Paradox Interactive - Game Characteristics

Game Characteristics

The studio produces what it terms "Grand Strategy games", meaning ones played on a real-world map, marked by the use of standard real-time elements but with an ability to make any and all changes while paused (and while unpaused). Almost all Paradox games have historical settings and demonstrate a reasonable commitment to historical accuracy. The focus of each game is different, but generally a player must manage the economy, commerce, internal politics, diplomacy, technological development, and military forces of a nation. Paradox Interactive games are also characteristically complex, with highly detailed gameplay models and consequently steep learning curves.

Paradox regularly releases patches to their games long after a game's initial release. Some games have required patches shortly after release to make them playable. Later patches may contain large changes to the game and the way the game is played, in response to the demands and requests of fans.

The games are mostly based on an open game engine (sandbox-style game) with no set "victory" condition. Paradox tries to make games that are open and easy to edit (moddable), from tweaking a saved game to creating an entirely new scenario. Modding can be accomplished with simple tools and basic knowledge of scripting. To assist modders to figure out how to edit the game on their own, the Paradox forums provide fan-compiled libraries of "how to" advice. Due to this, each game has a very large number of mods, ranging from minor additions to complete system overhauls.