Crusader Kings II

 PC
User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1019 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 882 out of 1019
  2. Mixed: 81 out of 1019
  3. Negative: 56 out of 1019

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  1. kella
    Jul 16, 2016
    5
    This used to be my favorite game. Used to be. Back during Rajas of India or somewhere along there I would have rated it 9 out of 10.

    Then they broke it. Inexplicably ruined it, trashed it, let some junior designer or idiot know-it-all producer or a committee of dunces--I have no idea what happened there, in Sweden, behind closed doors--utterly trash the game with the broken, worthless,    This used to be my favorite game. Used to be. Back during Rajas of India or somewhere along there I would have rated it 9 out of 10.

    Then they broke it. Inexplicably ruined it, trashed it, let some junior designer or idiot know-it-all producer or a committee of dunces--I have no idea what happened there, in Sweden, behind closed doors--utterly trash the game with the broken, worthless, unplayable steaming POS that is the Conclave DLC. I hope someone got fired for that, but now that I have Stellaris, I don't think that person got fired. I think they got promoted.

    Seriouisly, WTF happened to Paradox? Did their best game designers quit or something? Because this once-great strategy company has gone to the dogs.    … Expand
  2. LesPaul
    Dec 27, 2019
    5
    The horrible portrait graphics are a game-breaker: I dropped playing CKII and switched back to the original CK just in order to avoid having to look at CKII artwork. The other problem with this otherwise fine dynasty game is the marketing strategy to milk players for more money with the numerous DLCs. Gameplay itself is a 9-10 experience, though the game engine conjures up a little tooThe horrible portrait graphics are a game-breaker: I dropped playing CKII and switched back to the original CK just in order to avoid having to look at CKII artwork. The other problem with this otherwise fine dynasty game is the marketing strategy to milk players for more money with the numerous DLCs. Gameplay itself is a 9-10 experience, though the game engine conjures up a little too much of a soap-operatic experience for my taste, in comparison to the original CK.… Expand
  3. madmax55
    Jan 2, 2013
    5
    Another almost fun game. Super hard to understand. Very little help to learn. Even when something happen bad, you dont know what it is and how to improve it. The game keep you very very busy, taking care of 1000 details. But whatever you do, it doesn't change so much the results. Even when things seem to go well, you can be bite by a serpent or fall from a balcony or many other reasons outAnother almost fun game. Super hard to understand. Very little help to learn. Even when something happen bad, you dont know what it is and how to improve it. The game keep you very very busy, taking care of 1000 details. But whatever you do, it doesn't change so much the results. Even when things seem to go well, you can be bite by a serpent or fall from a balcony or many other reasons out of your control and then the end of the game might follow. You got TWO choices : you help the computer to beat himself OR you face it and be crushed slowly to instantly.… Expand
  4. Mortensus
    Mar 27, 2012
    6
    Not an easy game, sometimes frustrating, with a slow learning curve (if you expect to master it). You ll have to make many mistakes before understanding most of the game mechanics and be successful. Certainly not a game for everyone. But if you can go through that, you ll find a jewel that worth your time. The political system is very complex and the backbone of the game, it's all aboutNot an easy game, sometimes frustrating, with a slow learning curve (if you expect to master it). You ll have to make many mistakes before understanding most of the game mechanics and be successful. Certainly not a game for everyone. But if you can go through that, you ll find a jewel that worth your time. The political system is very complex and the backbone of the game, it's all about relations between members of your family/vassals, not so much about war and conquests. Very deep game.… Expand
  5. greywolf00
    Jun 3, 2013
    7
    Love Paradox games and this started out as no exception. It's big, complex, and detailed. Once you get the hang of it you can chug through rather nicely. For me, the game fails miserably when it comes to a King/Queen dying. Historically, you didn't see wars stop due to a death or rebellions pop up after every death. In CK2 however, all aggressive expansions immediately halt upon death andLove Paradox games and this started out as no exception. It's big, complex, and detailed. Once you get the hang of it you can chug through rather nicely. For me, the game fails miserably when it comes to a King/Queen dying. Historically, you didn't see wars stop due to a death or rebellions pop up after every death. In CK2 however, all aggressive expansions immediately halt upon death and rebellions are far too common from the ensuing loss of stability. Tends to create boring dead zones of time where you can't really do much other than wait for loyalty to solidify to expand again. It's just tedious and boring rather than challenging and entertaining. Really frustrating when you get unlucky and run through multiple rulers in a short time frame. Overall the game isn't bad and is worth grabbing if you're into complex strat games.… Expand
  6. NamelessJT
    Nov 7, 2013
    7
    Crusader Kings II was my introduction, and eventual conversion, to Paradox Interactive. The depth of the dynastic strategy is amazing though it will take many hours to fully appreciate and exploit the tools given to you for conquering Medieval Europe. While there are some flaws within the game the only real "game breaker" would be multiplayer support. Crusader Kings II plays very wellCrusader Kings II was my introduction, and eventual conversion, to Paradox Interactive. The depth of the dynastic strategy is amazing though it will take many hours to fully appreciate and exploit the tools given to you for conquering Medieval Europe. While there are some flaws within the game the only real "game breaker" would be multiplayer support. Crusader Kings II plays very well single player but it truly shines when you play with others. Unfortunately, Paradox's metaserver is nonfunctional and unsupported, which leaves you with having to play through your own IP which is extremely difficult for friends and family who have no network experience.… Expand
  7. DukeRaoul
    Jul 19, 2013
    6
    I hate to give this game a poor review; as people seem to love it so much, and there seems to be some great aspect to it that I just don't get, but the game just simply seems to have no redeeming factor to me.
    I'm quite all right with relatively bland UIs but this one just takes the cake it's a simple map (that strangely gives me frame rate drops on 'terrain' view) with some very basic    I hate to give this game a poor review; as people seem to love it so much, and there seems to be some great aspect to it that I just don't get, but the game just simply seems to have no redeeming factor to me.
    I'm quite all right with relatively bland UIs but this one just takes the cake it's a simple map (that strangely gives me frame rate drops on 'terrain' view) with some very basic animations that take place when two armies engage.
    As far as I'm aware, planning out a dynasty is the main 'goal' of the game, although it's a bit more ambiguous than that essentially, you achieve what you wish to achieve in the game. I'm quite all right with the concept, but with such little to motivate and drive you, I ended up asking just what exactly I was playing for as I was in no way engaged a similar occurrence to what can happen when playing Minecraft.
    I will say this. I thoroughly believe if you are a strategy fan, you will enjoy this. I got some enjoyment out of Starcraft 2, but I have determined real-time strategy games are not for me. Perhaps this is what so hazily masks the appeal for me.
    However, if you're on the fence about playing this, my review will likely apply more to you. As a lot of people have stated, there's a giant learning curve to this game I believe understand the concepts, but I don't understand how to 'play' it. I keep my vassals happy, make sure my ruler has a royal heir to succeed him and... then what? I have to wait years upon years to get a claim upon a county? Perhaps I'm blind, but the game feels like just one huge waiting fest.
    I regret this isn't the game for me as I was granted it as a gift after showing some interest in it. I merely hope those of you who do purchase get a lot more entertainment out of this than I did, as for me I wasn't motivated in the slightest to continue my campaign any actually achieve some form of major goal within the game.
    Playing as historical rulers (or characters from a Song of Ice and Fire, if that's your thing) is cool, though.    … Expand
  8. CaptainThom
    Jul 29, 2013
    7
    This is by no means an easy game to master not helped by poor tutorials that don't really teach you how to the play the game. That said if you persist with Crusader kings you will be rewarded with a challenging game which will test your strategy and planning. Unfortunately the combat is particularly lackluster and the interface is poor.
  9. Bagger92
    Jun 6, 2014
    7
    Great game!

