It took less than two weeks: the first player conquered the world in Europa Universalis 5. „It looked like absolute hell”

On November 4th, Europa Universalis V, the latest installment of the hit grand strategy series by Paradox, was released. In less than two weeks, someone managed to conquer the entire world in this game.

1. This feat was accomplished by a YouTuber known as ThePlaymaker. He managed to occupy the entire map in the game, so that the Earth was covered solely by his territories and those of his tributaries.
2. The player initially failed several times in this challenge. In a strategy that ended up working out, he started with Barlas, who later became the Timurids, and eventually formed the Holy Roman Empire. Then his nation switched to Moscow culture, which let them cut neighborhood costs by over 100%.

Achieving this feat sparked considerable interest and many comments. One of the viewers said they watched the whole gameplay, and it looked like a total nightmare for the first 80% of it.

Ironman in EU5 still awaits conquest

This challenge is very popular among fans of the series, and it was especially big during the fourth installment. However, it should be noted that ThePlaymaker's achievement is somewhat more modest—in EU4, this challenge required not only taking control of the world but also doing so in Ironman mode, which prevents manual saving and loading of the game, forcing the player to face the consequences of their decisions.

The YouTuber didn't mess around with this mode because, as he explained, he had to use console commands (which are blocked in Ironman mode) to speed up the gameplay. This issue was later fixed in patch 1.0.3. It's still a big achievement, but it means the title of "first player to conquer the entire world in EU5's IronMan mode" is still up for grabs.

1. Europa Universalis V on Steam

Europa Universalis V

November 4, 2025

Rate It!

• Overview

• Paradox Interactive
• Europe Universalis (series)
• grand strategy games