Summary
Grand strategy titles often aren’t the easiest titles to engage with. There tend to be a lot of questions raised when getting into a new, unfamiliar grand strategy title - questions like “What do all these stats mean?” and “Why is the resource tab hidden behind three other menus?” and the classic “why is my nation leading a rebellion against me after I built one (1) wheat field?”
Certainly, getting some familiarity with this genre overall will help with individual titles, but there are some games that, even if they’re not necessarily the easiest in the genre, have some great tutorials to help acclimate the player to what’s expected of them. Whether players are looking to get into a grand strategy forthe compelling storyor the addictive mechanics, here are some titles with fantastic tutorials to help in the early game.
Victoria 3, and indeed, theVictoriaseries as a whole, is one of the more complicated Grand Strategy titles to come from Paradox. Thevariety of economic modes, clusters of factions defining each nation’s government, and the intricate mechanics that go into building up a stable economy can be quite intimidating for a new player, or even a Grand Strategy veteran who has simply never engaged withVictoriabefore.
It’s a good thing, then, that this title offers a dedicated in-game goal of simply learning the game. Taking a couple of the easier nations on as starting projects, players are able to go through a dedicated storyline of sorts as the game guides them through the important things to take note of while developing a nation, with tips and insights specific to the starting nation players chose.
Moreso than other Grand Strategy games,Crusader Kings 3is less about the strategic building of nations and more about the personal stories the player makes along the way. The new start dateswith the latest updatehave added some more historical rulers, and as with all historical rulers in this title, there are some that will afford the player an easier time than others. Perhaps the best way to explain howCrusader Kings 3takes on a different style to its companions in the Grand Strategy genre is that players are controlling a single member of a royal bloodline, not the kingdom itself that the member rules over.
TheCrusader Kings 3tutorial does a great job of reminding the player of this guiding them through how they need to personally develop and manage their ruler and their ruler’s relationships, while steadily introducing the more macro-level things the ruler needs to do to expand and maintain their realm.
Both chronologically and mechanically sitting betweenCrusader Kings 3andVictoria 3,Europa Universalishas an incredibly broad time period to cover, with everything from the early Renaissance to the final moments of the Age of Discovery all falling under its timeline. What this means in practice is a multitude of new mechanics being implemented as the game progresses and new concepts, technologies, and even schools of thought are developed.
Europa Universalis4manages to go over the basics of combat and technology very early on, as these are core parts of the game, and then provides more guided tutorials as the years go on. Beyond this, there aremany beginner-friendly countriesthat will help players get a foothold in this world.
Age of Wonders 4is a meld of 4X principles with Grand Strategy, making for an incredibly modular civilization builder that is only limited by the player’s imagination… and the mechanics of the game.That’s a pretty important one. This makes it all the more gratifying to see that the first scenario and realm the player is able to tackle is a very laid-back and lightweight exploration of how the game functions, and what the player’s goals should be.
The player is guided by a more advanced civilization that essentially hands a win over to them if they continue to build up their armies and do the handful of quests between beginning the game and putting one of the tyrannical Godir to rest on the other side of the map. It’s a slow-paced and ingenious way to introduce the player to the core mechanics ofAge of Wonders 4.
Stellarisis a highly compelling title about forging an interstellar empire, and how that empire is defined by its fellow occupants in the galaxy. This game doesn’t deal in the scale of nations or kingdoms, but rather, whole swathes of stars and planets, so it is easy for it to seem intimidating at first. It’s actually one of the simpler Grand Strategy titles, funnily enough, especially if theearly game is utilized properly.
For players that need a helping hand, however, their own plucky artificial intelligence, VIR, is here to provide two distinct kinds of tutorials. VIR can either give players a very in-depth beginner’s guide to all resources and concepts, or a more laid-back tutorial where text boxes only show up when the player has happened upon a relevant part of the game. Players also have the option to scrap VIR for minerals, which is fun!
