Victoria 3: Colossus of the South Review (Deckard)
Most of the content is devoted to Brazil, and playing it was a massive disappointment. You get a historical situation, where Pedro II starts in a tumultuous regency and tries to implement progressive reforms against conservative landlords, with tons of historical figures and fluff which fleshes out the country nicely (at least for me as a person who is not that familiar with Brazilian history).
However, the outcomes of this struggle in this game are railroaded to only two conclusions - either Pedro "wins" and his heir inherits the throne with a boost for progressive reforms, or the landlords enact presidential republic with landed voting. Moreover, this outcome is chosen only by what the community began to call "Pedropoints" - basically you either gain or lose a point of success in an event or some condition met. This system is so rigid it makes no sense in some situations. For example, in my game right now I have census suffrage, intelligentsia as the ruling class/party, tons of progressive reforms, and landlords marginalized. But, due to losing a point too much, I have no way of winning as Pedro, so marginalised landlords with virtually no power overtake the government and instate a republic in their vision.
I understand that simulating such a dynamic situation is difficult, but this does not even come close. This is lazy and railroaded game design.