Crusader Kings III is a grand strategy role-playing video game set in the Middle Ages, developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive as a sequel to Crusader Kings (2004) and Crusader Kings II (2012). The game was released on PC on 1 September 2020 and on the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 on 29 March 2022 in most regions. The game received universal acclaim, and has sold over 3 million copies as of September 2023.
Like its predecessors Crusader Kings and Crusader Kings II, Crusader Kings III is a grand strategy game and dynasty simulator set in the Middle Ages. Players begin as a character in either 867, 1066, or 1178. The game map is about four times more detailed than the one in Crusader Kings II and slightly larger, incorporating Europe, Africa roughly as far south as the equator, and Asia as far East as China. Upon the death or deposition of a player’s character they continue to play as that character’s heir unless that character lacks any viable heir in which case the game will end. Overall, players develop a dynasty over the centuries, with the game ending in 1453, though an in game setting can turn this end date off.
Dynasties can form cadet branches that have their own heads and act mostly independently from their parent dynasty. The heads of dynasties are able to use a new resource known as Renown to assert their control over their house. For example, the heads of houses are responsible for legitimizing bastards. Players’ realms may have the feudal, tribal, wanua, nomadic, clan, mandala, meritocratic, celestial, ritsuryō, sōryō or administrative government types. Republics, herder and theocracies government types exist as well, but are unplayable. Religion and culture are both important aspects of the game. Leaders can advance their goals by warfare, diplomacy, or subterfuge. Players may undergo pilgrimages and wage holy wars, and entire religions can be called to arms in crusades, great holy wars or jihads. Religions have Tenets, which are bonuses given to all practitioners of that faith, and Doctrines, which deal with the religion’s stances towards issues like homosexuality and female clergy. The principal resource for interacting with religion mechanics is Piety, and a player with sufficient piety may choose to develop their own faith or reform an unreformed faith, with the Tenets and Doctrines being chosen by the player.
Levies are represented primarily by low-quality infantry composed of peasants. Characters will need to hire men-at-arms in order to field higher-quality soldiers, such as crossbowmen and cavalry. Characters can make other characters from their court or realm with significant combat skills into powerful knights.
Unlike preceding games in the series, characters have full-body, 3D-rendered models. These character models can be customized with clothes and headwear by clicking the Barbershop button in the character menu. The characters’ models change slightly to represent their age, status and health, such as having a flushed face when addicted to alcohol, and rulers of certain cultures donning a suit of armor when commanding an army. As in Crusader Kings II, they have traits that affect their stats and behavior. Making choices that go against a character’s traits will increase that character’s stress. The game’s genetics system allows characters to pass on some of their characteristics to their descendants. Characters are able to frighten their vassals into staying loyal by increasing their Dread, which increases when the character performs malevolent actions, such as executing or torturing other characters. Characters are able to select one of six lifestyles to follow. Each lifestyle has three skill trees that allow characters to enhance skills related to that lifestyle.
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