Europa Universalis IV
Image: Steam store (© respective owners)

How do players who really played Europa Universalis IV rate it? TrueGG Rating 79.4%

Release date: Aug 13, 2013 Data as of 2026-10-19 View on Steam ↗

Players who really played rate it lower than Steam overall. Early impressions are weaker, so the first few hours tend to decide whether it clicks. Recent reviews are falling.

Good for

  • Players looking for hundreds of hours

Think twice if you are

  • Players particular about controls and UI
  • Players buying right now (recent ratings are falling)

A rule-based guide from review patterns (no AI). How

TrueGG RatingMethodology ↗
79.4%
▼ −7.6 pt
vs Steam overall

Positive among players with 100+ hours (last 180 days) · 1,453 reviews

TrueGG, all time
89.4%
Steam overall
87.0%
Japanese, all time
91.4%

Early wall

Reviews written under 2 hours: 3.6% of all reviews. Their positive share is 54.1%.

This is not a drop-off rate; it describes who wrote reviews. Refund guide: within 14 days of purchase and under 2 hours of play (Steam refund policy).

01 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Does the rating change the longer people play?

Used for TrueGG Rating (100h+)JapaneseRight: reviews
Positive share by playtimeRanges from 100 hours up are highlighted. Exact values are in the table below.0%25%50%75%100%0–1 h19%951–2 h16%582–5 h47%1575–10 h61%12810–20 h64%17520–50 h69%23550–100 h74%198100–200 h78%215200+ h80%1,238Positive share by playtime0–1 h9519%1–2 h5816%2–5 h15747%5–10 h12861%10–20 h17564%20–50 h23569%50–100 h19874%100–200 h21578%200+ h1,23880%

Positive share by playtime at the time of review (reviews from the last 180 days). Ranges under 50 reviews are pale and dashed (indicative only); “—” means no reviews.

Show chart values as a table
PlaytimePositiveJapaneseReviews
0–1 h18.9%—95
1–2 h15.5%—58
2–5 h47.1%—157
5–10 h60.9%—128
10–20 h64.0%—175
20–50 h68.5%—235
50–100 h73.7%100.0%198
100–200 h77.7%—215
200+ h79.6%100.0%1,238

How long people play: half of reviewers had played 100+ hours. 85% had 20+ hours and 66% had 100+ hours (all time).

02 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Summary

Europa Universalis IV has a TrueGG Rating of 79.4%: the positive share among 1,453 reviews written in the last 180 days by players with 100+ hours. That is 7.6 points below Steam's overall 87.0%, so players who really play the current version are harsher than the headline number suggests (all time: 89.4%).

Reviews written under 2 hours make up 4% of the total, and only 54% of them are positive. Some players bounce off early, but those who get past the opening rate it higher. Steam accepts refund requests within 2 hours of play and 14 days of purchase.

In the last 180 days, reviews at 20–50h are 69% positive versus 80% at 200h+: the more people play, the more they like it.

Negative reviews most often mention updates and the developers and controls and UI. Positive reviews praise how fun it feels.

Among Japanese-language reviews, the TrueGG Rating is 91.4%, 12.1 points above all languages.

Re-weighting reviews by trust signals (playtime, length, how the game was obtained) barely changes the rating (87.1% adjusted), so Steam's number is not noticeably distorted by key giveaways or throwaway reviews.

All figures come from Steam's public review counts, and topics are counted with our published dictionary (no AI). Data as of 2026-10-19.

03 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Why it is rated this way

What drives the rating

Complaints center on the game's design (Controls, UI & camera). These rarely change with updates, so the rating likely reflects the game itself. Judge by whether it suits you. It is also a game many people bounce off early (early reviews are much less positive than those of players who stuck with it).

− Most mentioned complaints

  • Updates & developers9% of negative reviews (4% of positive) · most common among under 2h players
  • Controls, UI & camera8% of negative reviews (1% of positive) · most common among 2–20h players

+ What players praise

  • Fun & feel23% of positive reviews (10% of negative)
＋ 歴史＋ 最高＋ 簡単＋ 世界史＋ favorite＋ 帝国＋ 日本語＋ 理解− terrible− racist− atat− player− completely− base− company− doesn't

Counted from 347 recent negative and 600 positive reviews in Japanese and English, using our published topic dictionary. No AI is used. Topics overlap, so shares do not add up to 100%. Sarcasm and nuance are not detected, and this does not show cause and effect.How we count

04 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Checking the numbers

Figures with a different scope, shown alongside the TrueGG Rating.

