Europa Universalis vs Total War: Warhammer
Europa Universalis
Europa Universalis is a historical real-time grand strategy game that includes all aspects of world history in the Early Modern Europe era, a period of time between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Due to the game's meticulous need to be accurate in its historical accounts (period monarchs, known military leaders, and technological advancements), the game can, in some way, be doubled as an educational game since you can learn quite a lot simply by playing it.That said, the gameplay in Europa Universalis is just incredible for its time. The game is played on a huge world map that is divided into around 1,500 provinces where you can literally govern your nation the way you like. You can get involved in your nation's colonization efforts, explore new lands, trade with neighboring countries, wage war when they renegade on that very trade deal, spread the religion you've adopted far and wide, and of course, navigate the tricky political waters of diplomacy.
Not to mention, instead of using a turn-based format, the game has opted for a pauseable real-time format, so you can pause the game, issues orders and plan out strategies, before unpausing the game and let the world events play out. There are even tons of historically-based missions and events which may affect the world based on your actions and decisions.
When it comes to grand strategy games, there are only a handful that truly embodies the genre, and obviously, Europa Universalis is one of them. However, being the original game in the franchise, the graphics might be a bit worn for wear, but if you don't really mind, you can definitely pick this game up from GoG.com.
Total War: Warhammer
Total War: Warhammer perfectly combines one of the best fantasy-adventure literature of all time with one of the best historical real-time strategy games in gaming history. Deviating from their usual historically-based titles, Total War: Warhammer is set in the rich, expansive, and most defintiely fictional universe of Warhammer, where war between the 5 major races, namely the Bretonnia, the Empire, the Dwarfs, the Vampire Counts and the Greenskins, is a pretty constant occurrence. Amass an army filled with all manner of creatures imaginable and appoint powerful Lords, equipped with the best items you cna offer, to lead your battalions in massive real-time battles.Not to mention, being a fantasy-themed game, you can now use magic to combat your foes and deploy flying units - the first time ever for a Total War game.
Featuring top-of-the-line graphics and animations, Total War: Warhammer is a marvellously-crafted and meticulously-designed masterpiece of a game. There are still some flaws that the game can work on like the sieges (need more stuff for defenders) and maybe not add in what should have been free game patches as purchasable DLCs, but that aside, the game is as great as large-scaled battles go.