Today, during the Paradox Announcement Show, the publisher had several news to share about its games and their expansions.
On top of Cities: Skylines II by Colossal Order and The Lamplighters League by Harebrained Schemes, we get the tease of the first game by Paradox Tectonic Studio and led by Rod Humble of The Sims and Second Life fame.
The game is titled Life by You and it certainly looks rather similar to The Sims. For today we get just the tease, but the official reveal will come on Monday, March 20th.
You can find a teaser trailer below at the 33:50 mark.
In terms of the inevitable expansions and DLC, we get a few announcements:
Crusader Kings III will get a new expansion first on PC titled Tours & Tournaments. On the other hand, The Royal Court is coming this spring to the console version of the game.
Get ready for adventure
Restless feet carry their master far and wide. Travel, and discover your realm in intimate detail with your own personalized epic Tour.
- Handpick your Entourage and customize your Route carefully. The road ahead might be long, but is filled with colorful characters, exotic cultures, and life-changing events.
- Pay your vassals a visit and interact with them closely. Inspect their holdings, and get to know how your subjects live their lives in the most distant corners of your realm.
- Manifest your benevolence and bestow gifts and rewards. Or, bring a horde of tax collectors and finally get your due from those conveniently hard-to-reach vassals.
A novel form of Tournament
Aspiring warriors or prestige-seeking nobles, the Tournament is the perfect place to show your worth. Will you impress during the myriad new tourneys, pageantry, and chivalric trials of jousting?
- Join Contests to win extraordinary Prizes and gain valuable experience in new skills.
- Host a magnificent Tournament with all its splendor and festivities. Prepare yourself well by paying a visit to the blacksmith or gain some liquid courage in the local tavern.
- Beguile your opponent with setting Intents, then bash their heads in or win the heart of your quarries with your excellent jousting skills.
Grand Activities, Knightly Honors, and new art
Medieval life wouldn’t be the same without elaborate weddings and knights. With Crusader Kings III: Tours & Tournaments both impress even more!
- Gain an edge in backroom diplomacy by organizing a Grand Wedding. Negotiate beneficial prenuptial Pacts, please your Courtly vassals, and gain favors at these new intricate ceremonies.
- Bestow your knights with honors, allowing your warrior nobles to specialize, whether in politics or on the battlefield. Train them up, sending them to tournaments or war for even more experience.
- Admire the new museum-worthy character art, showcasing in detail the evolution of armor and dazzling changes in western medieval clothing, from the early to late Middle Ages.
Europa Universalis IV is also getting an expansion titled Domination.
- The Ottoman Empire: A revised conquest tree with new rewards for pushing Ottoman dominance, including expansion through the new Eyalet system, and new internal changes, such as the new Janissary estate and the ‘Ottoman Power Struggle’.
- China: Different mission trees for the Han Ming and invader empires like the Qing. Choose between expansion and Inward Perfection, and counter the power of the Eunuchs to build a more stable empire.
- Japan: Unite Japan as you deal with the power of the Shogun and the independent Daimyos. Choose to open the country to foreign influence or keep it isolated, while deciding upon different paths of expansion and reform.
- Russia: Free your country of the Tatar Yoke, and transform it into a Great Empire. Choose the path of Peter’s reforms to modernize the state, so your mission tree as well as your mechanics will change and evolve as the game progresses. Use the power of Cossacks and Streltsy to expand your Empire to East and West.
- Spain: Expanded mission trees for Castile and Aragon, with different paths to form Spain, a new mechanic available for the new ‘Hispanic Monarchy’ government, and decisions about the Army and Navy to get the mighty Tercios and Spanish Armada.
- France: Fight the end of the Hundred Years War, centralize France into an absolute monarchy while dealing with the Wars of Religion, expand into Italy and the Holy Roman Empire, and lead the Revolution through an expanded mission tree.
- Great Britain: Separate paths for either a British Empire or an Angevin Britain, as well as a deeper internal gameplay, with unique features for the English Parliament and changes to the English Civil War disaster.
- Minor nations: Mission changes, new government mechanics and expanded flavor for Prussia, Portugal and Korea.
Surviving the Aftermath is getting its own DLC titled Rebirth, releasing on March 16, 2023.
Blight: from threat to resource
After decades of exposure to radioactive pollution, a new infestation called Blight has emerged. Mutated fungi have started to infect the animals, causing them to become aggressive and dangerous. This infection has spread through the wasteland and is threatening to take over. You will need to find a cure for the Blight to defend against it. Gather Blight samples, study them in a new research building and make discoveries to unlock new buildings, resources, and upgrades.
From a wasteland to green pastures
Let’s turn this barren land into fertile soil! With the Terraformer, you will be able to welcome new life: the more you terraform, the more your map will turn green and lush with vegetation and animals. Be aware of the blighted areas that you will terraform, here, blight monsters will spawn and attack your survivors.
New buildings and upgrades
“Rebirth” adds three new buildings, three building upgrades, plus an all-new multi-stage Blight lab with its Research tree. A Purification post will allow you to remove small pollution deposits and it can be upgraded to an Extermination post to clear blighted nests, hives, and lairs. The Basic Terraformer turns the land into terraformed soil and it can be upgraded to Advanced Terraformer. The Environmental Station becomes the Hazmat station: with it, survivors can clear the blight cores and stop the creatures' attacks. While not a new building, the Guard Posts have received significant improvements and will now be more critical than ever when defending your colony.
Last, but not least, Stellaris' new expansion First Contact got a release date for PC, and it's March 14. On the other hand, the older expansion Overlord also received a release date for consoles, and it's March 8.