One of the best parts about Stellaris is choosing who youвЂ™ll play as. In Stellaris, youвЂ™ll be able to transform your small civilization into a large galactic power that controls not only multiple planets but multiple systems. If you were a fan of Sid MeierвЂ™s Alpha Centauri growing up, you might find that Stellaris could scratch that cosmic strategy itch. This could partly be down to the setting being completely in space where youвЂ™ll meet a range of sentient creatures, each with their own history and temperament. It tends to stray more into the 4X territory of strategy games rather than following a similar formula to past Paradox titles. Stellaris is a bit of a strange game to get used to at first. The вЂlarger-stack mentalityвЂ™ doesnвЂ™t play as much of a role here, youвЂ™ll have to diversify your units, have strong generals, and plan your engagements to aim to surround, or even split your enemiesвЂ™ forces. The combat in Hearts of Iron IV takes center stage compared to past Paradox titles вЂ“ as youвЂ™d pretty much expect. While youвЂ™ll encounter the standard set of events and decisions while playing, there is a massive focus on preparing your country for war, managing your factories, making sure supply lines are in order, building munitions, and crafting battle plans. Instead, it simulates all theaters of war and you can play entire campaigns in countries such as Japan, Brazil, Canada as well as the big names of Germany, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Hearts of Iron IV doesnвЂ™t trap itself into a narrow view of World War II either. While this is a much shorter length of time than you may be used to from other Paradox games, the time ticks over the course of hours rather than days. Moving on to a different time period, Hearts of Iron IV follows the action of World War II in the time period of 1936 to 1948. If you donвЂ™t fancy playing one of the recommended countries, you have the option of choosing any country that existed in that time period and leading them onto a path of glory. The map is a lot larger this time around too, encompassing the entire world rather than just Europe. If you want to try out some alternate history, you can take your country in a completely different direction вЂ“ ever fancy creating an Italian Africa? Want to reforge the Roman Empire? Why not give it a shot? You can choose to take control of colonial powers such as Castille, uniting them to modern-day Spain and then turning your attention towards the Americas. There are plenty of tooltips to look at, a handy ledger and most of the gameplay feels pretty similar to Crusader Kings II at first glance.Д®uropa Universalis IV takes place between the years of 1444 to 1821 which gives you plenty of time to meld your country to your liking. If youвЂ™re used to Paradox games at this point, youвЂ™ll feel right at home in Europa Universalis IV. While Crusader Kings focuses on running a country from within while playing as a singular character, Europa Universalis IV lets you take control of an entire country, forging its path as the years progress. If you run out of things to do in the base game, you can pick up one of the many DLC packs for Crusader Kings II that improve certain aspects of the game, increase the date range or even add new countries to play in. If you arenвЂ™t the fighting type, you can plot, scheme, and murder your way to the top without so much as raising a single levy. If you want to simply conquer other realms, you can focus on your military and forge alliances.

The main gameplay revolves around the decisions you make as a ruler. Taking place between the years 10 in the base game, youвЂ™ll have the choice to start as either a count, king or emperor somewhere in Europe.

You can improve your stats, complete various activities, and even pick up traits that will affect how you live your day to day life. Playing as a character is a rewarding role-playing experience in Crusader Kings that you donвЂ™t find in many other grand strategy games. Just like the famous Habsburg dynasty, youвЂ™ll aim to litter your descendants through the world, marry them off to forge alliances and claims on a rival throne. Instead of the broad style of playing as a single country, youвЂ™ll aim to forge a dynasty in Crusader Kings II that will last through the ages.

Starting with the earliest game on our list, Crusader Kings II isnвЂ™t your average strategy game.

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