    Yet:
    - It may be too "basic", want to see some more "creativity" regarding to the subject: history, intrigue, worldmap (continents), battle, politics

    Maybe a sandbox solution? So the game can be very "basic" and very "deep", at the same time?
    Just a thought.
  10. jamiemgr
    Apr 25, 2017
    6
    Decent game, very detailed campaign, lot's to do. But the UI is a frustrating mess that ruins it for me. This is the sort of detailed campaign I could only ever hope for in a Total War game.
  11. Wiebe
    Feb 26, 2020
    6
    Great complex game, remains entertaining after a lot of hours, but mircro managing your empire gets very very tedious after some time as your realm grows.
  12. wojtekoxx
    Apr 25, 2017
    7
    Mind you, my grade for this game would be 10/10 if 2 DLC's never happened. I will just review old version of the game, then add some minus points in the end.
    CK2 as a game allows you to heavily roleplay and enact the wonder scenarios you always dreamed of reading about history. Reverse Manzikert? Check. Make pagan religion of choice (or all of them) survive? Check. Make Islam/Christianity    Mind you, my grade for this game would be 10/10 if 2 DLC's never happened. I will just review old version of the game, then add some minus points in the end.
    CK2 as a game allows you to heavily roleplay and enact the wonder scenarios you always dreamed of reading about history. Reverse Manzikert? Check. Make pagan religion of choice (or all of them) survive? Check. Make Islam/Christianity win or fail miserably? All possible. Have sex with your cousin? Check. Be a mediocre ruler, like hundreds in real life before you - possible. Have your country ruled in succession by alikes of Alexander or Napoleon and leading it to glory? All possible.
    In addition, your history knowledge with this game will skyrocket. I wouldn't complain about hard to play, because you can just use some cheats as training wheels early.
    Now here come bad things. Imagine if playing GTA it took you 2 minutes to steal a car, and police would chase you forever like in real life. Is this more realistic? Yes. Does it kill the game for you? Yes as well. CK2 had 2 bad dlcs that while had some redeeming qualities, destroyed the fun out of game.
    First one is Charlemagne, which makes retinues useless (only like 2% of cultures in the game have good retinues). Want to feel forced to reform religion so you will basically never play as a king OR unreformed for prolonged time - hell yeah, because you are some crap called tribal now. Now let's get to conclave. What are the most fun times in the playthrough? Well, first 100 years, when you are consolidating power, or maybe going from the count to emperor / multi king. Which hours of conclave suck the most? The same hours, because your council has almost everything in their favour and it takes you 5/10 years and 500-2000 gold each time to allow you to actually rule kingdom, where you'd possible need/want to do somethings like: you have right to banish bad people, you can revoke titles from traitors, you can grant YOUR titles to someone else, you can imprison bad people and many others!    … Expand
  13. Crimson9
    Dec 21, 2022
    6
    Mechanically this game is very unimpressive. But for roleplaying it can be amazing. Mods really make it come to life. DLC is obnoxiously expensive though, and basically mandatory, so 1 point off for that.
  14. HeitorCampos
    Mar 13, 2023
    5
    I only played with one dlc so keep that in mind. This game is barren, gets old fast and not complicated enough to be what it wants to be. It took many mods to make this fun. Honestly the Game of Thrones mod is the only thing that made me spend as much time as I did in this game.
  15. Gorbunov2004
    Aug 9, 2021
    6
    Игра чуть-чуть лучше чем первая часть также ничего не понятно, завоёвывать соседей можно только по 1 провинции и это очень тупо. Научите кто нибудь Paradox делать нормальное обучение а то во всех аспектах игры приходиться разбираться самому, как бы игрок пришел в игру чтобы играть а не читать обучение.Игра чуть-чуть лучше чем первая часть также ничего не понятно, завоёвывать соседей можно только по 1 провинции и это очень тупо. Научите кто нибудь Paradox делать нормальное обучение а то во всех аспектах игры приходиться разбираться самому, как бы игрок пришел в игру чтобы играть а не читать обучение.
  16. 3t3rnal
    Dec 25, 2021
    7
    CK2 is a great game. It's not perfect, but it has a wealth of content and much like most Paradox grand strategy games, great replayability.

