Paradox Interactive's Crusader King series has always had an almost legendary level of complexity, but with new entry Crusader Kings 3, it appears the developers have finally succeeded in making a complex game accessible to the masses. Critics are praising new tutorial and RPG elements that make it easier to understand the game's many, many menus, as well as making players even more invested in the lives of the various members of court.
Crusader Kings 3 is the latest grand strategy game from Paradox Interactive. Like its predecessor, Crusader Kings 3 is a medieval simulator that asks players to navigate a family line over centuries of politics, warfare, and diplomacy. Players can start the game as a lowly vassal with barely a duchy to their name or as the ruler of a sizable swath of Europe, Asia, or North Africa. After choosing a starting person, players can do just about whatever they want: arrange marriages for their children, go to war with their neighbor, found a new religion. Once their character dies (hopefully of old age and not a dagger in the back), players are given control of their heir and continue on managing their dynasty.
All of those options leave players with a lot to keep track of, and the volume and complexity of the menus in past Crusader Kings games have caused all but the most dedicated of players to bounce off of them. The universal message from reviewers for Crusader Kings 3, however, is that players who were intimidated from trying out Crusader Kings in the past need to give this installment a chance. Vastly improved tutorials make it easier for newcomers to understand how to achieve their goals, and readily available tooltips define concepts that might not be familiar to those who haven't brushed up on their medieval history recently.
Crusader Kings 3's RPG Elements Make the Game More Accessible
Crusader Kings 3 has also added more RPG elements to the game to make it easier for players to connect with characters and understand their motivations. The game has added skill trees, for instance, to give their character more focus, and all characters now have 3D models that give players a better sense of the disposition of other rulers and courtiers than the 2D portraits of Crusader Kings 2. Reviewers did mention that occasionally they floundered a bit as what to do next in a particular campaign due to the sheer options and lack of a defined goals. The game is still incredibly complex, even as it makes itself more accessible. Here are some other highlights from reviewers:
Screen Rant - Toby Arguello
These new changes, alongside many more minor yet well-executed ones, make Crusader Kings III a combination of the cutthroat courts of Game of Thrones with the family-based sandbox gameplay of The Sims - although Crusader Kings III hopes to be less greedy with its DLC than the latter. Compared to its predecessor, actions have greater consequences, both good and bad, and the quality of life changes will be gladly accepted by veterans and newcomers alike.
Kotaku - Luke Plunkett
I would recommend Crusader Kings III to Crusader Kings II fans, obviously. But also to Civilization and Total War fans. To people who play The Sims. Or visual novels. Or Bioware RPGS. That’s testament to how wild and untamed this game’s scope it, but also how successful it is in delivering on the promise of wrapping it all up into a single cohesive offering.
PCGamer - Fraser Brown
Like all grand strategy games, it's cursed to look incredibly imposing, but this is the friendliest of the bunch. It's shed none of its complexity, but it's much better at showing how everything is connected. On top of a serviceable tutorial that gets you started in Ireland, there's a tutorial menu that's accessible at any time, as well as a seemingly infinite supply of tooltips. Even the tooltips have tooltips.
GameSpot - David Wildgoose
Yet for all the opportunity it affords, this lackadaisical approach can also feel discouraging. It's all too easy to find yourself struggling for motivation or simply feeling a bit lost as to what to do. Several campaigns of mine were abandoned through ennui. I just wasn't "feeling it," you know? And the game just doesn't offer much encouragement in easing you back in or incentivising you to take certain courses of action.
Vice - Gita Jackson
What the game aims to do is create a working facsimile of how human beings in the medieval ages interacted with each other. It has a reputation for being for history nerds, but I think it's appeal is broader than that. This is a game for people who are nerds about people, and why they act the way they do.
IGN - T.J. Hafer
Crusader Kings 3 is a superb strategy game, a great RPG, and a master class in how to take the best parts of existing systems and make them deeper and better. I have thousands of hours in the previous game, and I expect to spend at least that many in this third installment.
By all accounts, anyone who has thought that role-playing elements of Crusader Kings were intriguing should give this game a shot. Even reviewers who had some caveats rated the game highly overall. Subscribers to Xbox Game Pass are also in luck, as Crusader Kings 3 will be available on the PC side of the service from launch day, removing the financial worry of buying the game and potentially not liking it. In fact, the greatest risk of playing Crusader Kings 3 seems to be a high likelihood of one-more-turn syndrome, leaving players manipulating their kingdom well into the early hours of the morning.
Crusader Kings III releases September 1st on Mac, PC, and Linux.