Crusader Kings II Review (Nak)
So you want to play Crusader Kings II in 2023? I’d say good luck my friend. The game is solid, intricate, and has a learning curve more curvy than a scimitar.
It’s a complicated game where the game play is based on actual characters (kings, dukes, emperors, warlords etc) as opposed to collectively controlling nation states, Like in total war, EU4, Victoria II/III etc.
This allows for a lot of unique gameplay mechanics and accomplishments that most other strategy map games lack. For example….. you can fuck the wife of any lord you dislike through enough planing and interactions.
The game play is less “how do I conquer Europe” and more “how do I make my families lineage the most epic? How do I kill this disloyal duke without pissing everyone off? how do I get the pope to like me personally. How do I send an expedition into China to put my dynasty on their throne?”
Now all of this is solid and super cool. The game also does have a wide array of “map painting” of you want to go the “lets create a single political European entity that just gets bigger” route.
Now all of this can easily lead to an individual sinking hundreds, even thousands of hours into this game. Slowly getting better, unlocking more intricate strategies, and seeing the full extent of AI random event generation. But there’s a catch. You might have noticed this game is free. It’s a trick, the base game is free.
To do 4/5th of the epic “I’m a medieval lord now bow before me!!!” Stuff you’d want to do…….. you’d have to spend $100s on DLC. Now you could wait for sales, heavily research the dlcs you want to buy, figure out what you deem the most essential…… but Paradox knows you probably won’t.
For $5 a month you can “subscribe” to all the dlcs that make this game playable. I’d say it’s worth it as a trial run or place holder as you slowly buy the dlcs to exert full ownership of the game.
I haven’t played the base game. (I bought it and all the dlc in 2014. But to play as Muslims (half the game rulers and a large part of the literal crusades) you need to fork over $10 for a dlc. Now not all the dlc are winners and some are more essential than others so that $5 a month might seem pretty good.
The game (as defined as owning all dlcs or the $5 monthly subscription) is amazing. A solid 81/100
Only down sides are buggy multiplayer and occasional crashes.