Knights of Honor II: Sovereign

 PC
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 22
  3. Negative: 4 out of 22

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  1. ankancr1
    Dec 8, 2022
    10
    This is a classic game and i think the devs has done a great job. It was fun!
  2. aoetje
    Dec 11, 2022
    0
    Knights of Honor 1 is my favourite strategy game of all time. 18 years waiting and 5 years in the making and all we got is a mediocre KoH1 HD remake. Some of the key issues are: cheating AI , horrible semi 3d graphics , broken diplomacy , no workshop integration , host of bugs and errors in MP , questionable design choices , ton of tiny bugs, errors, defects and QOL issues , lack ofKnights of Honor 1 is my favourite strategy game of all time. 18 years waiting and 5 years in the making and all we got is a mediocre KoH1 HD remake. Some of the key issues are: cheating AI , horrible semi 3d graphics , broken diplomacy , no workshop integration , host of bugs and errors in MP , questionable design choices , ton of tiny bugs, errors, defects and QOL issues , lack of historical accuracy , no UI scaling options , garbage performance/optimisation.

    To add insult to injury devs and mods have been very dismissive to issues reported, initially game launched with cheating AI, when this was reported to devs they down right attacked players reporting these issues saying they are noobs and they don't know what they are doing - but first patch that came out 2-3 days after release changed guess what? AI behaviour on easy and normal...why deny a problem exists if you patch it 2 days later?

    Also devs claim is bigger and better but its not true, you can't even control taxes in this game, you could in KoH1, that feature is even in Lords of the Realms 2 from 1996! but not KoH2...its a joke.
    Music is a downgrade, not all songs are bad but KoH1 had more memorable ones. Lots of features added for no good reason just to be able to say game is bigger.

    Only one game mode in singleplayer ! in 2022 you can only play basically one mode on the big map, where are small scenarios like maybe map of british isles, Poland? Spain so we can play unification scenarios?
    Where are custom maps? Map editor? Workshop integration for mods? How can they justify the price for a bare bones game.

    Graphics are now semi 3d, extremely poorly optimised, blocking you from being to zoom out properly to get a good look of your kingdom and the situation. Why walk away from beautiful pixel art that didn't strain players computers? Devs have shot themselves in the foot blocking a lot of people with weak computers from playing it. They had time to implement ray tracing tech but not optimise or produce good graphics?

    My advice is: wait 6 months for this to be patched, check it then and buy on deep deep discount. Hopefully devs stop being toxic and actually listen to genuine player feedback and improve the game.

    Very sad that such a potential was wasted by an inexperienced team with no vision.    … Expand
  3. strangermoon
    May 23, 2023
    9
    best game since medieval 2 total war. 3d figts not detailed as mw2tw but you can be inisde under nations instead of one big nation with 3 diffrent time limes. the good thing special units of area doesnt requre spesfc nation so you can use christan army to muslims or muslim units to christan nation which make game diffrent point of view medieval history. game also have physcal dvd rlease.best game since medieval 2 total war. 3d figts not detailed as mw2tw but you can be inisde under nations instead of one big nation with 3 diffrent time limes. the good thing special units of area doesnt requre spesfc nation so you can use christan army to muslims or muslim units to christan nation which make game diffrent point of view medieval history. game also have physcal dvd rlease. best exsulive pc game recently come out and work.… Expand
  4. GERULAS
    Dec 22, 2022
    5
    I just loved KoH1, so perfect for his time, one of my favourite strategy game of all time. I waited years for this sequel to come out and..i can tell you this: sadly, but I consider this game a mediocre one at most.

    They streamlined this game so much: -no more spies that can be recruited by the enemy as a general or a bishop -marshals, no longer will gain skills based on experience,    I just loved KoH1, so perfect for his time, one of my favourite strategy game of all time. I waited years for this sequel to come out and..i can tell you this: sadly, but I consider this game a mediocre one at most.

    They streamlined this game so much:
    -no more spies that can be recruited by the enemy as a general or a bishop

    -marshals, no longer will gain skills based on experience, even if he will fought 10000 battles. In the first one, the more you fight, the more exp and you gain levels. In this game? They just merged everything into books.

