Test the Crusader Kings 3

Crusader Kings 3 is the latest opus on a paradox flagship licenses. Announced last year, the game is finally released, 8 years after his elder. Sign up in a medieval universe, the series of Crusader Kings is a story of dynasty, of evolution of a noble family through the medieval tumultuous times while the other flagship titles of the studio, such as Victoria or EUROPA Universalis, focused on other aspects of Gameplay's evolution, Crusader Kings takes him a more decided path that stands out a little more of his brothers games. Much more focused "Roleplay", more family management and evolution of this one with, I reassure you, always a nice little game over if you do not have clear descent in your line.

But do not go too fast in work. We put the groundwork, now look a little closer what this Crusader Kings 3 can bring us, especially in comparison with CK2 and its multitude of additions that have succeeded one another for many years.

The great strategy within range of controller!

If Paradox has had no trouble filling out his fans with this third opus of the Crusader Kings, there was a market to conquer, a market little used to the great strategy: the consoles. Madness you think? Well, not so much. If the genre does indeed seem adapted to a handle use, it turns out that the developers behind this portage did a very big job to make the game pleasant to take charge.

All buttons are involved, even the touchpad for the PlayStation 5 version, which is used to stop or restart the time and change its scroll speed. Thus, the triggers can quickly juggle between the different main menus (military management, advice, intrigues, etc.) and slices to Switcher buttons between each submenu. The square or x button allows you to deploy the action menu, the Triangle button or open the page of your character and I pass. You can also quickly access the most important menus by leaving the triggers to reveal wheels, more practical to use. This is not perfect, but we are surprised to play without pestering over the interface.

Do not get me wrong, it remains intuitive and fluid month than on PC, which will remain the most successful version, but for all the players console who would like to try the great strategy, we are very far from the horror that the horror 'We could imagine. If there may be a point on which the controller can become frustrating, it is in the management of military units and their movements. The comfort gap with the use of a mouse is most importantly and if it becomes rarely problematic, it forces it to do more breaks to take the time to avoid manipulation errors. The same goes for bubble info, whose highlighted words are more complex to reach (for a long time on the left stick, then display the bubble info and finally select the word to get its definition).

For the rest, Crusader Kings III remains identical to his PC counterpart and do not blank technically, but the opposite would have been amazing; The new engine used by Paradox is much better optimized than the previous one.

Note that the game is offered on Xbox Series X | S and PlayStation 5 in its basic version for € 49.99 and in its Royal Edition version, containing the expansion pass, for € 74.99.

The first thing that strikes us, obviously, is the evolution of the graphic aspect and the graphical interface. Even if an aficionado will easily find itself in the latter, a particular care has been made to make the game more accessible and intuitive. At this level, it stands out from the previous generation that was very similar between them. Strong to bet that CK3 will be a basis for future Europa 5 and other paradox titles, but this evolution makes pleasure. Graphically, we are in a good evolution too. Obviously, we are in a game of great strategy and therefore in a very visual aspect based on cards, so it is not visually impressive, but the care of the detail of the map is present and the different sovereigns are as modeled.

What is impressive is that technically the game is terribly realized. I played on two different media, including a laptop that is not a stupid of war (a MSI with an i5 and a 960) on which I played regularly at CK2 and... Crusader Kings 3 turns a lot better than the previous opus on the same device. I was the first surprised. After the first load Longuet, the game is then very fluid and I have not spotted any glitch, bug or other concern for this Vanilla version, which was not particularly the case of its predecessor (and paradox games in general to Their Day One exit).

Let's take the card for example. It simply changes with the action of the wheel: zoom or dezoom, we see the different levels of the card (military, county, duchy, kingdom, etc.) the little downside at this level is that I've Would have liked to see the enemy armies when a back of the card, because when the kingdom is growing, it is not always easy to have eyes everywhere (but in itself, it's also logical).

Many infobulls also appear during our actions. They offer clear explanations on the various gameplay sides that can occur during our actions (a loss of control in a county, a faction that stands against your incarnation of the moment, etc.) without being invasive. Many key words also crisscross the text, in menus or events, giving you an overview allowing you to make informed decisions. And you will need it, because if you have already played Crusader Kings before, you know that a bad decision, or even a bad timing, can cause a precipitous Game Over. Death is ubiquitous in this universe in perpetual conflict and your successor can die at any time. For little that you do not have a bowl, that you have caused only girls in a patriarchal succession system, or electively and that it is not a member of your dynasty that is elected, PAF, party completed. So beware: a simple detail can sometimes precipitate the stream of a strong dynasty of several generations of success.

