Engage with more events and explore everyone’s memories

Sep 9, 2022 16:26 GMT  ·  By

It’s hard being a good ruler and a good human, especially when your education drives you towards an intrigue lifestyle. I might donate to the church and be as kind as possible to my children, but I have the means to assassinate all members of a rival family and have done so. My father killed two rivals in battle, thanks to his martial skills. I hope that the administrative-focused education I am giving my heir will both benefit the realm and make it easier for him to resist the gameplay temptations of violence.

Crusader Kings III - Friends & Foes is developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. This is an event pack for the grand strategy title, designed to introduce more variety to the experience and to use the mechanics added in the associated major patch.

The narrative element is the focus, with more than one hundred new events, designed to make life more interesting regardless of the chosen playable character. Some of them are silly, some have depth and difficult choices, and most focus on the interactions between family, friends, and rivals.

Players will also get feuds with other families, designed to encourage more interactions that involve more than two characters. It is nice to try and take out an entire clan but doing so often requires focus and resources that are better spent elsewhere.

Crusader Kings III: Friends & Foes
Crusader Kings III: Friends & Foes
Crusader Kings III: Friends & Foes
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The free patch tweaks elements of the game, like A.I. behavior and populist factions, that the player community has long asked to be revamped. But I am most excited about the addition of memories. There are public ones, which make it easier to get an impression of other major characters at a glance. And the public and private memories of the player character can lead to events and make it easier to care for their faith.

Friends & Foes does not tweak the still impressive visual presentation of Crusader Kings III. The game lays out the information that players need to make decisions well and makes its simulation of the Medieval world feel bright and immersive. The soundtrack remains very good, one of the few that I do not replace with my own soundtrack when it comes to strategy titles.

Conclusion

Friends & Foes is a piece of downloadable content that doesn’t massively tweak the mechanics of Crusader Kings III but makes playing the game much more enjoyable. It is a definite Yay for anyone who wants more events and more interactions between characters, both elements that are the heart of this grand strategy experience. If you are still enjoying the base game and have not picked up Royal Court, get that instead.

The free patch, with the addition of Memories and tweaks to other mechanics, is also solid. I feel that Crusaders Kings III shines when it gets players to invest in characters and their relationships and it will be interesting to see how future DLC enhances these core elements.

Review code provided by the publisher.

Crusader Kings III: Friends & Foes screenshots (16 Images)

Crusader Kings III: Friends & Foes artwork
Crusader Kings III: Friends & FoesCrusader Kings III: Friends & Foes
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