Europa Universalis 4 video explains the virtues and pitfalls of building an empire

In the latest developer diary for Paradox's upcoming strategy sequel Europa Universalis IV , project lead Thomas Johansson talks imperialism, and how colonising an empire will let you effectively exploit trade routes and grow your land borders without worrying about potentially stronger bordering neighbours. He also explores some of the drawbacks. For instance: the inevitable day when an oppressed populace rises up against their seafaring overlords, symbolically marking their protest through potentially despicable acts. Destroying perfectly good tea would be one (entirely hypothetical) example of such technically justifiable barbarism.

I'm a little worried, to be honest. I'd have thought that after the success of Crusader Kings 2, Paradox would be able to afford a real bookshelf. Luckily, the actual game sounds like an engaging improvement to their flagship strategy series. You can learn more about EU4 by reading Rich's hands-on impressions .

Europa Universalis IV is due out August 13th. I'm due to stop constantly checking the spelling of 'Universalis' at some unspecified time after that. Britain is still sorry about all those things that it did.

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.