Europa Universalis IV: The Cossacks (PC) Review

It's a holding pattern. Yeah… Not much more to really be said, sadly. The newest expansion to Europa Universalis IV, The Cossacks, does its best to increase the depth of the various options but, in fact, comes off as more of a collection of patches and/or mods than a full-on increase. The expansion provides several new features; for one, there are now multiple factions within the players lands, such as the clergy, whom the player will need to keep satisfied by providing them with various territories. Doing so will allow calling upon them for favours and various bonuses, while ignoring them will result in a bunch of potentially bad things occurring.

Likewise, the game offers an increase in diplomatic actions, one of the main ones being the ability to bring in allies in return for promising them bits and pieces of conquered land to gain their alliance, which can be a very potent booster, as well as potential harmful should enough of the desired lands not be conquered. Things like favours for helping allies out in wars, which can later be turned in for various other things, are present, as well…

However, the problem is that, at its core, The Cossacks hasn't really changed or expanded upon Europa Universalis IV in any particularly meaningful way. The gameplay, while having some new options and things that those more skilled might be able to utilise to a meaningful degree, has remained basically unchanged. There are no new factions to play as, new worlds to explore, or even distinctly different features beyond being able to pick what culture a province will change to (which will help players trying to keep multiple cultures 'acceptable'), so much of it is simply… underwhelming.

It's not like the game or expansion is, somehow, bad, though. Increasing the depth of options is always a good thing and there is little doubt that some of the more advanced players will get at least a bit of a kick out of the new options and features - after all, being able to set a policy in regards to how to handle natives when colonising can't be denied as a distinct advantage and depth increase, just… something that would feel more at home as a mod or patch than a full-priced expansion.