Crusader Kings III

 PC
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 712 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 586 out of 712
  2. Mixed: 71 out of 712
  3. Negative: 55 out of 712

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  1. MaXiMuS_54
    Sep 2, 2020
    8
    The game provides a lot more streamlined stable experience and the game runs very smooth, you can go very fast on 5 speed. Some mechanics were made a lot easier like transfering titles to characters, but it still needs a long way to go to fleshing out mechanics like CK2 has. The game can be quite a mess within a 100 years and the game certainly needs polish.
  2. Aitorsito_Trump
    Sep 6, 2020
    8
    La gama cromática cuenta con un amplio abánico de colores pastel además de suaves y sensuales tonalidades, apela mucho a la convicción que un servidor posee de el periodo medievo europeico. Viva el betis
  3. Renaigse
    Sep 24, 2020
    8
    потенциал у игры прям 10/10, на данный момент контента, как ни странно мало, НУЖНО БОЛЬШЕ КОНТЕНТА
  4. BLurii
    Oct 20, 2020
    8
    Impressive game, very good mechanics and surprising history, overall i think it's worth buying if you are into this types of game.
  5. PatrikPotter
    Dec 20, 2020
    8
    My personal Review for Crusader Kings III
    Story:9/10 (You and the AI`s around you make the story which is mostly different every playthrough)
    Graphics:7/10
    Music:8/10
    Gameplay:9/10
    Sound:7/10
    Crusader Kings III is a must play if you are a fan of Strategy games.
  6. YigidOx2
    Jan 31, 2021
    8
    Absolutely the best strategy game. Because, like other games, we do not use the strategy of which country to attack, but how can I better manage my dynasty.
    you are trying to do And this is definitely more fun. You cannot even understand how time passes. If you have a friend, this game is completely different. Otherwise, it may take at least 60 hours to play in completely different geographies.
  7. freenik
    Mar 25, 2021
    8
    Could be better with the AIs in the game.
    Apart from the AI everything's great. The system of traits and lifestyle is quite interesting,
  8. Cronus865
    Sep 2, 2020
    8
    Probably the best "base" game Paradox has released. It's still not near CK2, but has a really solid foundation to build on.
  9. Shatamel
    Sep 2, 2020
    8
    Awesome sequel of the great game. The main issues of the game are an awful interface and few missed features from the previous game.
  10. ArdanSortek
    Sep 12, 2020
    8
    I'm having fun so far! Improved graphics, new features, and so far I'm having fun with the "RPG" side of character focused game play. I expect Paradox to nickel and dime many of the missing features (from the previous game) by the way of DLC in the future, but I'm not even mad. As long as they deliver quality content, this is going to be worth hundreds of hours of play for me. Thumbs up!
  11. Zumbie101
    Oct 13, 2020
    8
    Notable improvements from the previous base game, a lot more consistency in your actions rather than leaving most events to % chances a year. Leaves a lot more time to simply have fun with the game rather than sitting around waiting. Will admit the game gets a bit repetative currently with no expansions however have still sunk plenty of time into it.

    Graphics are better with less    Notable improvements from the previous base game, a lot more consistency in your actions rather than leaving most events to % chances a year. Leaves a lot more time to simply have fun with the game rather than sitting around waiting. Will admit the game gets a bit repetative currently with no expansions however have still sunk plenty of time into it.

    Graphics are better with less stutterting than the previous game.    … Expand
  12. kitru
    May 23, 2021
    8
    CK2 на максималках, все то же самое но выглядит красивее.
  13. Nubells
    Nov 16, 2021
    8
    Paradox wasn't actually busy sexually harassing employees while making this game, very good!
  14. Joker77
    Apr 5, 2021
    8
    Игра близка к совершенству, и затягивает на долго. Лично мне не понравилось только ведение войн. Если это допилят, то будет супер, может и на 9 баллов потянет. Must Play я бы все таки ей недал.
  15. elefsar
    Apr 22, 2021
    8
    Playing as a medieval lord is good, mechanics are good, need to be developed and added new stuff like ck2. Better graphics of course.
  16. Bushido95
    Sep 27, 2021
    8
    CK3 одним интерфейсом может напугать геймера и я долгое время был одним из них.
    Наиграв 141ч не могу сказать, что на самом деле она простая, но разобраться в ней на самом деле не так уж сложно.
    Я как большой любитель истории и серии Total War искал ей альтернативу и CK3 оказался отличным вариантом который советую всем хотя бы попробовать и если вы разберетесь оторваться будет сложно.    CK3 одним интерфейсом может напугать геймера и я долгое время был одним из них.
    Наиграв 141ч не могу сказать, что на самом деле она простая, но разобраться в ней на самом деле не так уж сложно.
    Я как большой любитель истории и серии Total War искал ей альтернативу и CK3 оказался отличным вариантом который советую всем хотя бы попробовать и если вы разберетесь оторваться будет сложно.
  17. Yaav13
    May 9, 2022
    8
    My truthful honorable incorruptible conclusive rating of this considered game: 8.
  18. AeonsAlex
    Feb 20, 2022
    8
    Another Paradox game where you start it and 6 hours fly by without even realising. Builds on everything CK2 did right, and by the time all of it's DLC comes out, I'll have sunk another 300 hours into it.
  19. JayRuccMTL
    Sep 13, 2022
    8
    I'm new to Paradox titles and I must say out of the ones I've played, CK3 is by far my favorite.

