The developers of Paradox Interactive are considered geniuses when it comes to strategy games. But for Halloween, they wanted to have some fun and released a small update for the strategy epic Victoria III. However, it was not well received on Steam.
That was the plan:
The guys in Stockholm had an idea for Halloween: it would be cool to feature a Halloween event in the colonial and industrial simulation Victoria 3.
So they prepared a patch that would “bring a supernatural character into the game” (via Steam). For this, they had to go live with the Halloween update 1.7.7 for Victoria 3.
The patch introduces the option to enable or disable supernatural events in Victoria 3. If the events are enabled, there is a chance that a new character will appear in the game during the “real-life months” of October and November. More details were not revealed to players in the patch notes.
Halloween update brings Count Dracula to Victoria 3
What kind of character is this? The character is Count Dracula, who appears in Bucharest and offers his services to the player.
As indicated in a forum discussion, it is possible to even make Dracula the King of Romania, and an event begins where he drains a young woman’s blood.
It also seems possible that over the centuries, the Count changes his stance and becomes a “market liberal” (via imgur).
By the way, the Victoria 3 version of Dracula seems to correspond to the Gary Oldman version (cover image).
Funny update is not well received on Steam
What is the problem with the update? What was apparently meant to be a small joke went wrong for Paradox. Because on Steam, players quickly complained that this little funny update ruined their current campaign, which they had started with the ongoing patch:
- “Basically: You released a nonsensical update […] And there is no way to revert to version 1.7.6, with which I can continue my damn game. You are a bunch of useless people.”
- “Guys, even if events are cool as long as they contribute to the game: My save file got corrupted due to the update and I can’t revert to 1.7.6.”
- “This type of update doesn’t really fit the game”
- “The most useless update so far. Thanks for ruining my campaign 1.7.6.”
Although Paradox announced in the patch notes that they would soon provide a way to revert to 1.7.6 in the settings, many apparently did not want to wait for that.
On Reddit, the mood towards the event is significantly more positive.
What’s behind it: This is indeed a problem with Paradox’s strategy games: updates are important, but when the campaign into which you’ve invested countless hours can no longer be played, it is frustrating.
In some cases, you only realize after a while that the new version has broken your current save game. I experienced this recently with Crusader Kings 3: I could continue playing normally with a new DLC, but my genetically optimized children were stripped of all their genetic advantages and were born as average normal babies. Essentially unplayable!
With a major update, one reluctantly accepts having to restart a campaign. However, with a prank like Dracula, it becomes harder – especially since the event is surely a cool gag, but also extremely specific. Players tend to take the game of Victoria 3 very seriously, perhaps a bit too seriously: Review criticizes the new mega strategy game on Steam – Because Bonn is on the wrong side of the Rhine
