14 DAY TRIAL // I will admit up front that there are times when I do not understand Victoria II and this after reading the manual and religiously looking up threads on the official forums from about one year before the launch date to a few weeks after the launch of the 1.2 patch, which made the game much more fun to play.
I also admit that I am in awe of how detailed the simulation of the XIX century and early XX is in the Paradox Interactive made game, from the diplomatic systems which produces results that are very much close to those of real life in terms of balance of power if not in actual results to the social simulation which seems to push revolutions to succeed in all the right places.
I also understand that the type of gamer who could be pushed to pick up Victoria is either a long time fan of the original and its various mods or someone who knows the type of experience which Paradox delivers in its grand strategy products.
But Victoria II really needs a wider audience because it shows how strategy gaming of a certain type can help players understand a particular bit of history and how packing something so possibly boring as social theory in a gaming layer can lead to it becoming interesting to those who engage with the game and then seek out information in the outside world.
Victoria II allows players to take charge of a nation in the world and then guide it to disaster (annexation from a Greater Power, loss of territory, loss of status, poverty, a declining level of education) or to becoming a beacon of civilization (world spanning empire, 100% literacy, biggest exporter, most complete democracy and more).
It's deep enough that one can spend minutes at a time with the game paused and just looking at the needs of one population segment and believable enough to throw up an alternate version of World War I around the 1900 with the winning side being the one which first researches machine guns.
I don't know how many copies Victoria II has sold until now, but when Call of Duty: Black Ops sells more than 5 million in one day, this game surely needs more publicity among the gaming community.