Europa Universalis III: In Nomine will be released early this summer. Quite an accomplishment considering they still have to finish Rome in the next month.

Start in October 1399, at the coronation of Henry IV of England. Experience over 50 more years of gameplay, experiencing the Byzantine Empire, Tamerlane and the end of the Hundred Years War.

Tamerlane. Sweet.

See exactly what is required to make the decisions that will shape the future of your country. Strive to create Great Britain, Make Paris worth a Mass, or institute an East Indian Trade Company. Act, rather than react, and implement decisions on both country and province level, with the new decision system, including hundreds of different decisions depending on situation.

Transparency is good. Since a player could just peek in the data files and know what decision led to what outcome, it makes sense to keep it in game.

Experience our new Mission System, where the player and AI will both be given goals to achieve, providing endless replayability by guiding history along different tracks every time.

Remember “missions”? They were a big part of the original EU and were optional in EU2; no one used them since some of the missions were a little silly and some were just ridiculously easy.

In Nomine will feature Rebels with a Cause. There are countless types of rebels, with different goals, and different abilities. You may get colonial rebels in your colonies determined to get representation or independence, you may get reactionary nobles rising up to put the serfs back where the belong. Crush them by force, or negotiate with them, or even worse, watch them enforce their demands on your country.

Now this what I’m talking about! But since rebels are rarely a major threat, how will the player be forced to deal with them? If there is no chance of the rebels pressing their demands, then this mechanic is colorful but meaningless.

Religious tolerance now depends on the ideas and decisions you take, making it a new layer of strategy. As cardinals stay loyal longer, the power of the Papa Controller has grown, as he can now excommunicate rulers, and call crusades against infidels.

So no more kumbaya countries in the Reformation? Assuming there is a Reformation; there are still major issues with the spread of Protestantism in the game.

More news and commentary as it comes to me.