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. PenetratorGod
    Aug 21, 2023
    4
    Interface is terrible. It takes a really long time to learn the game because there is no proper tutorial. There's also not enough language support. There's too much DLC. You can't play the game without them. Paradox unfortunately sees their player base as a cow to be milked. The milk analogy here is of course money. Release a supposedly complete game in early access, then sell the featuresInterface is terrible. It takes a really long time to learn the game because there is no proper tutorial. There's also not enough language support. There's too much DLC. You can't play the game without them. Paradox unfortunately sees their player base as a cow to be milked. The milk analogy here is of course money. Release a supposedly complete game in early access, then sell the features that should already be in the game separately in the form of additional packs to make the game what it should be. That's the way it's always been and always will be. One of the worst companies in this industry.… Expand
  2. apokalipto
    Aug 18, 2023
    9
    Very good game. I enjoyed playing this game a lot. I strongly recommend this.
  3. erfunfazli
    Aug 14, 2023
    3
    Just another bad game from Paradox Interactive with bad gameplay, bad UI, terrible tutorial and bad atmosphere.
  4. 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
  5. HydrophobikFish
    Jun 9, 2023
    8
    Absolutely addicting game with a unique strategy premise of managing a dynasty. Many different systems make the game dynamic, with a good balance of control and chaos. Too many systems often end up feeling half-integrated or poorly connected to other parts of the game. Suffers form feature creep and an extensive, expensive dlc repertoire.
  6. thethethe4
    Jun 3, 2023
    8
    Crusader Kings 2 is a good game, you focus on making your dynasty and surviving through the middle ages. You can send your armies to fight in the crusades or conquer new lands for your families, there is a lot you can do. The sound design is good and the graphics are what you would expect from an old game like CK2. The only real problem with the game is the excessive amounts of DLCs thatCrusader Kings 2 is a good game, you focus on making your dynasty and surviving through the middle ages. You can send your armies to fight in the crusades or conquer new lands for your families, there is a lot you can do. The sound design is good and the graphics are what you would expect from an old game like CK2. The only real problem with the game is the excessive amounts of DLCs that you need to buy to properly enjoy the game. The pay walls in this game are so extreme that most of the nations on the map you can't play with since you need DLCs to play with them, this results in you being locked to the same few realms that inevitably creates a cycle of stale game play. This extreme pay wall strategy can be forgiven though since the game is free.… Expand
  7. janjanusz
    Mar 26, 2023
    10
    The best and brightest paradox title better then Crusader kings III. I loved played this game with friends
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Blackshine
    Nov 17, 2022
    8
    Царь горы в жанре Стратегии в реальном времени.
    Дайте железо достойное третьей части этого шедевра.
  11. dr-kenobi
    Sep 7, 2022
    10
    Доки не вийшли 3-і CK, це було найкраще, що ринок міг запропонувати в жанрі grand strategy.
  12. rezo_21
    Aug 15, 2022
    8
    ====================IIIIIIIIII GAME SCORE : 82 IIIIIIIIII====================
  13. StarkAgentos
    Jul 28, 2022
    10
    Прошёл игру за 4 часа, играя за маленький регион в Англии, получив власть всей страны и слившись. Крутая политическая стратегия.
  14. Yaav13
    May 9, 2022
    10
    My truthful honorable incorruptible conclusive rating of this considered game: 10.
  15. veehnax
    Mar 3, 2022
    9
    One of the best strategy games ever made in history. After 10 years from publishment it is still playable, enjoyable and it's great! Played it for thousands of hours throughout the ten years and enjoyed every single second. The only downside is a Paradox classic: DLCs. Do not buy this game unless you are willing to buy the main DLCs(Sword of Islam, The Old Gods, Charlemange etc.), but ifOne of the best strategy games ever made in history. After 10 years from publishment it is still playable, enjoyable and it's great! Played it for thousands of hours throughout the ten years and enjoyed every single second. The only downside is a Paradox classic: DLCs. Do not buy this game unless you are willing to buy the main DLCs(Sword of Islam, The Old Gods, Charlemange etc.), but if you will buy those; a great experience is waiting for you!… Expand
  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. 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
  18. 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.
  19. kitru
    May 23, 2021
    7
    Игра про интриги, кому нравится выбирать имя своим детям - welcome. Лично мне не зашло.
  20. Torgall
    Dec 12, 2020
    8
    Who doesn't love complex dynasty threes, and constant struggle to get more or retain power. My biggest complaint is Paradox business model that revolves around introducing small patch-like changes, calling them expansions. Many changes are basically things that should be from the day 1, or fixes to overall balance they ruined with previous "expansions". If you count all the little expensesWho doesn't love complex dynasty threes, and constant struggle to get more or retain power. My biggest complaint is Paradox business model that revolves around introducing small patch-like changes, calling them expansions. Many changes are basically things that should be from the day 1, or fixes to overall balance they ruined with previous "expansions". If you count all the little expenses for the important expansions and the game itself, it's insane cost that CKII fans put up with because they are really passionate about it.… Expand
  21. 0r4cle
    Dec 12, 2020
    10
    Игра в которую можно играть вечность если дать волю фантазии, единственная в своём роде =)
  22. Seve82
    Nov 23, 2020
    10
    Beautiful combination of strategy game with strong role playing element of dynasty management. For best game play experience you must try the mods made for this game (for example AGOT, ElderKings or Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht). Sadly you need to get all the major dlc to have full experience and that costs 182,85 eur so better wait for steam sale.
    You can go for ck3 but in its current state    Beautiful combination of strategy game with strong role playing element of dynasty management. For best game play experience you must try the mods made for this game (for example AGOT, ElderKings or Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht). Sadly you need to get all the major dlc to have full experience and that costs 182,85 eur so better wait for steam sale.
    You can go for ck3 but in its current state its just dumbed down version of ck2 for the uncouth masses.    … Expand
  23. MatikTheSeventh
    Oct 11, 2020
    10
    Absolutely the best medieval strategy/life simulator. The possibilities are almost as huge as my king's incestuous family tree.
  24. JohnyBananaman
    Oct 5, 2020
    9
    Best medieval marriage simulator available there is also some other stuff i guess
  25. otto500206
    Sep 3, 2020
    10
    This is the best game of probably only game series that haves strategy and RPG at same time. It haves so much content both with mods and without mods that I'm sure that I didn't tried all of the start dates and mods in the game, even though I have more than 1500 hours on this game. I cannot say this game is perfect(It's very hard to learn and hard to play), but it's the best game ofThis is the best game of probably only game series that haves strategy and RPG at same time. It haves so much content both with mods and without mods that I'm sure that I didn't tried all of the start dates and mods in the game, even though I have more than 1500 hours on this game. I cannot say this game is perfect(It's very hard to learn and hard to play), but it's the best game of Paradox Development Studio.

