Europa Universalis 4: Conquest of Paradise announced, will allow exploration of a randomly generated American continent

Look what you've done, strategy fans... you've forced Paradox Interactive to deal with an actual paradox. They want the newly announced Europa Universalis IV expansion, Conquest of Paradise, to focus on the then-unexplored American continent. But then along you come with the bare-faced tenacity to be from the future, thereby knowing all about where America is and what's on it. Luckily, the developers have a clever plan to make your playthrough of the era seem more historically accurate. They're going to make stuff up.

"In Conquest of Paradise, you as a player will have the option of completely randomizing the new world," writes EU4 project lead Thomas "Besuchov" Johansson. "We wanted you to have the option to really explore a brand new continent. So for the first time ever in a Paradox Development Studio game, you can now choose to discover a completely randomized American continent. Therefore, when Columbus sets sails across the ocean, he might just find some nice islands that he can use as a stopover on his route to India or something completely different."

Conquest of Paradise will also let you play as the Native Americans, attempting to create a new Empire on the continent before the Europeans show up. "If you take on the role of a Native American tribe in Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise," Johansson continues, "you will have some interesting new tools in the expanded Native American gameplay mechanics, new tribes, a chance to form federations with your peers, new events, ideas and buildings."

Management of new colonies is also being overhauled, making long-distance empires more difficult to manage. For instance, colonise America, and the newly settled citizens will form colonies, free nations, and might eventually even rebel - inconceivable as such an act may be in real life.

Conquest of Paradise is due out on December 11th, and - as with Crusader Kings 2 expansions - will be accompanied by a patch offering various features for free. For more details, head to Paradox's announcement post .

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.