Your victory in Italy may leave you with lands you are fiscally unable to support. That false king you helped to put on the throne in France may turn out to be a bloodthirsty tyrant. Failure can come at any time in Crusader Kings II, and most of the time you don’t even know when it presents itself.
An envoy sent to parley with the king of France may accomplish more than an army ever could, while the saboteur behind him whispering sweet nothings into the ear of the King’s successor may very well ensure victory.īut for every path to victory Crusader Kings IIpresents to you comes a dozen or more consequences. Indeed the more difficult – and far more gruesome – path to victory in Crusader Kings IIis through politics and sabotage. Now, while the term “any means necessary” typically translates to violence, that’s not the case here.
The goal of Crusader Kings II – if you would even argue the game contains such a thing – is to ensure the survival and prominence of your chosen kingdom through any means necessary. Paradox Development Studio have long been the masters of grand strategy games that emphasize the politics of warfare as much as they do the combat, but this game is truly their masterpiece. What’s funny about that synopsis is that it’s the exact same description one could apply to Crusader Kings II. In typical Telltale style, this romp through the world of Westeros is a worthy adventure that showcases not only the powerful consequences of choices within the Game of Thrones universe, but the presence of the cast that helps make the show as good as it is. Specifically, you may turn to Telltale Games’ official Game of Thrones adaptation, and that’s a fine choice. In this state of painful anticipation, you might feel the need to turn to video games in order to ease the longing. Given how easy it is to become spoiled on the instant release model made popular by streaming services like Netflix, that old-fashioned weekly wait between Game of Thrones episodes can feel worse than the pain we endure between seasons. The one thing about the current Game of Thrones season that won’t be a mystery is how much you’ll suffer during the wait between episodes. All the mysteries that have haunted fans since the last season ended will be…well, let’s be honest, they’ll be replaced by even more mysteries in all likelihood. After a wait that felt longer than winter itself, Game of Thrones season six has finally arrived.