    Sadly in 2020, they made a bad successor of this game to replace this: CK3.    … Expand
  26. g014n
    Aug 19, 2020
    9
    This review is in anticipation of CK3, if it comes out barebones in terms of the feature set, you might want to try out CK2 instead. Here's why.

    It's one of those games that is great to play but technically still flawed after many years of patching. It's also hard to define, this depends how you personally play it, what's your style. You can play it like a strategy game (which is how I    This review is in anticipation of CK3, if it comes out barebones in terms of the feature set, you might want to try out CK2 instead. Here's why.

    It's one of those games that is great to play but technically still flawed after many years of patching. It's also hard to define, this depends how you personally play it, what's your style. You can play it like a strategy game (which is how I approach it - ignore the fluff), but you can also play it as a role playing game. And this later part is why so many people define it as a murder/incest simulator.

    The game offers a window into the intricacies of medieval court life and how it impacted the course of history and I do appreciate games that tackle heavy topics in some way, that manage to enhance our understanding of that thing (in this case, that period in human history).

    Vanilla is great to play as is since the LoR expansion, but there are truly great mods. I've played the enhanced experience mods, the one set in ancient Rome period, the Elder Scrolls and GoT mods. The mechanics truly fit these time periods and lores. Plus each playthrough gave me an additional 100-120h of playtime. I can't say the same about many other Paradox games.

    The DLCs are a mess, but it doesn't constitute a con. You need about 120 euros worth of content in order to properly get all out of it. Most of them don't expand the game and they're truly optional. There are some great mods too, for example Charlemagne expands the timeline a lot which in itself adds depth to the history and background simulation of games that are started from previously available starting dates. But it's also great to play to also experience that part of European history too. They did hide some features in later DLCs, but most of them are in the base game and you don't need the accompanying DLCs, unlike with EU4. Ultimately, CK2 was so good for me that I bought all the non-cosmetic ones as they're needed to enjoy the mods properly. But this was to encourage further development and it's not something I recommend to my friends that play it more casually.

    It truly has replayability value. I've replayed scenarios like the salvation of the Byzantine empire or the formation of the Roman empire and they offer a different experience each time. Of course, the main reason to replay this would be to experience the mechanics from the perspective of rulers in various corners of the map.    … Expand
  27. PMC_KC
    Jun 20, 2020
    10
    My favorite game all time, 2000 hours played and I could keep on going for another 2000 hours if CK3 wasn't set to come out. Anyone that's a fan of Grand Strategy needs to own this game, it's already a classic.
  28. 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.
  29. erdogfu96
    Feb 8, 2020
    9
    Best paradox game ever as I see. Even my girlfriend played for long time. It is enjoyable also moddable. Good for roleplaying, stories are well, you an play with different characters with different stories if you buy all dlc. Only character graphics and price Mark is bad but it is enjoying.
  30. Tomicsavo
    Feb 4, 2020
    1
    Europe Universal fans don't like it that much. Too complicated and **** the tutorial.
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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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