DLC REVIEW: ‘Fate of the Phoenix’ Creates Europa Universalis V’s Most Difficult Challenge

Paradox Interactive has challenged its players to save a fallen empire by releasing its first immersion pack, Fate of the Phoenix, for its recent release Europa Universalis V. This new immersion pack is all about the crumbling Byzantine Empire. This includes new, unique historical events, mechanics, and even art such as portraits or city models, all inspired by and for the Byzantine Empire.

The Byzantine Empire is one of the more challenging empires to play in Europa Universalis V, as it is in full decline due to various wars and mistakes. Players start the game in debt, as a dying ruler, with over-expansion, inflation, no legitimacy, massive corruption, estate privileges, and much more.

So, anyone trying to play the Byzantines learns very quickly that it is a giant uphill battle to even survive, let alone get stable. However, this timeframe of 1337 does give players enough time and opportunity to resurrect the empire and prepare for their eventual war with the Ottomans, who ended the Byzantine Empire in 1453. 

The Byzantine Empire brings a unique uphill challenge for EU5 players.

Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix gives players a more in-depth chance at restoring the Byzantine Empire. There are two main new features in the Fate of the Phoenix immersion pack that allow players new ways of restoring the empire to its former self.

The new unique Byzantine Bureaucracies system and a new unique Societal Value for the empire called Latinitas vs Romanismos.  These are designed to help players navigate the declining empire and hopefully reverse the Byzantine fortunes before it is too late.

Players right at the start of a new game as the Byzantine Empire will get a new disaster event called Fate of the Phoenix Disaster. This event puts players on a semi-clock that they have to successfully “complete” the disaster before it’s too late or their empire will continue to decay and fall into ruin. This, of course, is on top of all the negative things happening in your empire at the start of the game.

The new unique features of the Byzantine Bureaucracies and Latinitas vs Romanismos are there not only to help players navigate this new disaster event but also to showcase some of the new flavor in Fate of the Phoenix. The Byzantine Bureaucracies allow players to invest in new ideals within their empire. They sort of work the same way that estate privileges work in that your government can only have a set number of them active at a time, and they have negative and positive effects.

They differ in the sense that the more you invest in these bureaucracies, the better the bonuses your empire receives and the fewer negative effects as well. There is also an entrenchment factor, meaning the more entrenched one is, the more effects there are as well. These bureaucracies can help players limit estate power, especially early on, as mentioned, Byzantine starts with massive corruption estate privileges, and your empire is quite handicapped until you can eventually remove them. 

The other part of these bureaucracies, along with the unique Societal Value of Latinitas vs Romanismos, is that these new systems allow players to reshape the identity of the Byzantine Empire and what they wish to pursue. The new Societal Value has players choose between Latin Culture and the more native Greek Culture. Romanismos pushes your empire towards the Roman culture group, which is Greek and Orthodox religion.

Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix introduces brand-new effects and unique bureaucracies to balance.

This culture battle is showcased within Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix in the newly added Orthodox content that allows players to interact with the Ecumenical Patriarchs and expand on their involvement with the Orthodox church. Hellenism has been added for players who wish to lean into that Greek culture and revive some of the old pagan gods.

These unique Byzantine systems and features in Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix really shine in this immersion pack and give players quite a bit more depth and tools to not only save a declining empire, but also the possibility to rebuild it in a different image. However, for all the good flavor in the Fate of the Phoenix, it does have some downsides.

The Byzantine Empire is still a challenging empire to play as and can be a real uphill battle that involves so much maneuvering, particularly in the early years, and if not careful, can snowball you right out of the game before even a chance to really dive into things.

Additionally, this is a Byzantine immersion pack, so the main focus is on the Byzantine Empire; however, if you do not like or wish to play the Byzantine Empire, then you could argue that this immersion pack doesn’t have much for you.

All the new unique systems and flavors are all designed for the Byzantine Empire and them alone, so if you choose to play someone else, there is a real good chance you wouldn’t even notice that the Fate of the Phoenix exists. Now there is a possibility we could see some of these systems implemented with the Europa Universalis 1.2 “Echinades” Free Update that is also being released for everyone to go with this release of the Fate of the Phoenix immersion pack.

The Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix immersion pack adds distinctive new features and flavor to the Byzantine Empire, making a challenging, undesirable empire more enticing for players to explore. However, for anyone not up to the substantial challenge, there isn’t much left to hold onto. There are still plenty of new additions, reworks, revamps, and more in the works for Europa Universalis V. And if Fate of the Phoenix is any indication, it will be fun to see how the game changes over the rest of the year.

Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix is available now.