Paradox Interactive Convention 2013

I spent the latter half of last week in Iceland. An island unlike any other on this planet. A vulcanic rock capable of some of the most spectacular scenery Earth has to offer. And also the scene of the sixth ever Paradox Interactive Convention, as well my sixth attendance.

It has been interesting to follow the rise of the self-proclaimed "independent publisher" over these last few years. And while CEO Fred Wester called 2012 as a year of consolidation, it was also a year when the core business of Paradox, the grand strategy genre, found new fans with the surprise success of Crusader Kings II. It was also a year when Paradox pulled the plug on a few projects and decided to focus more on fewer titles with bigger potential.

These projects included Magna Mundi, a project that aimed to transform a popular Europa Universalis mod into a fully fledged game that was in development for multiple years, and the hit game Magicka where a port to consoles was cancelled as "it didn't work out". The reason for the latter probably has more to do with problems of publishing on PSN and XBLA, more than it has to do with difficulties in developing the title (even if porting the game also proved more difficult than first thought).

And while revenue didn't grow leap and bounds in 2012, Paradox Interactive continued to add more staff and grow their organisation. Hopefully, this will help in combating their reputation for releasing games with glaring technical issues, but let's hope that doesn't involve a reluctance to give start up developers a publishing deal.

Apart from announcing full size expansions for Crusader Kings II (The Old Gods) and Victoria II (Heart of Darkness), Paradox used the occasion to announce two new games that also showed us the direction they are heading in. Paradox wants to become ubiquitous, or "platform agnostic" - meaning they want their games to appear on several platforms and play the same on all of them. The perfect example of this was Leviathan Warships, a modern take on the proven Battleships formula with tremendous amounts of depth, a game that features cross-save functionality between PC, Mac, Android and iOS - as well as cross play. It's an interesting way of attacking an unknown future, where hybrid platforms like Nvidia's Shield and Ouya will enter the fray along with next gen consoles and the long rumoured Steam Box. The latter is certainly something Paradox are preparing for with more games getting Linux editions and gamepad support (even Europa Universalis IV is getting gamepad support it was revealed).

At the show Paradox illustrated their more focused approach with ten or so titles, almost all of them close to their intended release date. It's a busy first half of 2013, and there certainly are some strong efforts being put forward.

The Showdown Effect

Arrowhead Game Studios are best known for creating the best selling Paradox published game of all times - Magicka (over 2 million copies sold), but The Showdown Effect is a completely different game even if some of the Arrowhead staples are present in this one. The 2.5D platformer/deathmatch sports an entertaining cheesy 80's movie theme, with characters like Dutch McClone (combination of our favourite Austrian action star and John McClane from the Die Hard movies) and a bunch of less obvious ones such as the one that combines Bruce Lee and the grandfather from Gremlins into some kind of elderly warrior monk.

After a lengthy dinner conversation about famous Belgians (we didn't come up with many), Paradox brass thought it would be a brilliant idea to add the world's most famous Belgian as a piece of post-launch DLC - Jean-Claude van... well, that's the question. My vote is for Jean-Claude van Waffle.

Europa Universalis IV

If The Showdown Effect was the flashiest game on display in Reykjavik, then Europa Universalis IV was the most comprehensive and deep experience at the event. The grandfather of the grand strategy genre looks to improve and streamline every aspect of the game, as Paradox work hard to create the most finished and complete experience to date at launch. In fact, studio manager Johan Andersson went as far as saying that in the old days they would have considered themselves finished at this stage of the development, but now they are giving themselves more time for balancing and bug testing to ensure their best launch ever.

Impire

Cyanide Montreal's Impire is a return to dungeon management days of the 90's, but with a definite twist as you'll employ a more direct RTS style control over your troops, both when defending your dungeon against pesky heroes, and when you venture onto the battlefield that connects to the dungeon. It may seem a little light on strategy at first glance, but placing your rooms correctly and setting your squads to guard them effectively is key to success as you won't be able to micromanage every encounter. The hands-on with a nearly finished version of the game showed some promise as well as some concerns (specifically the controls when it comes to delivering targeted spell attacks on enemies), but overall it looks like an ambitious effort with plenty of heavy metal references.

Cities in Motion 2

Finnish developers Colossal Order are back with another public transportation simulation, but this time you will not just try and find the optimal transportation routes for an existing city, but instead you will draw up road networks that will see the fictional cities grow and expand accordingly. An added layer of depth comes with the introduction of time tables allowing for deeper micromanagement. The interface may not be as accessible as we would have liked, but there is a lot of depth here as Cities in Motion take a turn towards the sandbox.

The rest...

Paradox also showed off East vs West - a game based on the Hearts of Iron III foundation, but set during the Cold War era and with several game changing additions and improvements. Most notably is the Doomsday Clock and the ability "to wipe the map clean" with nuclear weapons. If you're a sore loser that alternative is always going to appeal.

March of the Eagles first saw the light of day as Napoleon's Campaigns II - a game in development at Paradox France. But as the collaboration between Paradox France (former Ageod) fell through, it was up to Paradox Development Studios to finish work on it and their approach made for a more open ended and sandbox like experience. Game designer Chris King said they saw it as a perfect introduction to the Paradox brand of grand strategy titles, with a smaller scope and more focus on combat even if it is a "bif of a Bride of Frankenstein".

And while War of the Roses may have been overshadowed by Chivalry Online, Paradox are happy to commit to its future, not just with monthly DLC (the Brian Blessed voice over DLC is coming soon), but executive producer Gordon van Dyke also expressed interest in taking the franchise to other time periods and conflicts for future games. March will also see the release of the Kingmaker Edition that adds a couple of siege modes to the fray, modes that should arguably have been there to begin with.

It is clear Paradox Interactive are becoming more focused, and perhaps less experimental. They want a bigger upside with their products, but there is also a sense of increased reliance on the internal studio that has always been at the core of their business. That and the interesting new platform agnostic approach...