MeinMMO author Schuhmann has been playing Paradox Interactive games for 20 years, and he is particularly fond of their strategy role-playing game Crusader Kings 3. In the four years since its release, he has spent 1,463 hours on Steam with the dynasty simulator. Now Paradox Interactive announces that it will add even more in 2025.
This is my relationship with Crusader Kings: I played the first Crusader Kings 20 years ago and loved it even back then. For 20 years, Crusader Kings has followed a unique gameplay principle that has been continually refined and looks much better today than it did back then. I always play it the same way:
I start somewhere as the smallest possible count, I used to always start in Ireland, now in the west of Norway. First, I look for a clever and genetically advantageous bride to father as many children as possible with her, because in Crusader Kings 3, it’s not just about conquering land, but also about creating the Kwisatz Haderach, the Overman.
Then I conquer neighboring lands and duchies, install my glorious kin in those positions, and gradually expand my empire.
While on one hand the territory I rule gets larger, my dynasty’s family tree also grows larger, branching out as it evolves shaped by the respective region.
But the exciting part is the role-playing aspect, as new stories keep emerging. Crusader Kings 3 is at its core a story generator: From simple sequences while hunting, to a fleeting romance that your player character mourns, or an encounter with Kaspar Hauser, to an epic quest to become immortal (Crusader Kings 2), the range of stories is vast.
Crusader Kings 3 has already received 16 DLCs that significantly expand the game
Why do people spend so many hours on the game? The principle remains the same, but the three installments of Crusader Kings have evolved over time, inviting players to revisit it every three months and spend hours upon hours in the Middle Ages.
When a new installment is released, it initially has only some basic features, but over the years, DLCs and updates add more features and peculiarities that give each region a certain regional flair: The first expansion of Crusader Kings 3 basically brought the Vikings series and its main characters like Bjorn Ironside (cover image) into the game.
In just four years since its release, Crusader Kings 3 has received 16 DLCs that have partly changed and expanded it significantly, allowing you to hold your own tournaments, travel through the land and visit your duchies, die of the plague, become a legend who has slain dragons, or even try to become wealthy as a landless adventurer or simply play as Braveheart.
2025 is set to be the biggest year for Crusader Kings 3
What is planned for 2025? Paradox has now announced that 2025 is to be the “biggest year yet” (via steam). While no exact details have been provided yet, they hinted at what will come, but also what will not come:
- In 2025, a revamp of the combat system, an improvement of the AI, and a better representation of various officials in the interface are planned.
- For 2026, trade republics like Venice are likely planned, which will require their own mechanics, as they do not operate under the feudal rules like the rest of the world.
- What actual gameplay innovations will come in 2025 is still not revealed by Paradox – and that makes me a bit anxious.
2025 sounds like the Mongols might come… or the Aztecs
What could come? The most likely scenario is that content and expansions will come that were also added in earlier installments of Crusader Kings.
The major features known from earlier installments include the trade republics promised for 2026, but also special rules for the steppe peoples, especially the invasion by mounted peoples like the Mongols from the east. This was the expansion for Crusader Kings 2 from 2015 called “Horse Lords.”
An expansion that brings “reverse colonization” is also possible, meaning that the Native Americans from the west invade Europe. This was the expansion “Sunset Invasion” from November 2012.
Another possibility that some players desire is a “mystical” expansion that was released in 2017, introducing special secret societies and further artifacts into Crusader Kings 2.
Scenario expansions like Charlemagne (2014) or a DLC for India or China could also be possibilities.
I expect expansions leaning towards “invasion” – whether it be Mongols, Huns, Aztecs, or Incas. Such a military threat is currently largely missing from Crusader Kings 3, at least as a developed scenario with special rules. Logically, it would make sense to bring content focusing more on warfare alongside the overhaul of the combat system.
I’m definitely looking forward to 2025 and am curious how many more hours I will add and whether Paradox Interactive can really keep its promise that 2025 will be the biggest year in the game. If that happens, I’ll embark on another epic campaign: Steam: I started as a lonely Viking – 400 years later, I have half of Europe, 12,300 descendants, and a problem