    It has the right balance of complexity in the gameplay mechanics without being too over bearing, and the UI was purposely designed with the player in mind. I find play throughs very streamlined and dynamic, every playthrough is different and you can literally choose to play as any one of the    I'm new to Paradox titles and I must say out of the ones I've played, CK3 is by far my favorite.

    It has the right balance of complexity in the gameplay mechanics without being too over bearing, and the UI was purposely designed with the player in mind. I find play throughs very streamlined and dynamic, every playthrough is different and you can literally choose to play as any one of the characters at any given time, and there are easily 100+.    … Expand
  20. alphaking3306
    Jul 23, 2023
    8
    I have to admit, I'm a paradox fanboy. I love this game. Creating your own character, or playing as a historical one, and living out a historical rendition of a GOT style fantasy is truly an awesome experience. Ruling a feudal fiefdom and working your way up from a count to Duke, King, or Emperor is truly an amazing experience. Friendships can be formed, Love can be found, Lands can beI have to admit, I'm a paradox fanboy. I love this game. Creating your own character, or playing as a historical one, and living out a historical rendition of a GOT style fantasy is truly an awesome experience. Ruling a feudal fiefdom and working your way up from a count to Duke, King, or Emperor is truly an amazing experience. Friendships can be formed, Love can be found, Lands can be conquered, Enemies can be made, Religions can be founded, Families can be built....Incest can be....*cough* *cought*....I didn't say anything....

    Seriously though, there is so much to be done in this game, it's crazy, at least as far as RP and storytelling goes. It MAY get repetitive after several hundred hours...but honestly that's a good investment in my book. The main downsides of the game lay in it's nation-building and strategy elements. Outside of interpersonal interaction diplomacy is much more limited than in CK2, and in regards to warfare and events the game also lacks a bit of depth...but that's been improving with time. Much like CK2 did.

    Overall a great game that I highly recommended if you are a fan of Medieval strategy or general larping **** 8/10, would marry my sister-cousin-daughter-wife twice removed again.    … Expand
  21. Bandrem2
    Sep 2, 2023
    8
    i don't actually like it but it is a very good game, very complex and lots of thought put into it, multiplayer a bit buggy but doesn't take away from how good it is in singleplayer
  22. brpoconnor
    Jun 6, 2022
    7
    It's a solid 6.5-7 for me. It's a fun game, but it feels a little flat when compared to CK2. Hopefully it grows into a better game
  23. Keskin
    Sep 5, 2020
    7
    it is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is goodit is good
  24. AxeWould
    Jan 12, 2022
    7
    Игра реально очень годная, играю в первые в игру от Paradox-ов, и вот прям затянуло моментально на 40 часов, но проблема в том , наверное во мне, что наиграв более 70 часов, я многих механик так и не понял, справочник тут плохо сделан пришлось гуглить и искать ответы на интересующие меня вопросы. А так игра огонь, но поставлю 7 из-за того что вместо Киевской Руси, какая-то помойка сИгра реально очень годная, играю в первые в игру от Paradox-ов, и вот прям затянуло моментально на 40 часов, но проблема в том , наверное во мне, что наиграв более 70 часов, я многих механик так и не понял, справочник тут плохо сделан пришлось гуглить и искать ответы на интересующие меня вопросы. А так игра огонь, но поставлю 7 из-за того что вместо Киевской Руси, какая-то помойка с двуглавым петухом… Expand
  25. g014n
    Sep 10, 2020
    7
    It's a mediocre game and if you don't have a lot of spare time for gaming you should at least wait for the first 3 major and actual expansions before jumping in (as usual with Paradox games). But you wouldn't get that from the actual reviews. The higher scoring ones don't provide much justification, they even list problems that should prevent the reviews from giving near flawless or evenIt's a mediocre game and if you don't have a lot of spare time for gaming you should at least wait for the first 3 major and actual expansions before jumping in (as usual with Paradox games). But you wouldn't get that from the actual reviews. The higher scoring ones don't provide much justification, they even list problems that should prevent the reviews from giving near flawless or even flawless marks. In response, there are many 0-3 reviews which are just as low effort.
    ----

    There are two angles we could consider to justify a score in the middle: 1) what they achieved relative to what they attempted and 2) how this actually plays relative to the expectations that people might have about titles in this series and genre.