MetricPositiveScope
Official Steam rating87.0%All time, all languages · 134,890 reviews
Adjusted rating87.1%Weighted by trust (95% range 86.6%–87.5%), +0.1pt vs official
Japanese-language reviews87.3%All time, Japanese-language reviews (+0.3pt vs overall) · 371 reviews
Show the positive vs negative breakdown

Share of sampled reviews that meet each condition that lowers trust. When a condition is more common on the positive side, the adjusted rating falls below the official one.

ConditionPositive reviewsNegative reviews
Under 2 hours played at review2%19%
Very short text41%40%
Key activated outside Steam28%17%
Received for free1%2%
Owns very few games18%7%
Over 100 reviews written1%0%
Average trust (1.0 = full)0.740.74

The median total playtime of the sampled reviewers is 147.6 hours. 400 positive and 400 negative reviews analyzed · data as of 2026-10-19

05 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

When did the rating change?

Monthly positive and negative review counts since release, as published by Steam.

Reviews per month

■ Positive■ Negative▨ Negative spike
0 5,000 10k 15k 2013-08: +122 / −3 2013-09: +65 / −3 2013-10: +50 / −2 2013-11: +178 / −12 2013-12: +429 / −29 2014-01: +268 / −27 2014-02: +201 / −11 2014-03: +174 / −13 2014-04: +139 / −14 2014-05: +166 / −15 2014-06: +700 / −42 2014-07: +268 / −19 2014-08: +173 / −10 2014-09: +164 / −12 2014-10: +346 / −36 2014-11: +349 / −26 2014-12: +475 / −35 2015-01: +288 / −19 2015-02: +376 / −30 2015-03: +385 / −40 2015-04: +215 / −17 2015-05: +211 / −23 2015-06: +581 / −86 2015-07: +239 / −44 2015-08: +197 / −25 2015-09: +155 / −26 2015-10: +302 / −44 2015-11: +342 / −34 2015-12: +449 / −60 2016-01: +385 / −44 2016-02: +327 / −46 2016-03: +258 / −32 2016-04: +414 / −71 2016-05: +260 / −51 2016-06: +319 / −63 2016-07: +231 / −49 2016-08: +192 / −29 2016-09: +295 / −59 2016-10: +337 / −63 2016-11: +2,406 / −114 2016-12: +466 / −63 2017-01: +407 / −72 2017-02: +353 / −46 2017-03: +258 / −42 2017-04: +464 / −129 2017-05: +347 / −198 2017-06: +984 / −1,106 2017-07: +430 / −307 2017-08: +263 / −110 2017-09: +376 / −124 2017-10: +329 / −103 2017-11: +1,977 / −220 2017-12: +472 / −86 2018-01: +394 / −77 2018-02: +333 / −67 2018-03: +513 / −134 2018-04: +307 / −81 2018-05: +345 / −136 2018-06: +374 / −84 2018-07: +325 / −97 2018-08: +254 / −60 2018-09: +315 / −140 2018-10: +268 / −104 2018-11: +2,256 / −107 2018-12: +452 / −109 2019-01: +285 / −54 2019-02: +268 / −71 2019-03: +256 / −80 2019-04: +214 / −57 2019-05: +225 / −47 2019-06: +1,431 / −103 2019-07: +1,903 / −98 2019-08: +184 / −30 2019-09: +336 / −137 2019-10: +712 / −162 2019-11: +3,410 / −181 2019-12: +2,109 / −184 2020-01: +1,406 / −140 2020-02: +1,072 / −96 2020-03: +1,175 / −108 2020-04: +1,121 / −94 2020-05: +1,089 / −136 2020-06: +1,504 / −236 2020-07: +1,122 / −139 2020-08: +747 / −83 2020-09: +659 / −89 2020-10: +813 / −87 2020-11: +1,241 / −84 2020-12: +969 / −97 2021-01: +923 / −125 2021-02: +868 / −119 2021-03: +876 / −140 2021-04: +705 / −247 2021-05: +813 / −696 2021-06: +649 / −158 2021-07: +758 / −138 2021-08: +823 / −169 2021-09: +705 / −116 2021-10: +670 / −140 2021-11: +1,073 / −185 2021-12: +745 / −111 2022-01: +825 / −122 2022-02: +567 / −85 2022-03: +681 / −97 2022-04: +560 / −80 2022-05: +624 / −89 2022-06: +532 / −84 2022-07: +622 / −89 2022-08: +505 / −64 2022-09: +615 / −115 2022-10: +577 / −76 2022-11: +783 / −56 2022-12: +586 / −72 2023-01: +628 / −86 2023-02: +472 / −120 2023-03: +532 / −100 2023-04: +531 / −115 2023-05: +452 / −91 2023-06: +437 / −95 2023-07: +497 / −87 2023-08: +439 / −73 2023-09: +371 / −53 2023-10: +387 / −45 2023-11: +1,029 / −92 2023-12: +485 / −60 2024-01: +491 / −88 2024-02: +380 / −70 2024-03: +456 / −69 2024-04: +347 / −55 2024-05: +505 / −103 2024-06: +367 / −72 2024-07: +400 / −79 2024-08: +350 / −39 2024-09: +386 / −69 2024-10: +714 / −136 2024-11: +713 / −65 2024-12: +634 / −91 2025-01: +575 / −88 2025-02: +418 / −649 2025-03: +416 / −252 2025-04: +349 / −49 2025-05: +481 / −89 2025-06: +392 / −58 2025-07: +468 / −54 2025-08: +445 / −69 2025-09: +278 / −51 2025-10: +343 / −50 2025-11: +404 / −54 2025-12: +250 / −51 2026-01: +263 / −31 2026-02: +201 / −28 2026-03: +235 / −23 2026-04: +223 / −38 2026-05: +304 / −36 2026-06: +223 / −28 2026-07: +274 / −32 2026-08: +215 / −33 2026-09: +218 / −10,284 2026-10: +158 / −410 2013/082014/012015/012016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Positive share per month

