Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix review: Intricately woven

Europa Universalis V is a sprawling tapestry of a game, with a barrage of menus, stats, and windows to keep tabs on while carving out your place in history. The latest stitch in the tapestry is the Fate of the Phoenix immersion pack.

Adding in fresh art and new historical flavorings, Fate of the Phoenix is a fun addition to a game that already feels vast. Here’s a full review of the EUV: Fate of the Phoenix immersion pack, looking at whether it’s worth picking up for both new players and experienced EUV geeks. 

Intriguing new additions

Europa Universalis V: Fate of the Phoenix is an immersion pack, adding new content to the game in both the visual and narrative departments. 

Centering on the Byzantine Empire, Fate of the Phoenix introduces special additions for the bureaucracy system, deeper Orthodox content, new art and historical flavorings, and a brand new disaster, along with the ability to revive Hellenistic beliefs. 

As a practicing Pagan, the last pointer there is what drew me to the Fate of the Phoenix; I was intrigued by the promise of Hellenism in a Byzantine Empire playthrough, and found it to be a highlight of my time with the pack.

Reviving Hellenism in the Byzantine Empire takes time and effort, largely focusing on managing your Stability and Religious Influence, but the result is an interesting spin on what would be a standard Byzantine Empire playthrough, opening up new possibilities for how you interact with the Society tab.

Being able to focus on specific deities like Athena and Aphrodite was exciting, providing new ways to influence people and manage key stats, and I enjoyed the artwork tied to the Hellenism religion tabs, too. 

If you’re not as interested in the Hellenistic content, Fate of the Phoenix offers depth in other areas, too, with a strong focus on Orthodox content. There are new ways to engage with Orthodoxy, ranging from expansion to interacting with key figures, all to establish Orthodox beliefs and influence.

Looking at the Fate of the Phoenix as a whole, the artwork was consistently impressive, with beautiful key art and splashes for the new features. I always spend a fair chunk of my time in games like EUV poring over the splash screens and unit models, and my time playing through Fate of the Phoenix’s content was no different. 

New paths to explore

Alongside the Hellenistic option, the other new additions with Fate of the Phoenix focused on the Byzantine Empire’s ability to deal with strife and balance out societal values.

There’s a new disaster aptly called The Fate of the Phoenix, and it’s a challenge to work through. This disaster focuses on the Byzantine Empire and the Ottomans, with a core focus on stabilization and restoring power to your lands.

Ending The Fate of the Phoenix requires keeping control over your locations and keeping an eye on the year, managing The Rise of the Turks, and observing the state of nearby locations, all at once. This is all while dealing with other potential issues, like a succession crisis, societal value decisions, or rebellions.

New additions have been made to bureaucracy under the Government tab, too, with sliders ranging from Imperial Senate to Honorary Titles to help shift the balance of the Byzantine Empire’s condition.

Performance-wise, I found Fate of the Phoenix to be polished and smooth overall, with no notable bugs, quirks, or glitches to report. 

I play Europa Universalis V on an admittedly mid-range PC, but the majority of my settings are still whacked up on high; this usually presents an issue in larger games, but EUV runs nicely in my play sessions. 

If you’re a brand new player thinking about getting stuck into the immersion pack, I’d recommend holding fire, at least until you’ve spent more time with the game. EUV is vast, and adding immersion packs on top of the admittedly complex foundational game can make it harder to get to grips with the core gameplay.

If you’re a seasoned player who’s interested in the Byzantine Empire, though, and want to have more options to experiment with during your EUV campaigns, Fate of the Phoenix is worth considering.

It’s not a gigantic DLC pack, but it does offer a solid amount of interesting content and beautiful art to play with, adding extra depth to this area of the map. I found playing through the Fate of the Phoenix content to be a satisfyingly vibrant experience, making me reconsider my usual playstyles.

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