14 DAY TRIAL // One petitioner wants me to start a war in his name, which is a bad idea 100% of the time. I found no way to minimize the court to see all the ramifications of such a big decision. Another simply wants my money to develop his own county. My jester often cuts in to eliminate some of my stress, often by farting. And at least one nude tapestry hangs above my head, impressing guests with my ability to invest in the finer things in life, alongside rare books and battle flags.
Royal Court is developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. This is the first big expansion for Crusader Kings III, designed to enhance the role-playing side of the grand strategy title.
It all starts with the throne room, a place where characters now occupy a clearly defined physical space. The king sits ready to receive petitioners (every five years and during special events). Advisors, including new positions introduced in the expansion, courtiers, and kids roam around. Artifacts, found, bought, or crafted, are displayed to awe visitors and confer bonuses. A king who funds his court gains grandeur and other benefits, based on choices and amount of investment. There are also plenty of new events associated with the court.
Royal Court also makes culture tweaking a lot closer to how it works for religion. This opens up more customization and role-playing options, and also creates a lot more alternate history situations. I didn’t bother investing too much in artifacts, focusing more on my court, but they are useful and have some interesting event chains. It’s a struggle to fund everyone who has an inspiration early on, which is good, but there are a few too many artifacts after around a century, some of them fairly useless.
All these additions work best in Western Europe, where the potential for divergent culture and new houses is higher. I had fun taking control of Lotharingia and watching how states fragment around me, and then trying to create a successor to the Roman Empire centered around my own dynasty. It is also fun to pick a tribal (which means no court) ruler in Asia and try to find the best way to quickly become feudal and then exceed the grandeur of any western dynasty.
Alongside the expansion, CK III has also received a big patch that adds balance, eliminates bugs, and enhances modding. Expect big updates to all the most popular mods. At least one big patch is needed to deal with price balancing, which is an even bigger issue in the DLC, and some character interactions.
Royal Court enhances the presentation of Crusader Kings III significantly. The throne room gives characters a place to hang out and interact and also showcases treasured weapons and relics. Interactions wary the flow of the game in a good way and give a good at a glance idea of a ruler’s standing. The grand strategy title remains visually impressive more than one year after launch (I love the painted map) while also leveraging a well-designed user interface. The game has one of the few soundtracks that I don’t replace with my own playlists.
Conclusion
For someone who has not yet moved on from CK II or has only played other grand strategy titles, the base game is interesting enough without Royal Court. Once you feel that your Medieval ruler experience really needs enhanced culture mechanics or a throne room, then it is time to spend money on this most recent content for Crusader Kings III.
Review code provided by the publisher.
