A Crusader Kings 3 mod adds a fishing minigame that actually helps reduce the character’s stress levels. The third entry in the Crusader Kings series from Stellaris developer Paradox was one of the surprise releases of 2020. The grand strategy and dynasty simulator game was universally praised by both critics and players alike, which is partially thanks to a new engine that allowed the game to not only be larger in scale but also introduce a more polished experience alongside many new gameplay features.
The release of Crusader Kings 3 was additionally notable as it was the game from last year that finally dethroned Fall Guys from Steam’s best-seller list, a position the latter was holding for a month. The feat is definitely a testament to how well Paradox was able to make Crusader Kings 3 more accessible to a wider audience, especially considering the niche genre it belongs to.
Steam Workshop mod maker Castox created the "Tavern Games Vol.2 - Gone Fishing!" mod for Crusader Kings 3 as part of their titular mod series for the game. Players who download the mod will be able to access it through the game’s Decisions menu. It follows similar mechanics to fishing in Stardew Valley wherein they need to keep an indicator within a highlighted area of a vertical bar by repeatedly clicking a button in-game or pressing a key on their keyboard until a second vertical bar fills up and the fish is caught. What’s surprising is that successfully catching a fish actually decreases the character’s stress levels.
As previously mentioned, "Tavern Games Vol.2 - Gone Fishing!" is just one of several minigame mods for Crusader Kings 3. Their first release is a drinking game similar to the one found in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla while the two following the fishing mod involve mounted archery and jousting. While Castox does note that "Tavern Games Vol.2 - Gone Fishing!" doesn’t require additional mods to function, it should be loaded after other mods to avoid breaking them.
While the actual mechanics for each of the minigames in Castox’s mods are definitely inspired by those found in other titles, it’s definitely impressive to see how they’re been able to implement them in a game such as Crusader Kings 3. It’s just unfortunate that those who end up playing Crusader Kings 3 when it releases for the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 may not be able to experience mods such as these as the game’s console releases may not allow them.
Crusader Kings 3 is currently available on PC.
Source: Castox/Steam