The strategy game “Crusader Kings 3” (PC, Xbox Series, PS5) has been engaging MeinMMO author Schuhmann since its release in September 2020. By now, he has spent 1,200 hours on the strategy role-playing epic on Steam. However, in the new year, a nightmare returns after 20 years: the Black Death, the plague.
This is the announcement: Paradox introduced yesterday the new expansions planned for Crusader Kings 3 in 2024. They are selling it as a season pass collected for €44.
- The main gameplay DLC is “Legends of the Dead” – it is supposed to bring plagues into the game, but also emphasize the heroic deeds of early heroes more strongly. The release is already on March 4.
- “Roads to Power” is the long-awaited Byzantium DLC – many people love the Eastern Roman Empire in Crusader Kings 3. This is supposed to be released in Q3 2024.
- “Wandering Nobles” is expected to enhance the travel and adventure mechanics by the end of the year. Additionally, there will be a cosmetic France DLC that Paradox is giving away.
The Black Death – The End is Near
What scares me so much? In the first Crusader Kings, 20 years ago, there was already the “Black Death”, the plague, and it was brutal. After all these years, I still have many memories of this cruel game mechanic that suddenly appeared, completely changed the game, and then persisted for years.
In Crusader Kings, you build a dynasty over centuries, plan genetic bloodlines to breed the Kwisatz Haderach, the Overman, and create a complex web of vassals and family members: You conquer the icy Iceland from some Viking witch, give the island to your third-born son, who passes it on to his sons, the house splits off, and so on.
In the process, you usually want every part of the family to stay in its duchy or at least in the kingdom, so that some distant cousin does not come up with the idea 60 years later to snatch half of England and plan a rebellion while you are just reconquering Spain from the Moors. Moreover, it just looks ridiculous if the Duke of Iceland holds two provinces in France and three in Norway.
However, the Black Death in Crusader Kings 1 was a dynasty killer that could wipe out half of your family tree and plunge every well-built realm into chaos within a few years.
Back then, 20 years ago, my strategy was to conquer Ireland and invade England after the Black Death had sent every noble there to the afterlife and the land was sinking into chaos. Still, it was a nightmare to watch the plague simply erase entire bloodlines, how branches of the family tree disappeared.
Paradox has announced that the “Black Death” will return brutally and while you can prepare for it, you cannot escape it – anyone who has played Crusader Kings 1 knows that they mean it seriously. The only worse thing back then were the Mongol hordes from the East.
The developers say:
“The Black Death will destroy the world. It will destroy developments, it will kill so many rulers and characters. […] The Black Death is terrifying and, like in history, will bring the world to the brink.”
But it is also said: This is an “endgame threat” that will appear around the year 1300 – unless something changes. Those who prefer an early start will therefore be able to evade the Black Death for many, many hours of gameplay and may only have to deal with cholera.
What are many looking forward to? The “Byzantium” DLC is the big announcement for 2024 for many fans: The Empire has numerous friends among the players, who have already complained that Paradox has first thought of the Vikings, then Spain, and finally Persia with their own DLCs before getting to Byzantium.
While it has been possible to play the Byzantine Empire for 4 years, it still had no special rules like in previous installments.
Paradox now wants to make up for this – it seems to have been the wish of many to build the vast empire centered around present-day Istanbul. The €30 DLC is supposed to make this possible now.
Some also mock: A few more years and Crusader Kings 3 will come close to Crusader Kings 2.
It is indeed the case that Paradox games in their well-known strategy series do seem relatively weak at release and only regain many special functions and features known from previous installments over the years.
When a Boar Becomes a Dragon Over Centuries
What I am looking forward to: For me, the “Legends part” sounds the most exciting. I enjoy playing dynasties over centuries.
With the Legends DLC, which also brings the plague, it will be possible for the legends of the game characters you play at the beginning of a game to change over the centuries to become mythical giants by the end of the game, who have slain not a boar, but a dragon.
This sounds like a lot of fun to me, if after the centuries, someone from my dynasty is still left who hasn’t been taken by the Grim Reaper.
If you accidentally fathered two or three bastards on a Tuesday night, only to read on Thursday that the character you were playing at the time is now venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church in Rome – that’s something.
More about Crusader Kings 3: I started as a lonely Viking – 400 years later I have half of Europe, 12,300 descendants, and a problem
The title image comes from Crusader Kings II.
