Europa Universalis V

There's a term that perfectly sums up this "video game": Cognitive Overload. From Google -> Cognitive Overload: "when the information or demands placed on you exceed your brain's working memory capability. This state leads to mental fatigue, decision paralysis, and a drop in overall performance. There are three types: Intrinsic load: the inherent difficulty of the task or information itself. Extraneous load: the mental effort wasted on poorly presented information or distracting environments. Germane load: the productive mental effort used to process new information and permanently store it in your long-term memory." In other words: too much ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ happening at once, so my brain shuts off. You know that feeling when you just open up a new software and you see all the features and you just go: "you know what? this is too much, i don't think I'll ever be good at this so I'm just gonna save myself the trouble and turn it off." Well... I've only been able to stomach 30 minutes of this game before turning it off. It's like they combined EU4, Victoria, Crusader Kings III, and more into one game and called it a day. EU4 already had a lot to manage. This is EU4 times 100. It's just too much to be fun or enjoyable. When you load up a new game and are immediately left feeling overwhelmed, it's just not for me. I play games to turn off my brain, not feel like I'm back in college taking computer engineering exams again. [Also, I've only played for like 30 minutes but apparently the game has performance issues? I could definitely see it.] Just look at the images for this game on the store page. The screen in each image is crowded with ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ like you're in a sweaty mythic raid in WoW. Each interface looks like that in the game. It's way too freaking much. Sometimes, less is more. EU4 with DLCs was approaching too much already. This goes far beyond that. It's like the devs forgot that the game they're making is supposed to be fun. I think they were too busy thinking "wouldn't it be cool if this was in the game" or "we could bring in this cool feature from one of our other titles" without thinking if it was something they actually *should* do. Like, I'm here to play Europa Universalis. If I wanted to play Victoria, I would just go play it. If I wanted to play Crusader Kings 3, I would just go play it. I play EU4 because I love playing as different cultures through history and making my own revised history. Things like "what if Italy unified earlier?" or "what if Japan had colonies in the New World." That's what appeals to me. Managing every single minutiae of a nation for hundreds of years is just not it for me. I just wanna blob man. I don't even play Ming (China) in EU4 because I hate managing mandate, tributaries, religious harmony, economy, rebels and disasters and all the other crap despite really wanting to play as China. I'm not even very good at the game already then you make this game with a thousand more things to manage. So for other gamers like me that just want to chill and not feel like they need a second bachelor's or a master's degree to understand the basics of the game they just bought, I would absolutely recommend NOT buying this and just get EU4 instead, just the base game then add DLCs as you learn. This game is just too much to handle for smooth brain computer engineers like myself that just want to play a video game like a video game, not like a job. Finally... Paradox DLC practices are already coming in hot to milk your wallet and bank account by adding features that should have just been in the game at the start like in EU4 haha... "There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, 'Fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me... you can't get fooled again.'" - George Bush