    It focuses more on building your own dynasty and fame for yourself, rather than simply bulding the biggest empire - although that is certainly a valid way to go about it. Unfortunately, it is a bit limited in the roleplaying aspect by a rather    CK2 is a great game. It's not perfect, but it has a wealth of content and much like most Paradox grand strategy games, great replayability.

    It focuses more on building your own dynasty and fame for yourself, rather than simply bulding the biggest empire - although that is certainly a valid way to go about it. Unfortunately, it is a bit limited in the roleplaying aspect by a rather limited interactions system, and by over-reliance on randomized events. While it is a lot of fun, at times, you feel like playing a slot-machine - and you, of course, lose more often than win. Considering the rest of the game suffered from this focus on interaction and events and is therefore a bit more simplistic than the other Paradox GS type games, it can be a bit shallow and frustrating to deal with at times.

    Still, it is a great window into the life of a medieval ruler, and if you like this type of games, you will easily sink hundreds of hours into it, and it is still one of the best games to roleplay in Multiplayer, where the game really shines, as you can get an actual conversation with your adversaries and allies instead of the limited interactions menu. However, even in singleplayer, the game can still be a lot of fun.

    The graphics are passable, given the age of the game, and the genre. Music is pretty good, ambience is as well, but some of it will become annoying pretty quickly and the ability to manage sound types and volumes is a bit limited, the game could use expanded options for audio instead of the very simple ones it has.

    Also, I would recommend getting at least the DLCs that expand the roleplaying aspects, such as Conclave, but I cannot recommend the game and DLCs at full price - if you are interested, definitely wait for a discount campaign, they happen often enough.    … Expand
  17. kitru
    May 23, 2021
    7
    Игра про интриги, кому нравится выбирать имя своим детям - welcome. Лично мне не зашло.
  18. Rnoviok
    Dec 4, 2021
    7
    great strategy game, even if you don't know how to play it, you can feel the fun in playing and creating the history of the dynasty
  19. Resoul
    Jun 21, 2023
    7
    A game i can play for hours and hours well if i have a good start and don't get strewed with a bad hair that is and aside for how they do DLC i only have one thing i don't like with the game and tho most people wont have this, when ever my army is fighting another over 50% of my map is covered by the UI but aside from that good game

Awards & Rankings

36
#36 Best PC Game of 2012
31
#31 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
6
#6 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. Thunderbolt
    Jan 24, 2013
    80
    It might look like a daunting game to dive into, but stick with it and you'll find one of the most engaging and addictive strategy experiences available.
    Read full review
  2. Gamer.no
    Oct 27, 2012
    80
    Crusader Kings II is quite unique. It's focus on dynasties and family leads to original and entertaining gameplay with great depth and variation. If not for a steep learning curve, it would be close to perfect.
    Read full review
  3. Gamer.nl
    Oct 17, 2012
    80
    Crusader Kings 2 isn't a traditional RTS. The countless intrigues, relationships and family issues that you have to deal with, might make it seem more like a relationship-manager than an actual game. Still, it's quite refreshing and thanks to the countless choices it makes for a great political playground. Every play session is different and opens up a new story, but in return it requires a lot of insight and empathy.
    Read full review
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