14 DAY TRIAL // 
Colonialism is a touchy matter, especially when it comes to video games, but the development team at Paradox Development Studio has chosen to make it one of the core elements of the second big expansion for Victoria II, suggestively called Heart of Darkness.
Fortunately, the studio understands how to sanitize its grand-strategy experience and makes colonization basically a high-profile competition between countries rather than dwell on its long-term effects and its destructive side.
Heart of Darkness has quite a few improvements and new mechanics and it’s a worthy purchase for any player who is interested in dominating Europe and the world during the XIX and the early XX century.
With Victoria II, the improvements aren’t necessarily front and center, but as time progresses, they come to light and increase the depth of the experience.
Newspapers will likely be the first elements to make an appearance, popping up on the left of the screen, filled with information about the state of the world that players might otherwise ignore.
The newspapers that Paradox has added are not crucial to gameplay, but they add a lot to the feeling of immersion that’s vital to this kind of gaming experience.
A Crisis is rather unlikely in the early years, but they will become a constant feature as the game progresses, forcing Great Powers to take sides and maybe even go to war as long as no one is willing to settle it peacefully.
The naval system is another area of Heart of Darkness that has received a lot of work, with redesigned combat and changes meant to make naval basses more important to a country that seeks to rule the high seas (mainly the US, United Kingdom and France).
Those who have played the original Victoria II also need to re-evaluate how they use cavalry units, which have been redesigned to be more accessible to all countries and now fulfill very different tactical roles.
The Artificial Intelligence that powers the computer-controlled countries is much smarter than it was in the core game when it comes to diplomacy and warfare.
Gamers who play as Major Powers will have to be careful about trampling over smaller countries as they can quickly find that others are unresponsive to alliances and other types of offers.
When playing as a minor country, gamers will have to choose which big country to align themselves to because they can no longer count on the protection of all those they have high relations with.
Bigger alliances develop once the XX century is near and the end game has a nice tendency to bloom into large conflicts that draw in many great countries and usually involve all of Europe and North America (especially if somehow the Confederates survive).
Wars in general are harder to win and I have found that I need some years of peace and buildup, during which I prop up my budget and push research forward, before trying to take on another Great Power down or before I launch big assaults on uncivilized nations.
I tend to play Victoria II as France and Prussia and new features in Heart of Darkness have certainly made my games more interesting, but they have also increased the frustration level as I learn all the new mechanics and adapt my style of play.
Multiplayer is a possibility as always, but it takes time to get through a game of Victoria II – Heart of the Darkness and that means that a tight-knit group of fans passionate about strategy is pretty much a requirement.
Paradox Interactive seems to have established a pattern with its main grand-strategy titles: launch a new engine, update all the core titles to it, then slowly add expansions that take into account community requests and increase the depth of the experience.
Heart of Darkness is a good example of how this process can increase the enjoyment of the core game, Victoria II in this case, and how seamlessly the integration of new content can be.
