(If you want to read the review right away, read the second paragraph right away) Good evening! I don’t know whether anyone will use this site in order to understand how to play this game or not, but I will write my comment, since there are only three of them on this site, and they were written back in 2020!
I’ll start right away with the fact that this game justified itself and its name, our adventure begins, as in the second part, in the Middle Ages, but although it’s a small thing, the little thing that upset me is that the start dates of the game were cut, their there are only two left, this is the middle of the ninth century and the middle of the eleventh century, at the very beginning of releasing this game, it seemed raw to me, although not as raw as in other projects steam locomotives, but I like this game the most, I’ll explain why:
The game has undergone changes with various news, decisions, etc., of course, the game has not moved away from its usual text type, but in addition to the text, a character has been added that relates to that , or other news and the interior in which he is located, as well as in different situations his face changes, for example, if you were on a walk in your luxurious garden and heard your vassals gossiping next to the lake, then in addition to the solution in this situation in the form of text, your character will be depicted next to the pond, nature, the pose of eavesdropping and the sound of the noisy pond.
I was pleased with the change regarding the character’s stress, everything was much more convenient, you could see the stress scale and ways to lower it, and not like in the second part of the game, you get who knows how stress or depression and who knows when, lose it after living ten years with a bunch of debuffs.
The game hud has changed for the better, it has become more convenient, new tabs have appeared.
New solutions appeared, depending on your player’s culture and religion, but there were also those that any character, any nation could make. For example, if you play for the Scandinans, you can create the Jomsviking order, if you play for the Armenians, you can create Great Armenia, of course there were similar solutions in ck2, but there were very few of them.
The dynasty system has improved significantly, a separate prestige for the dynasty has appeared, decisions regarding dynasties have appeared, the opportunity to create, based on a ready-made dynasty, a new home for this dynasty and lead it.
It was possible not to start conspiracies to kill the son-heir with bad qualities, as in the second part, but simply to deprive him of his inheritance, or expel him from the dynasty, while wasting the prestige of the dynasty and the prestige of the character. With the new DLC 2022, you can customize the coat of arms of the dynasty, which was not the case at the time the game was released, this customization was different and a lot of details appeared from ck2 for good customization.
Of course, the council of the state was practically the same as in the past crusaders, but it had new opportunities.
Character customization when creating your character is very extensive, you can customize every point on the face, choose height, and the amount of body fat. New features have appeared. And during the game itself, in the character tab, you can go to the barber and change your clothes, hat, hairstyle, and beard. There were no first two solutions. Moreover, when playing as a Hindu, you can wear the clothes of the Pope.
The military system became better, knights appeared instead of generals. It was completely different from the ck2 system. At the start, each state has a militia, an ordinary peasant rabble; in addition to the militia, you can recruit special units, which are different for each culture, for example, in the Vikings these are bonds, Varangians, the Africans have special camel riders, and the steppe people have cavalry with bows.
You can create your own nation, religion, eat the Pope, marry your father’s daughter and have an affair with his wife and grandmother, become the emperor of the HRE, create a dynasty of Kings and consecrate it, receive all the inheritance of the dynasty, take your aunt as a concubine, and later accept his father’s offer to have an affair with him and his second son, and in the end die drunk to death at a feast.
The graphics are very good and made on a new engine.
The controls have changed, but not for the worse, it has become easier to use.
I would like to note that it is easier to learn to play than any other steamship strategy.
(SECOND PART OF THE REVIEW, AFTER THE 2022 UPDATE!!!!)
With the new DLC, an expansion of the court has appeared, you can specifically, like in ck2, give your courtiers titles that can help you if they are competent enough or kill, if you hired a drunk doctor for 15 gold. A tab for the royal court has appeared, this is just an awesome update, you see your character on the throne and his wife, your courtiers near you and the guards in your royal hall. Each hall will be different in appearance depending on the culture and religion, you can spend money on food, fashion, interior and amenities of your court, thereby improving the rating of the court around the world, and on this occasion the most skilled craftsmen around the world will come to you , with the desire to be in your yard. You can decide issues of your state, from deciding whose boar is in this yard to deciding to declare war.
Now the system of culture and religion is very well developed, you can create a hybrid culture, for example, if you are a vassal of the Khazar Kaganate with the Alan nation, and Khazars and Alans live in your provinces, or if you captured the Germans for the Swedes, you can create a hybrid The Swedish-German nation, increasing the tolerance of cultures, choose the style of the interior, clothes of the family coat of arms, etc.
The game is very cool and good, I recommend it to everyone!!