Suzerain: Kingdom of Rizia Review (Kate27)
Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 174:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (9/10)
Suzerain: Kingdom of Rizia is an ambitious, creative, and thematically rich expansion to Suzerain that doesn’t just re-skin the game—it reinvents it. You take on the role of a monarch in a monarchy dominated by noble houses, religious orthodoxy, and courtly politics. While the base game had you slowly steering a fragile democracy through ideological currents, Rizia throws you into the world of palace intrigue, divine right, and absolute authority.
The core appeal lies in its signature mechanic, Royal Decrees, which allow you to instantly shift national policy on everything from succession law to press freedom to church control. This single system makes you feel powerful in a way no other DLC or political simulator has managed. But as always with Suzerain, power comes at a cost—and you’ll spend much of your reign trying to survive the backlash.
🤝 Pros:
Royal Decrees – Rule with a pen, not a vote. Decrees are bold, dramatic, and often game-changing. You can consolidate power, abolish feudal privilege, ban religious sects, change the royal succession system, or even legalize same-sex marriage. Every decree is a shortcut, a cheat code, but one with consequences. Use them too liberally, and you’ll provoke rebellions or a total collapse in legitimacy. Use them wisely, and you can sculpt Rizia into your ideal kingdom. No other Suzerain mechanic feels this hands-on or empowering.
Dynastic intrigue and noble houses. You're not ruling a faceless population; you’re surrounded by a constantly shifting web of threenoble houses, each with distinct personalities, goals, and degrees of loyalty. Supporting one often alienates another. They feud, conspire, ally with clergy, or quietly sharpen knives behind your back. Managing them feels like its own mini-game. Some will become trusted allies; others will launch coups. It’s the closest the game has come to Crusader Kings-level personal politics.
You rule alone, but never unopposed. While you can are the king, you’ll have to navigate clergy, tradition, family, and centuries-old customs. The result is a brilliant tension between unilateral power and deep cultural inertia. You can do almost anything—once. But whether the system allows you to do it again… that’s another story.
Cultural and religious flavor. Rizia is steeped in its own customs and theology. The religious system is far more pronounced than in the base game. Monasteries, holy law, prophets, and clergy all play significant roles in determining your popularity and political direction. Your alignment with the faith (or your defiance of it) shapes major story paths.
Deep replayability. Will you become a brutal tyrant or a cautious reformer? Marry into a rival house or use the Church as a bludgeon? Every combination of Royal Decrees and House favor unlocks radically different stories. And because Rizia's systems are so modular, each playthrough feels like solving a new puzzle with different pieces.
Sharp writing, as always. From tense noble debates to hushed conversations with scheming advisors, the writing remains top-notch. It walks the tightrope between philosophical and accessible, making Rizia feel both believable and larger than life.
🚪Cons:
Post-launch balancing dampened the best mechanic. At launch, Royal Decrees were a revelation, letting you reshape the kingdom on a whim. Want to abolish noble titles, enshrine freedom of religion, or rewrite the succession law? Done. But after feedback, the developers added cooldowns, legitimacy penalties, and increased opposition to many decrees. They also gave you more penalties and less resources in the 3.1 update. While that technically makes the system “balanced,” it also makes the game less fun. Decrees now require so much setup or pre-existing stability that they sometimes feel more like endgame tools instead of an exciting part of your core strategy. What was once empowering now feels fussy.
Slow start and front-loaded worldbuilding. The first couple of hours are heavy on exposition. You're introduced to multiple noble houses, religious orders, advisors, and long-dead monarchs. It’s a lot. While worldbuilding is a strength of the game, the early pacing can be overwhelming or dull if you’re eager to act. There's a stretch of gameplay where you're mostly listening, nodding, and ceremonially shaking hands, which makes sense narratively, but it may cause players to bounce before the more dynamic midgame unfolds.
No meaningful dynasty progression. This DLC is all about royal power, yet it misses a key monarchic fantasy: your legacy. You can elevate your House to legendary status, enact sweeping reforms, and secure peace or domination—yet the game ends quite suddenly when you have an heir on the way. Obviously, there's only so much time the devs have, but the abrupt ending can make later playthroughs feel oddly self-contained.
Failing to plan can quietly lock you out of entire paths. Rizia is complex, and that complexity can turn punishing. A single dialogue choice early on—like rejecting a marriage alliance or siding with a noble house—can silently close off major story routes. The game often doesn’t signal this clearly, meaning first-time players may unknowingly miss content or box themselves into a suboptimal path. It’s frustrating when your kingdom feels less like it’s shaped by your intentions and more like a test you didn’t know you were taking.
UI and information clarity could be better. Given how many mechanics—favor, legitimacy, noble support, and religious authority—are in flux, the UI can feel murky. For instance: there’s no clear “favor tracker” for all houses in one view. Or, you can’t always tell how close you are to rebellion or losing legitimacy until it’s too late. Decree consequences, also, are not always well-telegraphed. You might pass one expecting backlash, only to get... silence. Or vice versa. For a game about political chess, you’re sometimes left guessing the rules.