The year is 1444. The Ottoman Empire is expanding westward. The Hundred Years War has just ended. The Age of Discovery is beginning. Take control of any nation on Earth — from the mighty Ottoman Empire to a tiny one-province minor — and guide it through four centuries of history to 1821. What happens next is entirely up to you.

Europa Universalis IV is the definitive grand strategy game, played in real-time-with-pause across a map of the entire world divided into thousands of provinces. Diplomacy, trade, colonisation, technology, religion and military conquest all interact in a living simulation of early modern geopolitics. Every decision creates ripples: a war changes borders, changes borders change trade routes, trade routes change which nations grow powerful enough to challenge you in the next century. No two playthroughs cover the same ground — nations rise and fall differently every time, shaped by player choices and the complex interactions of a deeply simulated world. Over twenty major expansions released between 2013 and 2024 each add new mechanics, new regional depth and new historical content. The base game has been free-to-play since 2023. Steam Workshop hosts thousands of mods, from total overhauls to quality-of-life tweaks. The sequel Europa Universalis V is in development by Paradox Tinto.

Key Features: • Any nation on Earth from 1444 to 1821, over a thousand starting nations • Real-time-with-pause grand strategy — diplomacy, trade, colonisation, war and religion • Every decision ripples across centuries of simulated geopolitical cause and effect • 20+ major expansions - base game free to play since 2023