Crusader Kings 3 – Review
Paradox’s historically-based strategy series, Crusader Kings 3, is a wonderful addition to the series. A new RPG element and a slew of quality-of-life improvements make the game more enjoyable for both long-time Crusader Kings players and newcomers alike. There are still a few issues, such as inconsistent AI-controlled allied armies, but this is still one of the best strategy games you can buy right now.
With Crusader Kings 3, I’ve had the opportunity to play as a number of different rulers, including an Irish King who conquered Iceland and an English Lord who was secretly assassinating toddlers in order to gain the right to rule.
The ability to change the course of history and tamper with the timeline is as exciting as it sounds, but the best part of Paradox’s strategy series is following the storey of each ruler and devising your own plots and schemes that even George R.R. Martin would be impressed with are the most enjoyable aspects.
It is with this in mind that Crusader Kings 3 sets itself apart from its predecessors, delivering an adventure that is far more character-driven. The new RPG-style skill trees that provide a sense of progression and increase the scope for more diverse character builds are just one way Paradox accomplishes this. It’s now possible for two different rulers to have incredibly different skill sets, avoiding the risk of repetitive playthroughs, thanks to diplomacy.
Characteristics have a stronger impact, thanks in part to the addition of the Stress feature. Your stress bar will fill up if you take actions that conflict with your ruler’s personality traits. Those who have the ‘Sadistic’ personality trait might prefer to torture a prisoner than free him, while those who have the ‘Just’ personality trait would feel remorse when plotting an assassination. Filling this stress bar to the brim could result in your character’s death.
For a while, this feature felt like a hindrance, but the more I immersed myself in the role-playing aspect of Crusader Kings, the more I enjoyed it. As a result of playing Crusader Kings 2, I often found myself building a large number of characters who excelled at stewardship, which made each character feel unremarkable.
While working on Crusader Kings 3, the stress bar pushed me to create more interesting characters, such as vengeful warrior lords, diplomatic power brokers, and depraved psychopaths who would make Ramsay Bolton look like a saint. The stress bar gives you a bit of wiggle room, so if I felt the reward outweighed the consequences, I could always go against my character traits. It’s not a disaster if you die before your time, because you’ll just take over your heir’s responsibilities.
Your character’s traits are now limited by the game developer Paradox. The fact that I was able to collect over a dozen different abilities and traits in Crusader Kings 2 before the game crashed allowed me to take advantage of numerous story-related possibilities, but it also resulted in a character with a confusing personality. This time around, rulers will have just three or four traits, making them much easier to play as and better defined characters.
A slew of new game mechanics have been introduced by Paradox to encourage even more playstyle diversity, so you’re not solely dependent on combat and assassination to take over land. If you’ve uncovered a character’s scandalous secrets, the new hook system is one of my personal favourites. Because of my spymaster’s discovery that the Scottish King had been born to an illegitimate mother, I was able to persuade him to allow my son to marry his daughter, giving my son a legitimate claim to the throne of the country.
With new feudal contracts, you can negotiate with your vassals to levy higher taxes and larger levies, which elevates the Diplomacy attribute in importance. Blackmailing Vassals into accepting more benevolent terms is an effective way to demonstrate how many of Paradox’s new features and systems work together seamlessly.
Paradox has created 3D models of every character in the game to fully immerse you in the storey of your character. Although it may appear to be a superficial improvement, this feature helped me create a more detailed storey in my head, especially since physical traits like scars, fat, and smallpox are clearly displayed on the character’s avgahnt. It was even more sinister when I had to look my target in the eye and plan an assassination.
Newcomers will find Crusader Kings to be less intimidating thanks to the game’s 3D character models. Previous Crusader Kings games appear to be serious strategy games that only appeal to history buffs at first glance. This is obviously not the case, and as a result, Paradox has gone to great lengths to improve its visual appeal.
There is a lot more detail in the map, and the user interface is much more intuitive. With the addition of color-coded icons, hovering over certain keywords brings up an encyclopaedia explanation. Even seasoned Crusader Kings players will benefit from this, as remembering the ramifications of each trait can be difficult.
If you try to move your cursor over certain pop-up windows on the site, they will disappear, which can be very frustrating at times. Characters have been mislabeled as infertile and enemy troops have been incorrectly coloured as ‘neutral,’ but I am confident that these issues will be addressed in future updates.
In addition to a slew of new features, Paradox has made menu navigation significantly more user-friendly. If you’re looking for a partner with whom to form a strong alliance or who will pass on a gene that increases the chances of your future children becoming geniuses, you can use these new search filters to narrow down your options.
Rather than having your army spread out across your kingdom, you can now raise your troops from a single designated rally point. Because the previous Crusader Kings games made gathering all of your troops into one massive army a logistical nightmare, I’m glad to see this change.
The size of your army is no longer the only thing that determines the outcome of a battle, and this has resulted in numerous improvements to combat. As the quality of your knights becomes more important, you will have to recruit characters with exceptional prowess skills to join your ranks. Giving these titles to your children or vassals can be a risky proposition, given the high mortality rate of knights in battle.
Successful sieges, on the other hand, tend to result in the capture of characters from the court. To keep your heir from ending up in an enemy prison, you’ll have to take extra precautions to keep your capital safe.
Crusader Kings’ combat is still its weakest point, lacking the tactical nuance found in other strategy games. The AI for allied armies is the most frustratingly inconsistent problem of all. You may find yourself outnumbered and outgunned by allied troops who wander around your territory without purpose. Because the current setup makes alliances extremely risky to rely on, it would make more sense for alliances to lend their armies to you, rather than having you take control of theirs.
Although Paradox hasn’t addressed all of the game’s issues, Crusader Kings 3 is still a significant improvement over its predecessors. As with any Paradox game, Crusader Kings 3 is expected to be flooded with DLC, but it already feels like a complete experience that can keep you occupied for hours at a time.
New to the history-based strategy series, Crusader Kings 3 puts a greater emphasis on character-driven narratives and opens up more exciting possibilities for expanding your kingdom.
New in-game guides and tutorials make it easier for newcomers to learn the fundamentals, while a large number of quality-of-life improvements make menu navigation significantly easier. Better graphics, including 3D character models and more detailed maps, make it easier to immerse yourself in the storey.
In spite of some minor hiccups, Crusader Kings 3 is unquestionably the best iteration yet, and it’s only going to get better with future expansions.
