Crusader Kings

The Middle Ages was more than castles and knights. Feudal Europe was divided into small territories ruled by small rulers, held together only by their loyalty to a higher power. After years of games where “medieval” meant trebuchets or men riding around in metal suits, Crusader Kings tries to do justice to the complex political and religious climate of the period.
Instead of playing a nation, as in the other grand strategy games designed by Paradox Studios, you play the ruling family of a Christian kingdom, duchy, or county. It is your job to survive the cutthroat world of medieval politics, expanding your realm and influence and, most importantly, ensuring the survival of your dynasty. The size and efficiency of your personal territory is limited by the abilities of your monarch and his/her advisor. This means that any additional lands have to be farmed out to vassals and relatives. More vassals mean more prestige, the major currency in the game.
Unlike the other games by Paradox, Crusader Kings is only loosely historical. Events are generic, with some historical flavor. The characters at the beginning of a scenario are real people, but everyone else is created as the game goes along, making a new soap opera every time out. Similar to Medieval: Total War, characters have personalities and properties. In Crusader Kings, these properties can have serious consequences. Characteristics govern which options you get in events, how your children will turn out, and how quickly vassals regain lost loyalty.
Even though there is less information to manage here than in, say, Victoria, there is no easy way to find a lot of it. You cannot sort your courtiers by talent or trait, meaning that by mid-game, you have to scroll down a list of fifty names until you find your perfect chancellor. Finding desirable brides or grooms for royal marriages is almost as much trouble as wedding planning in the real world.
The title is also a bit of a misnomer. Though kings are expected to crusade, the computer-controlled monarchs have little desire to take up the cross. This means that the player usually faces the Muslim world alone. The AI is a lousy general, though, so defeating the Saracens in detail is not a major chore. The period of the Crusades is also treated as one long war, where failure to participate means less piety for your ruler. This continual pressure to wage war on a terrible AI opponent can end in large swaths of the Muslim world under your control by the 13th century.
This means that erecting an empire is only slightly more work than keeping it, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Vassals have a number of things to worry about and revolt over, and any major military effort will put a heavy strain on the goodwill of your underlings. One long war can crack a kingdom as much as build it. Still, Crusader Kings is more “Sim-Throne Room” than a wargame, and is most satisfying if played with this in mind.
The diplomatic system is pretty bare bones, and your military builds itself over time, meaning there can be long periods of down time, especially if you’re playing a minor noble. The AI is so lackluster that few powers can stand against a medium-sized kingdom. Fortunately, restrictions on waging war keep you from running amok.
But the personal sagas are what make Crusader Kings such an irresistibly flawed game. A cruel king raises cruel and arbitrary children; a devout soldier gets canonized for service to the church; a promising son contracts a serious illness and dies, leaving a half-witted brother next in line for the throne. Crusader Kings plays like a series of Shakespearean plays with every king having a character arc and every count’s struggle up the ladder of power a fascinating narrative. Grand issues of state are at stake, for sure, but when a great ruler finally dies, there is a regret that you will not feel in any other strategy game this year.

This article originally appeared in Computer Games Magazine #165