Crusader Kings II

Unite Ireland, conquer Scotland, Wales and Brittany, create a United Celtic Kingdom, and then lose it all when you fail to notice that your dumb brother you passed over for promotions has started a civil war and dragged in most of Scandanavia. Great times.

This is a poorly made nonsensical mess, some people like that, I don't. Wouldn't recommend.

Even just vanilla CK2 is peak, and with the added possibility of mods? One of my favorite games of all time.

If you find Total War games lack the Sims-esque court drama you crave, CK2 has you covered. In TW, your goal is world conquest; in CK, your goal is basically to make your dynasty the best it can be. Conquest is difficult just to get started (you can't just invade anywhere usually), and what you want is to develop your heirs and build prestige. Systems in CK are significantly more in-depth than TW, though ironically not combat (fighting is done similar to Auto in TW, though army composition matters). In particular, assassinating someone is only a possibility within a given year. You don't just send a dude to slit a throat. It's a different style of gameplay, though superficially CK is essentially a TW title. One cool thing I really like is how, even though certain things are guaranteed to happen like the Mongol Invasion, the timing can be very counterfactual. For example, my Viking Age started 200 years ahead of schedule and the Germanic religions reformed into basically a pagan church with a Pope-like figure; my Mongols also invaded about 450 years before they should have. Another example: Austrasia, an Early Medieval state centered on Luxembourg, is one of the superpowers atm while France is crushed between them and Aquitaine. Counterfactual "what if" scenarios keep CK2's replayability high. Overall, especially with mods, CK2 is a lot of fun. History nerds in particular need this game.

This is my absolute favorite game. It got me through some tough times over the last 13 years. There was always new things to try whether I was a Viking lord in Africa or a Mongol nomad invading my way across the Himalayas. The modding community is amazing too. I loved playing After the End and creating my home state as a kingdom. I am having to remove it from my computer to make space for work but I hope other people find as much joy it Crusader Kings II as I have. Paradox, thank you for all of the years of fun you have provided with this masterpiece!

Crusader Kings II is one of my all-time favorites. I really enjoy the problems of navigating medieval politics, and guiding a dynasty to greatness or into ruin. The DLC feels like it adds to the game but is not necessary to get the full experience, so it doesn't feel predatory. I've put in an insane amount of time on this game, and I'm very much planning on adding more. Overall I would say CKII is in my top five games ever.

It's alright, I played it for a day or two.

Love the game. Avoid the community.

I feel like a huge part of my life went into this game.

is good game. Many fun hours

Good Game classic

Fun

Classic