Svea Rike

Svea Rike
DevelopersTarget Games, Korkeken Interactive Studio AB
PublisherLevande Böcker
Producer
  • Tom Olsson Edit this on Wikidata
Programmer
  • Magnus Nedfors Edit this on Wikidata
Artist
  • Hannes Rhodin
  • Tom Olsson
  •  Edit this on Wikidata
SeriesSvea Rike
PlatformsWindows, Macintosh
Release1997
GenreTBS

Svea Rike is a 1997 turn-based strategy video game based on the history of Sweden, which became an inspiration to the later-established and far more popular franchise Crusader Kings. The title roughly translates to "The Kingdom of Sweden". A sequel, Svea Rike II, was released in 1998.

Development

The hybrid PC/Mac CD-ROM game was co-developed by Stockholm game development studios Korkeken and Target Games AB using Macromedia Director 6.x, under the label Mesmer & Block. It was published by Levande Böcker, a subsidiary of Bonnier Multimedia, in March 1997. Svea Rike was published exclusively within Sweden.: 82  Following the release of the sequel Svea Rike II, Target filed for bankruptcy and had its assets sold to Paradox Interactive.: 83 

Svea Rike was based on the award-winning board game of the same name published by Target Games, sharing the historical theme of simulating political and cultural events in Northern Europe in the period 1523–1818, the general game structure, and much of the media content.: 82  The notable additions for the CD-ROM version included a single-player mode against an AI, and a tactical combat system.[citation needed]

All wording and menus are in Swedish.

Reception

Svea Rike received largely positive within the Swedish gaming press.: 83  Björn Tidal of Svenska PC Gamer gave it a 65% rating.

Sequel

Svea Rike II
DevelopersTarget Games, Korkeken Interactive Studio AB
PublisherLevande böcker
Producer
  • Tom Olsson Edit this on Wikidata
Programmer
  • Magnus Nedfors Edit this on Wikidata
Artist
  • Hannes Rhodin
  • Tom Olsson
  •  Edit this on Wikidata
SeriesSvea Rike
PlatformsWindows, Macintosh
Release1998
GenreTBS

The sequel, Svea Rike II was released in 1998. The game opens in 1471 during the Battle of Brunkeberg. The goal is to ensure the player reaches the Peace of Fredrikshamn, while keeping Sweden's borders intact.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Paul Dean (September 25, 2013). "Inside Paradox, the strangest company in video games (EG)". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved December 16, 2025.
  2. 1 2 Joshua Wolens (25 October 2025). "25 years of making history: Europa Universalis lead Johan Andersson talks grey hair, running out of ideas for DLC, and only hiring a menus guy after 3 games". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 16, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  3. 1 2 Wainwright, A. Martin (2019). Virtual History: How Videogames Portray the Past (ebook ed.). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781351653374 – via Google Books.
  4. 1 2 "Paradox Interactive Focuses on Grand Strategy Games". DFC Intelligence. April 14, 2015. Archived from the original on July 23, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2025.
  5. ↑ "(Review) Svea Rike III [aka. "Swedish Empire III"]". FZ.se (in Swedish). Geeks AB. 2000-12-20. Archived from the original on March 10, 2024. Retrieved December 16, 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Altenheimer, Andreas; Benedikt Plass-Fleßenkämper; Sascha Lohmüller (December 2020). "20 Jahre Europa Universalis: Ein Traum für Historiker" [20 Years of Europa Universalis: A Dream for Historians]. PC Games (in Swedish). Computec Media. pp. 82–87 – via the Internet Archive.
  7. ↑ Barry Brenesal (August 8, 2003). "Europa Universalis: Crown of the North (IGN review)". IGN. Retrieved December 16, 2025.
  8. ↑ Tidal, Björn (January 1998). "Svea Rike". Svenska PC Gamer. No. 14. Medströms Dataförlag.[page needed]
  9. ↑ "Dataprogram som lär ut med nöje" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "IGN page for Svea Rike II". IGN. Retrieved December 16, 2025.

Further reading

Svea Rike
Svea Rike II