    And the game is mediocre, at the moment, in most regards. Every aspect of the game that I could think of has both obvious pros and cons. I would have scored it a 6 had it not been the kind of game that I was looking forward, but also I rated higher because ultimately, they haven't botched my experience at launch as they did with other recent releases. Examples now.

    Value at release is obviously a con from the perspective of expectations. CK2 had more content at release (more history and starting options) than CK3 while it has different but relatively more gameplay features. CK3 also has more optional features that enhance things like modding. It's also more stable in terms of bugs (I've been looking through negative reviews at examples of bugs and they don't make a lot of sense, my personal playthroughs were quite clean even though I played in debug_mode which is inherently less stable). People also suggest a lack of diversity of events at release - it's to be expected, but it impacts those that play it as role playing experience. From my perspective, seeking a more strategy oriented experience - the game is good enough for a casual experience, but it's also kind of repetitive. Just because they intended this and achieved it, do I rate it high? No!! I have no idea if and how many expansions will it take to fix these. HoI4 and Stellaris are still not fixed many years after release, while games like EU4 have been polished sufficiently but also ask way too much money for what it offers. Gameplay, from the perspective of content available at the moment, has big cons as well as some nice pros.

    Other misc examples to emphasize this. The UI is both a hit and a miss. Looks good, love the idea. But in CK2 (which wasn't user friendly to new players) I could accomplish what I needed easier in respect to the stuff that is also present in CK3. If newbies found that difficult, in CK3, they might not even realize that the game has more strategic depth than it really has. There are big cons even though the pros are things I emphatically approve of and would keep even with the cons. But I can't rate it high because of these facts.

    They've changed how you raise armies in the game to simplify it. For newbies, this would seem like a good idea, but it means that they might raise stacks that incur high attrition rates. For every other player, this means that the micromanagement has been changed from raising the armies to splitting the unmanageable stacks. Also, it's a strategy game, but the current system can be exploited to teleport troops between wars. There are other factors that would make sense in a strategy game but weren't considered. Hit and miss at the same time.

    The list could go on and on (and on and on and on....)

    I utterly reject the notion that we should expect less of it because it hasn't had time to develop all the content like CK2 did. We've already paid for the development of said content (history hasn't changed and that game offered a great starting point in terms of content). We're paying for a technical refresh of the series and the notion that they can piecemeal the game is something that I tax on purpose.
    -----

    It's not a compelling strategy game, it's a better casual game. It's the one aspect where it is too similar to CK2. That game could have used a more complex combat system (in the sense of involving the player more).

    The roleplaying elements are not that great at this point. It's the one aspect that I could see making this game shine in the future, but they need a lot more content and context. The UI is also getting a little in the way of this.

    *edit reason: grammar/typos.    … Expand
  26. cruccolo
    Sep 4, 2020
    7
    I have played 1500+ hours of its predecessor, Crusader Kings 2. After roughly 50 hours of CK3 I believe there is potential here. Apart from the graphical improvements, I appreciate some design choices, like the different zoom levels showing geographical/political/parchment map modes, or the autoselection of children education focus (which can be manually changed, of course). However thereI have played 1500+ hours of its predecessor, Crusader Kings 2. After roughly 50 hours of CK3 I believe there is potential here. Apart from the graphical improvements, I appreciate some design choices, like the different zoom levels showing geographical/political/parchment map modes, or the autoselection of children education focus (which can be manually changed, of course). However there are a few really annoying elements:
    - nested menus, which require unnecessary extra clicks to do everything, e.g. 6 clicks to nominate a court physician
    - popup messages, impossible to turn off, telling you every single pointless event in the game. Constant distraction.
    - insufficient character finding interface: e.g. there is no option to filter for characters that would join court    … Expand
  27. prodeathPT
    Sep 3, 2020
    7
    Its good, its an upgrade from ck2 but dumbed down in difficuilty somethings simplified like combat,boat management,intrigue and the UI arent good changes ck2 is still better in these but the rest are good changes graphics,laws,vassals, construction these changes here were better in the end i feel like its better but not that much to justify buying it for 49 euros at this times since iIts good, its an upgrade from ck2 but dumbed down in difficuilty somethings simplified like combat,boat management,intrigue and the UI arent good changes ck2 is still better in these but the rest are good changes graphics,laws,vassals, construction these changes here were better in the end i feel like its better but not that much to justify buying it for 49 euros at this times since i still have ck2 with alot of dlcs i feel like its better in a good half of things ck3 does.im a bit disappointed of ck3 some changes to dumb down stuff to bring a wider audience that might not exist because paradox games are pretty much u like it and give it time to play and learn or u dont play any paradox game its a specific audience regardless playing it was an okay experince.… Expand
  28. techfrizzy
    May 28, 2021
    7
    Big Paradox fan here.

