Strategy geniuses want to be funny for Halloween, bring a new update to Steam, but the joke bites them

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The developers at Paradox Interactive are considered geniuses when it comes to strategy games. But for Halloween they wanted to be funny and brought a little update to the strategy epic Victoria III. But that didn’t go down well on Steam at all.

This was the plan:

The guys in Stockholm had an idea for Halloween: It would be cool to put a Halloween event in the colonialism and industrial simulation Victoria 3.

So they prepared a patch that would “bring a supernatural person into the game” (via Steam). To do this you had to download the Halloween update 1.7.7. for Victoria 3 live.

The patch brings the option to enable or disable supernatural events in Victoria 3. If the events are activated, there is a chance that a new character will appear in the game during the “real-life months” of October and November. Nothing more was revealed to players in the patch notes.

Victoria 3 in the release trailer

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Halloween update brings Count Dracula to Victoria 3

What kind of character is this?? The character is Count Dracula, who appears in Bucharest and offers the player his services.

As a forum discussion shows, it is even possible to make Dracula king of Romania and an event begins in which he sucks a young woman dry.

It is apparently also possible that the count will change his attitude over the centuries and become a “market liberal” (via imgur).

By the way, the Victoria 3 version of Dracula seems to correspond to the Gary Oldman version (cover photo).

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Funny update is not going down well on Steam

What’s the problem with the update? What was apparently intended as a little gag probably went wrong for Paradox. Because on Steam, players quickly complained that the funny little update ruined their current campaign, which they started with the current patch:

  • “Basically: They released a nonsense update […] And there is no option to previous version 1.7.6. to return with which I can continue my damn game. You’re a bunch of useless people.”
  • “Guys, even if events are cool as long as they contribute something to the game: my savegame got corrupted because of the update and I can’t get to 1.7.6. go back.”
  • “This type of update doesn’t really fit the game”
  • “The most useless update yet. Thank you for sending me Campaign 1.7.6. have destroyed”

    • Paradox announced in the patch notes that they would soon add an option in the settings on 1.7.6. to be put back, but many people probably didn’t want to wait for that.

    On Reddit, the mood towards the event is much more positive.

    This is what lies behind it: That’s actually a problem with Paradox’s strategy games: Updates are important, but when the campaign you’ve put countless hours into can no longer be played, it’s frustrating.

    In some cases you only notice after a while that the new version has ruined the current state of the game. This is what happened to me most recently with Crusader Kings 3: I was able to continue playing more normally with a new DLC, but my genetically optimized children were deprived of all genetic advantages and were born as normal, average babies. Virtually unplayable!

    With a major update, you grudgingly accept the restart of a campaign. With a gag like this involving Dracula, it’s harder – especially since the event is certainly a cool gag, but also extremely specific. With Victoria 3, players take the game very seriously anyway, perhaps a little too seriously: Review polishes the new mega strategy game on Steam – because Bonn is on the wrong side of the Rhine

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