expansion's new content, including many issues with the CPUs.
The CPU issues also play into Leviathan's balance problems. Users have noted that the new monument system feels very untested, with certain regions of the world getting far too many monuments. When the new additions to the game do work, they're completely unbalanced and even have notable exploits that are a far cry from Paradox's previous level of quality that won many fans over.
What makes Europa Universalis IV's sudden dip in quality so disappointing to fans is really how much of a classic the game was once considered. Even though the game was originally released in 2013, there's still an active player base that keeps the classic strategy game alive. Unfortunately, the new patch, combined with the Leviathan expansion, seems to have ruined many fans' faith in Paradox's DLC model due to there being far more affordable strategy and simulation games on Steam.
Typically, Paradox releases large amounts of DLC for their titles to keep them alive post-release. These expansions tend to be fairly expensive and aren't always considered necessary to the game's experience. However, Leviathan is still expensive for an eight-year-old game, even when compared to Europa Universalis IV's other DLC. The expansion costs $20.00 on Steam, with the other expansions usually going for anywhere between $5.00 and $15.00.
As reported by Kotaku, the manager of the studio behind Leviathan's development sent out a response to the expansion's poor quality that was later deleted. This response apologized for the expansion's poor quality and promised that an upcoming patch would fix the many bugs that fans had reported, but many players may have to wait on an even further patch for Leviathan to be the epic expansion they were hoping for.
0 Comments