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Monthly data overall 77.3% 2023-11: update2023-12: update2024-05: update2024-10: update2025-11: update2025-12: update 2013-08: 97.6%2013-09: 95.6%2013-10: 96.2%2013-11: 93.7%2013-12: 93.7%2014-01: 90.8%2014-02: 94.8%2014-03: 93.0%2014-04: 90.8%2014-05: 91.7%2014-06: 94.3%2014-07: 93.4%2014-08: 94.5%2014-09: 93.2%2014-10: 90.6%2014-11: 93.1%2014-12: 93.1%2015-01: 93.8%2015-02: 92.6%2015-03: 90.6%2015-04: 92.7%2015-05: 90.2%2015-06: 87.1%2015-07: 84.5%2015-08: 88.7%2015-09: 85.6%2015-10: 87.3%2015-11: 91.0%2015-12: 88.2%2016-01: 89.7%2016-02: 87.7%2016-03: 89.0%2016-04: 85.4%2016-05: 83.6%2016-06: 83.5%2016-07: 82.5%2016-08: 86.9%2016-09: 83.3%2016-10: 84.3%2016-11: 95.5%2016-12: 88.1%2017-01: 85.0%2017-02: 88.5%2017-03: 86.0%2017-04: 78.2%2017-05: 63.7%2017-06: 47.1%2017-07: 58.3%2017-08: 70.5%2017-09: 75.2%2017-10: 76.2%2017-11: 90.0%2017-12: 84.6%2018-01: 83.7%2018-02: 83.3%2018-03: 79.3%2018-04: 79.1%2018-05: 71.7%2018-06: 81.7%2018-07: 77.0%2018-08: 80.9%2018-09: 69.2%2018-10: 72.0%2018-11: 95.5%2018-12: 80.6%2019-01: 84.1%2019-02: 79.1%2019-03: 76.2%2019-04: 79.0%2019-05: 82.7%2019-06: 93.3%2019-07: 95.1%2019-08: 86.0%2019-09: 71.0%2019-10: 81.5%2019-11: 95.0%2019-12: 92.0%2020-01: 90.9%2020-02: 91.8%2020-03: 91.6%2020-04: 92.3%2020-05: 88.9%2020-06: 86.4%2020-07: 89.0%2020-08: 90.0%2020-09: 88.1%2020-10: 90.3%2020-11: 93.7%2020-12: 90.9%2021-01: 88.1%2021-02: 87.9%2021-03: 86.2%2021-04: 74.1%2021-05: 53.9%2021-06: 80.4%2021-07: 84.6%2021-08: 83.0%2021-09: 85.9%2021-10: 82.7%2021-11: 85.3%2021-12: 87.0%2022-01: 87.1%2022-02: 87.0%2022-03: 87.5%2022-04: 87.5%2022-05: 87.5%2022-06: 86.4%2022-07: 87.5%2022-08: 88.8%2022-09: 84.2%2022-10: 88.4%2022-11: 93.3%2022-12: 89.1%2023-01: 88.0%2023-02: 79.7%2023-03: 84.2%2023-04: 82.2%2023-05: 83.2%2023-06: 82.1%2023-07: 85.1%2023-08: 85.7%2023-09: 87.5%2023-10: 89.6%2023-11: 91.8%2023-12: 89.0%2024-01: 84.8%2024-02: 84.4%2024-03: 86.9%2024-04: 86.3%2024-05: 83.1%2024-06: 83.6%2024-07: 83.5%2024-08: 90.0%2024-09: 84.8%2024-10: 84.0%2024-11: 91.6%2024-12: 87.4%2025-01: 86.7%2025-02: 39.2%2025-03: 62.3%2025-04: 87.7%2025-05: 84.4%2025-06: 87.1%2025-07: 89.7%2025-08: 86.6%2025-09: 84.5%2025-10: 87.3%2025-11: 88.2%2025-12: 83.1%2026-01: 89.5%2026-02: 87.8%2026-03: 91.1%2026-04: 85.4%2026-05: 89.4%2026-06: 88.8%2026-07: 89.5%2026-08: 86.7%2026-09: 2.1%2026-10: 27.8% 2013/082014/012015/012016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Months with under 30 reviews are omitted from the rate.Shaded months were detected as concentrated waves of negative reviews (2017-06, 2026-09).Detection rule