We could fear a huge decline between CK2 and its 8 years of development and a fresh CK3 out of the factory. A loss at the Gameplay level consequent. If the game will certainly be enhanced with the time and we do not have everything that was previously present, the Vanilla version of CK3 is in my eyes the paradox title best provided as soon as it exit. Let's take the card for example. This covers the entire Western Europe, Northern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East up to India and a little beyond. Little or prro the same card we currently have in the previous opus. Date date, we have the choice to play for the moment in 867 (a little marketing is the date of death of Ragnar Lothbrok, all his sons are playable, it's trendy) and 1066, conquest of England by Guillaume the conqueror. You can always take any Lord, whether king, duke or count, and play it during these dates. You can not play an ecclesiastical avatar (bishop, etc.). Personally, I took identical parts that I had previously made (namely Lazlo de Transylvania and Bjorn, son of Ragnar) after the small didactical part still located in Ireland.

So we have, in the state, a game already very complete and playable of many dozens of hours to cover all existing gameplay sides. And personally, I love Paradox's DLC policy, as little as a title starts at the exit of it; They offer consistent, regularly enhanced content by real contributions. Number of hours of play / price, few games can boast of doing better than the headlines of this publisher. To take full advantage of it, it is better to look at the game as soon as it exit and as said before, for once, a game in Vanilla version is really complete and free of major dumplings. It is therefore an excellent starting point.

I said above that CK3 stood a little more from the paradox title generalist gameplay to accentuate his personal gameplay, focused around the dynasties. In CK3, the management of characters and dynasties is much more advanced than before. It's a whole game of gameplay that integrates into Crusader Kings and who gets married very well with her basic system. Now, in addition to the points that characterize your character (diplomacy, martial, intrigue, etc.), your character wins points of experience that allow you to choose in many talented trees, by three, around a thematic. 5 channels are available (related to characteristic points of the character): diplomacy, martial, stewardship, intrigue and education. Your character may have affinity bonuses in one of them, following the path he has followed at the educational level (before becoming an adult), bonus that is defined by a boost of experience points. In each of them, 3 ways are possible. For example, for the martial, you can focus on strategy, logistics, etc., in one of the others, you can focus on the family, etc. These talent trees bring personal bonuses to your avatar of the moment. Obviously, at the death of it, it will be necessary to resume at zero (or if your heir is already adult, he may have already distributed his points). It allows the final to model your way of playing according to your convenience or as the needs of the moment. At the beginning of the game, we are always a little more belligerent than in the middle, where we try to do not multiply the fronts.

This aspect goes hand in hand with the change of avatar to the death of your current incarnation. However, this is not the big novelty of the title: In addition to this change, you have access to what could be compared to a research tree. Your dynasty, by its exploits, wins fame and, past some points of points, can choose dynastic benefits that are then valid for all members of your family. Better fertility, increased feat, basic talents for diplomacy, etc. Here too, you will have to ripen your reflection before making your choice, because you can imagine, these benefits are unlocking much more slowly than for the personal talent tree. Sometimes you can not even unlock one during a complete reign.

Another mechanism that this game brings is the "stress" part. Already present in the previous opus, it has become manageable by a stress bar that fluctuates according to the events that litters the life of a character. Your characteristics can also play on the climb or descent of this level of stress. If you make a decision that goes against your personality (genre, take a concubine so faithful, etc.), you earn stress points. By up in this gauge, you spend levels that influence the evolution of your character and his reactions. For example, becoming paranoid, see plots everywhere or simply become alcoholic are opportunities that win when our character is stressed.

These novelties obviously bring a great wind of freshness in a game that is turned around the war and the conquest of territories. Indeed, do not deceive you: the essence of the game remains focused around that. The regulars of CK2 will quickly find their landmarks. In short, an excellent exit for this fall 2020, do not shut up our pleasure.

_Test made on PC by seiei from a version provided by the distributor.