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Crusader Kings III (2020)

Paradox Development Studio

Linux · Mac · PC (Microsoft Windows) · PlayStation 5 · Xbox Series X|S

3.99 from 348 ratings

1904 members have it in their collection · 71 playing now · 797 backlogged · 139 wish listed

How long? Main story 30h · with extras 40h (from 4 logged playthroughs)

Crusader Kings III is the newest generation in the medieval role-playing grand strategy game series Crusader Kings. Expand and improve your realm, whether a mighty kingdom or modest county. Use marriage, diplomacy and war to increase your power and prestige in a meticulously detailed map that stretches from Spain to India, Scandinavia to Central Africa.
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Details

Developers
Paradox Development Studio
Publishers
Paradox Interactive
Genres
Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Strategy
Themes
Historical, Sandbox, Warfare
Series
Crusader Kings
Steam
View on Steam

Release dates

  • Sep 01, 2020 (Worldwide) Linux, Mac, PC (Microsoft Windows)
  • Mar 29, 2022 (Worldwide) PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

Also available on

Related

DLC

Expansions

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Featured in lists

Gamestar Magazine's 300 best PC games of all time by Human_Traffic · 300 games · 5
Gremlin's favorite Games of all time by Gremlins_Grotto · 49 games · 0
2020 Favorites by SIGINT · 10 games · 0

Rating distribution

5 stars
121
4 stars
133
3 stars
68
2 stars
21
1 star
5
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Community All Reviews Statuses

SIGINT

Status SIGINT Feb 22, 2025

Haven't launched this since 2020 and this popped up when I did:

Crusader Kings III requesting access to my location

No? Like come on lol

1 Comment Permalink
GreaseHammer

Status GreaseHammer Oct 12, 2020

Crusader Kings III is a fantastic successor to the already highly acclaimed CKII. The game is absolutely gorgeous (especially when you compare it to CKII). It does everything well that the second iteration in the franchise did. If you have played CKII and enjoyed it, I would say go ahead and pick this game up ASAP. It does everything well …

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Crusader Kings III is a fantastic successor to the already highly acclaimed CKII. The game is absolutely gorgeous (especially when you compare it to CKII). It does everything well that the second iteration in the franchise did. If you have played CKII and enjoyed it, I would say go ahead and pick this game up ASAP. It does everything well that it's predecessor did and looks great at the same time. If you haven't played a Crusader Kings title yet and you're unsure whether you'd like it or not, I would wait until it's on sale. The learning curve is pretty steep, but once you get over the hump, there's potential for hundreds or even thousands of hours of enjoyment. It was of the most highly anticipated games of 2020 for me and has definitely lived up to the hype.

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0 Comment Permalink
SIGINT

Status SIGINT Oct 4, 2020

I left my first hour with this game feeling a little overwhelmed and thinking I wouldn't mess with it much more, but today on a fresh character, it really clicked and I couldn't stop playing all evening. I don't particularly enjoy the fighting / war aspect of the game, so I generally avoid and ignore it and worry about other …

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I left my first hour with this game feeling a little overwhelmed and thinking I wouldn't mess with it much more, but today on a fresh character, it really clicked and I couldn't stop playing all evening. I don't particularly enjoy the fighting / war aspect of the game, so I generally avoid and ignore it and worry about other stuff -- it's so fun to come up with interesting scenarios that I kept starting new campaigns and role-playing crazy stuff for hours. I am having a great time just going for achievements and screwing around. It's much more approachable than something like Europa Universalis, and at the moment I'm enjoying it even more than Civilization because for me, the interpersonal and intrigue aspect of the game is more fun than the civilization / war part. Definitely glad this is in PC Game Pass, I would have never bought it to try it if it hadn't been.

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2 Comment Permalink
FinnQuill

Status FinnQuill Sep 4, 2020

So I played Crusader Kings III, and I definitely appreciate that I feel like I can understand it enough to play it (unlike its predecessor), but as I played it, I felt like I couldn't do enough. War is fairly boring, and it's way too easy to get caught up in one where the odds are just insurmountable, and …

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So I played Crusader Kings III, and I definitely appreciate that I feel like I can understand it enough to play it (unlike its predecessor), but as I played it, I felt like I couldn't do enough. War is fairly boring, and it's way too easy to get caught up in one where the odds are just insurmountable, and the events don't come fast enough and with enough variety to feel like my characters are seeing a great deal of development.

Not to mention, it feels lopsided that a character can only get real, deep character development while they're a ruler. I've read that Paradox wants you to play it more like a Life Sim/Strategy game where you play out stories, but I feel so disconnected from the other characters because it feels like they don't develop with me.

I honestly don't know how people feel like there's a deep story developing because everyone other than me just feels like a block of stats that I can barely be bothered to keep track of because I'd have to pause and check 20 minutes every 5 minutes to know if anything has actually happened with them. The game simultaneously feels like there's too much going on behind things on a micro level, and not enough happening that I both, want to constantly check in, and also just want to fast forward until something meaningful happens. It's just frustrating.

I'd love to feel engrossed by the game, because a game that's The Sims but with strategy elements seems like a total knockout for me... But ultimately, I just can't find myself caring that much in this case. Maybe I'll come back when it has more expansions and a Song of Ice and Fire mod where I already care enough about the characters to want to follow what's going on in their world.

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1 Comment Permalink