Updates and ratings before and after

DateAnnouncement2 months before → after
2025-12-18 Europa Universalis Succession Bundle - Out Now! 88% → 89% (+0.9pt)
2025-11-04 Europa Universalis V is out now! 86% → 86% (+0.2pt)
2024-10-10 4 DLC free now in preparation for October 17th! 87% → 90% (+2.4pt)
2024-05-08 Europa Universalis IV - 1.37 Inca is Now Live! 87% → 84% (−3.1pt)
2023-12-16 Community Mod Spotlight - Mesoamerican Expansion 91% → 85% (−6.5pt)
2023-11-06 Europa Universalis IV - 1.36 Byzantium is Now Live! 89% → 87% (−1.7pt)

Picked automatically from the titles of Steam announcements by the developer (one per month, last 3 years, up to 10). The dotted lines mark those months. Before and after are the positive rates of the two months before and after (excluding the month itself); shown as "—" under 50 reviews or when the two months after are not complete. An update is not necessarily the cause of a change.

Reviews per day, last 30 days

0 2,000 4,000 6,000 2026-09-19: +6 / −2 2026-09-20: +3 / −0 2026-09-21: +5 / −2 2026-09-22: +7 / −9 2026-09-23: +13 / −3,464 2026-09-24: +27 / −5,088 2026-09-25: +12 / −815 2026-09-26: +10 / −372 2026-09-27: +9 / −271 2026-09-28: +9 / −122 2026-09-29: +6 / −77 2026-09-30: +5 / −46 2026-10-01: +4 / −43 2026-10-02: +8 / −36 2026-10-03: +10 / −31 2026-10-04: +13 / −31 2026-10-05: +13 / −40 2026-10-06: +8 / −33 2026-10-07: +9 / −15 2026-10-08: +12 / −24 2026-10-09: +13 / −36 2026-10-10: +8 / −20 2026-10-11: +8 / −13 2026-10-12: +7 / −15 2026-10-13: +5 / −9 2026-10-14: +10 / −10 2026-10-15: +10 / −11 2026-10-16: +7 / −13 2026-10-17: +4 / −19 2026-10-18: +9 / −11 09/1909/2610/0310/1010/17
Show monthly data as a table
MonthPositiveNegativePositive
2013-08122397.6%
2013-0965395.6%
2013-1050296.2%
2013-111781293.7%
2013-124292993.7%
2014-012682790.8%
2014-022011194.8%
2014-031741393.0%
2014-041391490.8%
2014-051661591.7%
2014-067004294.3%
2014-072681993.4%
2014-081731094.5%
2014-091641293.2%
2014-103463690.6%
2014-113492693.1%
2014-124753593.1%
2015-012881993.8%
2015-023763092.6%
2015-033854090.6%
2015-042151792.7%
2015-052112390.2%
2015-065818687.1%
2015-072394484.5%
2015-081972588.7%
2015-091552685.6%
2015-103024487.3%
2015-113423491.0%
2015-124496088.2%
2016-013854489.7%
2016-023274687.7%
2016-032583289.0%
2016-044147185.4%
2016-052605183.6%
2016-063196383.5%
2016-072314982.5%
2016-081922986.9%
2016-092955983.3%
2016-103376384.3%
2016-112,40611495.5%
2016-124666388.1%
2017-014077285.0%
2017-023534688.5%
2017-032584286.0%
2017-0446412978.2%
2017-0534719863.7%
2017-069841,10647.1%
2017-0743030758.3%
2017-0826311070.5%
2017-0937612475.2%
2017-1032910376.2%
2017-111,97722090.0%
2017-124728684.6%
2018-013947783.7%
2018-023336783.3%
2018-0351313479.3%
2018-043078179.1%
2018-0534513671.7%
2018-063748481.7%
2018-073259777.0%
2018-082546080.9%
2018-0931514069.2%
2018-1026810472.0%
