'Europa Universalis 4' to be a 'sandbox' in which players can make their own history

"Europa Universalis 4" aims to provide players with a "playground" for players to contort and orchestrate history as they see fit, according to the game's newly-launched developer blog..

Europa Universalis 4, the revival of Paradox Interactive's hardcore historical strategy series and set to launch next year on PC, aims to provide players with a realistic "playground" in which to contort and orchestrate history, Paradox said today in the game's newly-launched developer blog.

The blog's inaugural post compares the game's map to a sandbox, where "the magic happens." Paradox has made a few tweaks to its map system for Universalis 4, ramping up the resolution since Universalis 3 to make province and country borders more natural-looking, and create an overall picture that is accurate both historically and to the region's real-life terrain.

"This means making the map more intuitive, more attractive and something you won't mind staring at for hours on end," wrote studio manager Johan Andersson. "The feeling and atmosphere created by the map is important and will not make your eyes bleed. We promise."

Paradox is focusing on crafting a "believable world" for players to inhabit, which will also include shifting landscapes and changing seasons as time passes in-game.

Europa Universalis 4 is a grand strategy game that allows players to tinker with historical figures and countries to rewrite history. Paradox plans to update the game's developer diary with new content every Friday.