    -UI for buildings is a disaster, u don't know what you build where, just through some small circles that will eventually change their color, something like grey, greyed out and grey bluish

    -battles totally suck..its the same battle system from koH1 invented in 2004 in a game of 2022

    -The RTS camera is very bad one, you can’t zoom out enough to control your army well.
    ________
    Man...F this bs review, but i would tell you this,. If this game would came out as it is couple years after the first one 2008. 2010, 2012, ect, could be still considered a good game, but it came 18 years later with same old stuff, diplomacy for a 2022 game, totally suck, was good back then in 2004, but now, it's just bad.
    in 2004 KOH1 battles almost looked like a total war. I was playing this game in 2004 and Rome 1 in 2004 and I could decide who to love more. KoH2 battles in 2022, are identical with KoH1, nothing changed, nothing improved, all they did was to rearrange the icons
    Campaign map is looking good, needs a bit of polish, but the camera, like battles, are bad, again you can't zoom out enough like in KoH1

    Overall it's not a bad game, even if its just a design clone of the first one, but I expected way much more for a 2022 game. So for the nostalgia and HD graphics, I give him a 5    … Expand
  5. ilicdjo
    Dec 9, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I loved 2004. This one expands it in every way. Also, many things are sorted out like layouts, settings AI is better... I like everything. The only thing that is less compared to KoH 1 is music, IMO. As a musician myself, I have to say that Borisav nailed it in the first game, but now it lacks magic from 18 y ago. Everything else is perfect. 10- is my score… Expand
  6. Yabani
    Jun 19, 2023
    4
    Bu oyun benim beğendiğim tarz bir oyun. Strateji oyunlarını ve ülke yönetme oyunlarını seviyorum. Başlangıçta zevkliydi ama daha sonra oynadıkça oyundan soğudum. Total War oyunları, Hearts of Iron ya da Europa Universalis'e göre çok daha kalitesiz kalmış. Farklı oynanış mekanikleri var ama beğenemedim.
  7. cvinja
    Dec 17, 2022
    0
    Quick battle doesn't exist, so forget about testing units on battlefield! Economy and diplomacy are broken, spies hunting ghosts all the f...ng time and your queen will pop up 17 daughters like she is a pig. And now the best part: I was besieging a town and i was flanked by second enemy army. I split up my forces to hold them of and i was doing fine, but 10-15 enemy soldiers who escapedQuick battle doesn't exist, so forget about testing units on battlefield! Economy and diplomacy are broken, spies hunting ghosts all the f...ng time and your queen will pop up 17 daughters like she is a pig. And now the best part: I was besieging a town and i was flanked by second enemy army. I split up my forces to hold them of and i was doing fine, but 10-15 enemy soldiers who escaped the slaughter suddenly felt alive and start fu..ng capturing my flag points (yeah, it is a capture the flag bloody game) and i lost battle because i couldn't send my whole unit to engage them because i would be flanked ( i was hardly outnumbered by two armies). And what the hell is this option to restart the battle? This is a RTS game? On top of that, they learn history from netflix it seems, i mean, map is so inaccurate and units are done so wrong that my brain start melting literally. For example, i'm from Serbia and i didn't know that we had a bloody Boyars!! Are the developers drugged? DO NOT BUY THIS GARBAGE… Expand
  8. PenetratorGod
    Aug 26, 2023
    5
    I don't know if it's because I played this after Crusader Kings 3 but I couldn't get into this game. I found it boring and there's not enough content right now. Maybe I will try again in the future.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 24, 2024
    80
    Whichever path you choose, any can lead you to absolute control of Europe, and therefore the endgame. [Issue#324]
  2. Game World Navigator Magazine
    May 4, 2023
    77
    Knights of Honor II: Sovereign is by no means a perfect game, but it’s refreshingly original. Some of its concepts deserve to be adopted even by renowned studios like Creative Assembly. [page 48]
  3. GameCritics
    Feb 28, 2023
    65
    See, as suboptimal as many of Knights of Honor II’s macro design choices are, they add up to a vision of the grand strategy genre that, at the very least, provides a much different rhythm and feel from its contemporaries. Instead of the player securing their family line for future generations, or expanding an empire from the stone age to the space age, the player is given a modest patch of land and tasked with developing and defending it at all costs from inscrutable opponents that often feel like a swarm of angry wasps buzzing at the player’s stoop. Its core systems could use some elaboration, perhaps, but fans of this genre who need this particular itch scratched could do a lot worse!
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