For grand strategy games like Europa Universalis V, the time period it covers defines a slate of important details, including the countries that we can play when beginning a new playthrough, the historical situations we encounter right off the bat, and what type of technologies are available to us. Knowing its start date, thus, lets us better plan our next playthrough, while its end date tells us how much time we have to pursue our objectives.
Even before its official unveiling, when it was still known as Project Caesar, EUV’s time period was a hot topic, with questions about its start and end dates popping up in online discussions. We’re closer to solving that mystery now that the game has officially been unveiled.
EU5 Start and End Dates
Having reviewed the game, we can now confirm that Europa Universalis 5’s start date is April 1, 1337.
- Europa Universalis 5 start date: April 1, 1337
- Europa Universalis 5 end date: January 1, 1837
- Europa Universalis 5 time period: Almost 500 years
Its end date occurs almost 500 years later, giving us quite a bit of time to ensure that the nation we chose rises to glory.
The beginning of the game’s time period was actually confirmed earlier in 2024 by Paradox Tinto Studio Manager Johan Andersson, who also shared some of the reasons behind the team’s choice.
Among those he mentioned, we find adding the Black Death as an early game challenge, getting to model the transitions from feudalism to modern states and from feudal levies to standing armies, as well as powers like the Mali, Delhi, or Yuan finding themselves at their zenith but soon to face significant challenges.
As far as additional start and end dates go, there won’t be any at launch. The latter is usually locked in place across all Paradox grand strategy games and never really changes.
Recent releases have also skipped multiple start dates, leaving them as a possibility for post-launch DLC. By all accounts, that seems to also be the case with EU5.
“Considering something like about 1% of customers play another start date than the earliest, its very very unlikely there will be another starting date for Project Caesar,” Andersson noted in a forum post from 2024.
“I’ve said this repeatedly in the past, and basically no game released in the last ten years have had more than 1 or 2 starting dates. A 1618 or 1789 starting date would be an interesting point to play as, but Project Caesar is not eu2 or even eu4, where a new start date is something that can be done in a few months at most.”
That is what we know so far about Europa Universalis V’s time period, alongside its start and end dates.
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