DLC REVIEW: ‘Victoria 3: Voice of the People’ is More of a Whisper

Paradox Interactive has given the people their voice by releasing its first immersion pack, Voice of the People, for its recent release Victoria 3. They released an earlier DLC called Melodies for the Masses, giving players additional music. This new immersion pack adds over 60 new historical agitators to the new agitator system that is implemented in free Update 1.3. Some of the famous new agitators include fiery American abolitionist John Brown and German Socialist Rosa Luxembourg, among other famous historical figures.

Victoria 3: Voice of the People also allows players to expand on the dramatic history of France by adding more decisions, new events, and journal entries. Additionally, players get new art including a new art nouveau-inspired UI, and France gets new building art to go with their new adventures.

The biggest addition in Update 1.3 and Victoria 3: Voice of the People is by far the new free agitator system. All players will get this new system with the update, but players will get a special agitator interaction with Victoria 3: Voice of the People. These agitators can both help or hinder a player’s progress based on their ideas. This is really evident at the beginning of the game if you end up with an agitator that has the same agenda as the player wants.

This allows players to take advantage of their ideas and advance reforms relatively early. Players will have the ability to make these agitators as leaders of an interest group or even let them command troops. So getting one of these characters early on in a game can jumpstart the development of your nation.

The other end of the system is if a player ends up with an agitator that doesn’t fit into their current plans, then it can really cause trouble and possibly start a revolution. The good news however is players will have the ability to exile these agitators to remove them from your country, thus keeping it stable. The exile is also great in that players have the ability to look at other nations’ exiles and invite them to their society. As players research new technologies, they unlock the ability to have more and more agitators within their country.

The new agitator mechanic does have its limitations, though. Effective from the beginning to mid-game, the need for these agitators kind of dwindles as players get the reforms and advancements they desire in place outside of keeping populations stable. There is no need for these agitators. That is not the takeaway from the usage in the beginning to mid-game as the ability to get reforms passed that usually can take years and sometimes always involve some sort of revolt can be game-changing.

Additionally getting to use real historical characters has always been a fun part of Victoria 3 and how can these people can change society. Adding their new political ideologies to certain interest groups makes their value so much better. As we all know having to boost the Arm Forces to the “current government” just to open colonization can sometimes be a pain.

The next biggest part of Victoria 3: Voice of the People immersion pack is the additional unique French Content. The French history set during this time frame is very eventful, which if you know anything about their history means that playing as the French is full of possibilities. From the House of Orleans to advancing French claims in North Africa or even just military expansion in Europe, France is a very powerful empire in this time frame that is flushed with military and chase. There are new French buildings and historic structures that have been added to the map. Plus, as mentioned a host of new events, journal entries, and decisions to be made.

All of these things do add flavor to playing the country of France, but also, this means that you must play France. France being the powerhouse that it is can be one of the easier countries to play with, and depending on what a player seeks as a challenge, that can be a drawback. This is good in the sense that, hopefully, this means that maybe some of these types of additional immersion experiences will be expanded to other countries.

All of that said, Victoria 3: Voice of the People immersion pack is hard to judge. This is mainly due to the fact that the free update released with this content contains most of the main mechanics and features and only additional supplemental elements are found in the DLC. The DLC on its own offers new characters with some special agitator actions adding greater variety to the new agitator system, a new paper map, and having the additional France events that add some depth to the strong French empire.

But sadly all of the meat of the new gameplay which includes the agitator system, more new events, and more journal missions can all be found within the free content Update. Since this DLC is also priced at $14.99, it makes that all a hard pill to swallow. While Voice of the People is very lacking, it does, however, set up new things for Victoria 3 that hopefully can be taken full advantage of later in the game’s cycle. Let’s just hope it the future packs have more substantive additions instead of just a sprinkle of flavoring.

Victoria 3: Voice of the People is available on PC.