2018-112,25610795.5%
2018-1245210980.6%
2019-012855484.1%
2019-022687179.1%
2019-032568076.2%
2019-042145779.0%
2019-052254782.7%
2019-061,43110393.3%
2019-071,9039895.1%
2019-081843086.0%
2019-0933613771.0%
2019-1071216281.5%
2019-113,41018195.0%
2019-122,10918492.0%
2020-011,40614090.9%
2020-021,0729691.8%
2020-031,17510891.6%
2020-041,1219492.3%
2020-051,08913688.9%
2020-061,50423686.4%
2020-071,12213989.0%
2020-087478390.0%
2020-096598988.1%
2020-108138790.3%
2020-111,2418493.7%
2020-129699790.9%
2021-0192312588.1%
2021-0286811987.9%
2021-0387614086.2%
2021-0470524774.1%
2021-0581369653.9%
2021-0664915880.4%
2021-0775813884.6%
2021-0882316983.0%
2021-0970511685.9%
2021-1067014082.7%
2021-111,07318585.3%
2021-1274511187.0%
2022-0182512287.1%
2022-025678587.0%
2022-036819787.5%
2022-045608087.5%
2022-056248987.5%
2022-065328486.4%
2022-076228987.5%
2022-085056488.8%
2022-0961511584.2%
2022-105777688.4%
2022-117835693.3%
2022-125867289.1%
2023-016288688.0%
2023-0247212079.7%
2023-0353210084.2%
2023-0453111582.2%
2023-054529183.2%
2023-064379582.1%
2023-074978785.1%
2023-084397385.7%
2023-093715387.5%
2023-103874589.6%
2023-111,0299291.8%
2023-124856089.0%
2024-014918884.8%
2024-023807084.4%
2024-034566986.9%
2024-043475586.3%
2024-0550510383.1%
2024-063677283.6%
2024-074007983.5%
2024-083503990.0%
2024-093866984.8%
2024-1071413684.0%
2024-117136591.6%
2024-126349187.4%
2025-015758886.7%
2025-0241864939.2%
2025-0341625262.3%
2025-043494987.7%
2025-054818984.4%
2025-063925887.1%
2025-074685489.7%
2025-084456986.6%
2025-092785184.5%
2025-103435087.3%
2025-114045488.2%
2025-122505183.1%
2026-012633189.5%
2026-022012887.8%
2026-032352391.1%
2026-042233885.4%
2026-053043689.4%
2026-062232888.8%
2026-072743289.5%
2026-082153386.7%
2026-0921810,2842.1%
2026-1015841027.8%
Show daily data as a table
DayPositiveNegative
2026-09-1962
2026-09-2030
2026-09-2152
2026-09-2279
2026-09-23133,464
2026-09-24275,088
2026-09-2512815
2026-09-2610372
2026-09-279271
2026-09-289122
2026-09-29677
2026-09-30546
2026-10-01443
2026-10-02836
2026-10-031031
2026-10-041331
2026-10-051340
2026-10-06833
2026-10-07915
2026-10-081224
2026-10-091336
2026-10-10820
2026-10-11813
2026-10-12715
2026-10-1359
2026-10-141010
2026-10-151011
2026-10-16713
2026-10-17419
2026-10-18911
06 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Recent sentiment

PeriodPositiveReviews
Last 30 days29.8%795
Last 180 days70.1%2,494
All time87.0%134,890
Japanese, last 180 days100.0%3
08 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

About this verdict

Every figure is computed from review data that Steam makes public. No AI estimation is used.

Review text is never stored or republished. Read the actual reviews on Steam.

If you disagree with this verdict, please reach us via the contact on the About page. About

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