Paradox’s latest grand strategy game has only been out since last week, but Victoria 3 mods are already flooding into the Steam Workshop. Just in time for Halloween, a popular expansion mod adds brand new map locations, interest groups, and mechanics to incorporate H.P. Lovecraft’s spooky Cthulhu mythos into the world of Victoria 3.
The Necronomicon mod, created by users Captain Nemo and EndsM, allows players to discover and explore a new landmass called R’lyeh. That’s the lost, sunken city in the South Pacific characterised by Lovecraft as being built with “non-Euclidean geometry” and where the elder god Cthulhu is said to sleep, awaiting his apocalyptic return.
The mod adds two new cultures, R’lyehian and Innsmouther, as well as three new interest groups that can form if you follow the new Necronomicon journal entries. These are the Cult of Cthulhu (which replaces the Devout), the Church of Starry Wisdom (which takes the place of the Intelligentsia), and the Esoteric Order of Dagon (formerly the Landowners).
The new journal entries can also unlock new technologies, depending on the choices you make, and the new interest groups can form a new political party called the Occultists.
The new journal event chain currently fires for R’lyeh itself, United Tribes, Madagascar, Liberia, Portugal, Chile, Mexico, Egypt, the United States, Britain, Zulu, Oman, New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia, Dutch East Indies, Argentina, Miskito Kingdom, Cuba, the Qing, Korea, Japan, East India Company, and Russia.
You can install the mod simply by heading to the Necronomicon page in the Steam Workshop and clicking the Subscribe button.
Check out our guide to the Victoria 3 trade system if you’re still getting a handle on the basics of the game.
Top image: Call of Cthulhu, by Cyanide Studio