Empress Hamam accomplished a lot in her 71 years. Hailing from a meager tribe in what would be modern Sudan (eastern Africa), she restored the organized worship of the ancient Egyptian gods and cemented the rule of a new pharaonic dynasty in the medieval Nile Valley, finally ending centuries of foreign rule. Her passion in life, however, was her 12 children, some of whom would go on to rule in their own right. Raising that many kids is stressful, though, which led her to develop a drinking habit and a taste for elaborate feasts, ultimately ingratiating her in the eyes of her more revelrous subjects even further. This is just one of the countless human stories that emerged organically over more than 100 hours I’ve already spent in Crusader Kings 3. And its marriage of the personal and the political, the grand and the intimate, is nothing short of glorious.
Crusader Kings has always been a series about how individual characters, and their interactions, shape history, and this third installment finds new and intriguing ways to portray that. Like its predecessors, Crusader Kings 3 lets court drama, dynastic feuds, and marriage alliances underpin the more familiar grand strategy game tasks of constructing castles, researching technology, and waging war. A personal slight between two neighboring rulers can plunge the entire region into bloodshed and chaos worthy of a great historical fiction novel, while a well-planned betrothal can forge a mighty alliance and eventually unite kingdoms under one crown. Fundamentally, it’s a game more about people than things – and that focus is what makes it truly special and memorable. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/6-minutes-of-crusader-kings-3-gameplay"]Paradox Development Studio has deepened and expanded upon most of the key elements that made Crusader Kings 2 work. The stress system, which led our merry matriarch Hamam to find solace in the bottom of a bottle, is emblematic of this. In Crusader Kings 2, characters have personality traits that affect their stats, but they didn’t do much to guide your behavior. In Crusader Kings 3, a cruel character will build up stress if you often offer your enemies mercy, while an honest one will chafe at dark dealings in the shadows. This encouraged me to roleplay the traits of my characters rather than just seeing them as numerical modifiers, or live with the consequences of denying their natural tendencies, which I really enjoyed. Understandably, Crusader Kings 3’s system doesn’t feel as broadly fleshed-out as its predecessor’s, which has had the benefit of seven years and hundreds of dollars’ worth of expansions, but it’s well on its way.