Every once in a while Steam hosts a big Midweek Madness sale. Usually its a game that has already had its day, and is pushing for a bit of a resurgence in its interest levels. Even more typically, its a game that generated massive hype when it first launched and many serious fans would have already sprung for it.
However, this week is quite different with Crusader Kings 2 75% off, dropping from 40 USD to ten. You can also pick up the full DLC bundle for the same discount; going from 159 USD to 39 USD!
You see, unlike Terraria or Lost Planet 3, this game’s attention to a very specific detail is worth beyond even the original 40 dollars they are asking.
Where most games fail, however, is where Crusader Kings 2 succeeds with explosive accuracy.
The title itself is most commonly referred to as a “grand strategy” game, but I imagine many people don’t fully understand what that really means.
Essentially, what we are dealing with here is a game where you can select literally any single historical figure, ranging from Richard the Lionheart to a lonely Count. Once you have done so, your goals are not to conquer the world or master the art of war…
Well, really the goals are what you make them!
The brilliance is that you play as a dynasty instead of a single character, so all the while you must claw and struggle to improve your situation AND improve that of your heir’s. The subtle intricacies are often lost at a first glance: things like how your vassals or piers will react to your son’s inheritance, or how his one negative trait may lead to a huge uprising, or even your sudden unexpected death after 10 hours of work!
But what I’m typing doesn’t truly do justice to this game. The reason I so passionately write about Crusader Kings right now is not because your typical “the gameplay is attractive,” “the graphics are sharp,” “or the story is interesting.”
The most vibrant feature this game presents is it’s historical berth and accuracy. I can honestly claim I have learned more about feudal systems and medieval history from simply playing this video game than in all the years of my education.
Even more interesting is your ability to span multiple continents and play virtually ANY time period between the middle ages and the start of modernization and colonialism.
I personally have always been a huge fan of the Crusades, especially the First and Third and the world religion dynamic they exemplify, but honestly before playing this game I knew nothing compared to the after.
Especially if you are actually from an area where this game takes place, it can really be quite rewarding. Personally, if I was from England or Italy I would LOVE to explore my country’s past and play as all different sorts of leaders and potentially re-write history.
You can even pick the Count of your home county if you really want to get specific!
The list of features are truly wide, but realize that the sky is the limit with this game. If you can imagine it happening within this world, it can. I’m talking incest, matricide, excommunication, slavery, religious conversion, and even title creation! In fact, one individual I used to play frequently with made a point of creating the Kingdom of Ireland before doing anything else!
Oh yes, in case you couldn’t infer from that statement, there is also full multiplayer capability!
You and your friends can pick a time to start, pick a dynasty, and ally together to conquer the world. Or you can simply relax and watch what develops! Some times its most fun to just declare war on your buddies!
And if that isn’t enough to wet your appetite, I know what will do it. Think for a second: what similar fantasy universe sounds like it would fit perfectly into these scenarios I have been describing!
Did you pick Westeros and Game of Thrones!? Yesssss indeed friends, there is fully functioning mods for this game that can create a TOTAL conversion of the world and systems to make it feel like you are actually playing in Westeros. Its actually exceptionally well made, taking care to include the earliest hours of civilization of Westeros of Haran the Black and the age of the first men. You can even play as and explore Essos!
Maybe when I asked that question your first answer wasn’t Westeros though? Perhaps it was Middle Earth or Tamriel? Well there are mods for both those universes as well. There are even mods that feature whats known as “Shattered World” scenarios where every peice of Europe and Asia is independent and you can push to take over as much as possible with out the mess of Kingdom warfare.
However, there are some faults to the game. Understand that by default, the areas of Western and Middle Europe and the Middle East are the main focus of the game. Its grown to expand into Africa and much deeper into Asia and Russia, but a lot of the functionality of this is limited to DLC. You can play as any Christian ruler by default and take over India or Africa, but if you want to play as those places and do the opposite, its going to cost you.
Another huge limitation is the UI and Keybinds. There are mods out there to improve the controls, but I must warn you that your first time playing will absolutely overwhelm you. There are simply thousands of buttons and things to do, so I would really recommend watching a few videos if you get frustrated with the learning curve.
Otherwise, if you are a History nerd like me and have a few thousand hours you want to sink into the iniquities of feudal goings-on, I could not recommend this game enough.
Its really splendid and is constantly getting updates and new DLC around the year!