This is a project Paradox is committing to not just now, but for years to come. 'This is a period when that actually happened.'

'Every strategy game is about creating an empire,' says Johan. I still need to fabricate a claim to start wars (this is the era when casus belli first came to be used after all) but they're mostly a pretext, and it's perfectly okay to take more land than I initially demanded. There isn't really such a thing as a 'De jure Kingdom'-historic borders don't exist yet, so whatever you can hold you can keep. Like any good Roman, I immediately declare war on my nearest neighbour, the Samnites. 'Which contrasts to our previous games, at least CK, which does take place in the Dark Ages after all.' There's also a terrific zoom option that automatically fades out from a detailed terrain map to a flat political one as you zoom out. 'It's a very hopeful aesthetic,' explains lead artist Joacim Carlberg. The first thing I notice upon sitting down with the game is that the UI is dominated by a deeply Hellenic white marble and a generally bright and vibrant colour palette. Imperator is the culmination of all this experience. 'I didn't do super much on Stellaris, but everything else,' he says.

In fact when I ask him which Paradox games he's worked on the list goes on for several minutes. He knows what he's talking about, because he's worked on every single one of those games. 'You have the population mechanics that are similar to games like Stellaris or Victoria, the warfare and diplomacy which is similar to EU and the characters that are closer to Crusader Kings,' explains Johan Andersson, the creative director on Imperator and a Paradox veteran of over 20 years.

Crusader kings 2 hellenic