    An amazingly made game. It is intimidating at first with everything going on. Once you get the hang of it though you'll find yourself sucked into a world of strategy that is unlike any other! I still find myself feeling surprised by the game every once and a while. Absolutely worth your time. My only complaint is how many menus and things there are on the    Big Paradox fan here.

    An amazingly made game. It is intimidating at first with everything going on. Once you get the hang of it though you'll find yourself sucked into a world of strategy that is unlike any other! I still find myself feeling surprised by the game every once and a while. Absolutely worth your time.

    My only complaint is how many menus and things there are on the screen. It just feels a bit crazy to new players but I guess that might be part of the appeal for some people? Anywho I'm just glad to have finally figured out how to understand this thing.    … Expand
  29. Talrik
    Sep 10, 2023
    7
    Not a bad game at all, however it falls a bit short given that it's supposed to be a sequel to what is currently a superior game.
  30. SaintTodd
    Sep 8, 2020
    6
    I'm not writing this review to tell anyone that all the people who love this game are wrong, only that it isn't great at everything it tries to do. What Crusader Kings 3 does well, it does VERY well. It's great at weaving emergent narrative, and that's not easy, because I can't think of another game that does it as well. But Crusader Kings is not meant to be Sims Medieval alone, it'sI'm not writing this review to tell anyone that all the people who love this game are wrong, only that it isn't great at everything it tries to do. What Crusader Kings 3 does well, it does VERY well. It's great at weaving emergent narrative, and that's not easy, because I can't think of another game that does it as well. But Crusader Kings is not meant to be Sims Medieval alone, it's supposed to be a Grand Strategy game, and it's mediocre as such, at best.
    Even the game's strength isn't perfect. In a game that focuses so heavily on intrigue, it's odd that I can see exactly what every other character in the world thinks of me.
    But the main issue is the interface, which is antiquated and awkward. It's arguably no worse that the average PC Strategy game, but that isn't saying much. A few notable issues:
    You can't move the map by left click grab and drag.
    Armies often get obscured by the info window of other armies.
    The game autopauses when you have an important decisions to make, but doesn't autopause when your castle is being seiged (which is oddly easy to not notice).

    A bit more polish and this could have been the 10/10 many others have awarded it. For me, it's a fun little diversion, but not a serious strategy game.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best PC Game of 2020
28
#28 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 61 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 61 out of 61
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 61
  3. Negative: 0 out of 61
  1. Softpedia
    Feb 16, 2022
    90
    Crusader Kings III has good mechanics and production but what sets it apart is the way it connects to the era it depicts. The experience leans into role-playing and personalities in a way that feels true to the image that most players have about the period between 867 to 1453. Without striving to be educational, the Paradox title also manages to be an excellent jumping-off point to learn more about the period, its main characters, its social dynamics. The development studio has also done well when it comes to post-launch support. There’s downloadable content, of course, but free patches have also arrived regularly, improving systems and eliminating bugs. But more work is needed both in the balance and the immersion department. Crusader Kings III is an excellent way to tell and enjoy stories and I can’t wait to experience how Paradox will add depth to its various mechanics.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    Nov 16, 2020
    90
    A worthy successor to Crusader Kings II. Right now, it is not as deep and demanding as its predecessor with all its expansions installed, but it still is an excellent strategy game. For newcomers it’s a great way to dive into the world of crowned tyrants, treacherous vassals, unfaithful wives, and inconvenient babies strangled in their cradles. [11/2020, p.56]
  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 21, 2020
    92
    Crusader Kings III is definitely a success. The developers made a huge self-evolving world where the players can do as they please. It’s unrivaled both in scale and level of detail. [Issue#248, p.68]
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