Runoff 2012, Game of the Year

[Jumpin]

I wasn’t paying attention enough to the years and missed two of my favourite games of all time.

My favourite game from 2012 was Crusader Kings 2.

To describe it in short. It’s a historical grand strategy that (with updates) eventually took place from the rise of Charlemagne in 769, all the way to the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

It’s a sandbox style game, you play one character, and unlike other strategy games, you can marry, have kids, you can duel, and you can die. If you die, it’s game over… but not the end of the game! You then play your heir, and continue in a world that continues on with your original character jow a part of history.

Your role may also be vastly different. Your smallest rank would be a Count ruling over a county, perhaps a few barons and mayors in your county who control castles and towns. You could be a Duke/Duchess who rules over a duchy filled with counties. You could be a Monarch who rules over a Kingdom with multiple duchies and dozens of counties: below you Dukes, duchesses, Counts, and Countesses. Or you could be an Emperor with the potential to rule the world - although world conquest isn’t the point of this game, just a possibility. The point of this game is roleplaying a part of the Middle Ages. 

There are also

jobs for your household, like Steward, Chaplain, Spymaster, etc… these roles can be filled by NPC characters living in your court (it may only be a few, but some powerful characters can have hundreds (and they can boot the ones they don’t want). In the game world, tens to hundreds of thousands of NPC characters will exist - most common, but many will be parts of dynasties, have claims on titles, and you can bring them to your court, and press those claims, gaining vassals, land, and influence.

The least fun I had with the game was playing the role of world conqueror. The most fun I had was playing tall and multiplayer across months - because this game is like 200+ hours, which I did a few times. We would start the game as Counts/Countesses in the same Kingdom, vassals to the same King, and then see where we could take the Kingdom without launching a coup and regime change. This would always fail to go long, because as your characters have children and dynasties grow, eventually one ambitious NPC relative would overthrow the crown, and then it wouldn’t be long until one of the players inherits the throne. Not game over, but a new era. Now we’re joining up with others of our religion, and working more in the politics of the world.

The core mechanics have the player invest in technology, military, and infrastructure. When marrying, it often does well to check for good inheritable traits… like gigantism and dwarfism (kidding). It’s fun organizing plots against other nobles - assassinations and such - or making strategic marriages or other deals to expand influence and secure allies to make demands of your superiors, or to go to war. But when playing tall, a focus on building up core counties becomes the major focus.

Emergent storytelling is another major factor. In short, bits of story designed to shape into larger narratives, and different people experiencing different personal narratives alongside those they share with each other. In the end, you’re writing the game world’s history across hundreds of years.

Crusades can happen to, characters join up with rulers of other states of the same religion? with knight orders, and launch a campaign of conquest on behalf of your religion (typically Roman Catholic or Islam, but you can form your own heretical faith, maybe even advance one of the many pagan faiths, and have your own crusading brand of religion). But crusades are actually only a small part of the game, some cultures/religions don’t do them at all. Crusader Kings is more a simulator of the Middle Ages in Europe and Western Asia, and equivalent periods in Africa and the rest of Asia (where China, Mongol stuff, and all sorts of stuff in India are happening… watch out for Mongols wherever you are… and sometimes the Aztecs too… they bring huge armies and syphilis).

Also, since I hinted at it, there are orders of knights you can join. There are also cults and Warrior guilds; you can challenge other warriors over rank and other disputes, and you can be any and all ranks in the order. Challenge warriors in other guilds, etc… You can lead cannibalistic demon worshipping cults… or be eaten by one.

Magic is a thing, too, with some expansions. I once had my penis cut off during an experimental medical procedure (I had the court physician executed, as I suspected it was part of a plot by my ex-wife’s family), but then a couple of years later my demon cult helped me grow it back!

That’s Crusader Kings 2, one of my favourite games of all time.

Last edited by Jumpin - on 08 December 2023