Paradox Interactive today announced Crusader Kings III, a sequel to 2012’s grand strategy Crusader Kings II. In addition, CK2 recently went free to play and keep, and features the “Monarch’s Journey”, which offers new ways of learning the game, as well as chances to free earn cosmetic add-ons for CK3.

Crusader Kings II is one of my favourite games, as well as the subject of my first article for Novus. We don’t know a whole lot about the game, the announcement trailer confirms that you’ll be able to get dynastic power in the medieval era through some…questionable methods. Both the UI and the art style look considerably different from Paradox’s previous games, with the world taking on an angled, 3D style as opposed to the top-down, map style of other games. These changes might be something we’ll just be seeing in Crusader Kings and not other upcoming Paradox games, as one image shows us a number of labeled holdings within a piece of land. Since Crusader Kings is about owning plots of land within plots of land within plots of land, this art style might make it easier to see what you have without clicking down a bunch.

The UI also looks like it will fit a lot better, in CK2 when you have a sieging army selected, it takes up a huge chunk of the screen, and can make it difficult to see what’s going on in the map. The development system for children also seems to be more complex than the “tell them what’s good and bad and hope it sticks” that we have now. We can also probably be expecting a whole lot of DLC because…well that’s just what Paradox does, it’s a bit annoying. I’m fairly certain it’s going to be a full game and all the expansions will be specific gameplay things not everyone will want at least, and I don’t really want to be getting too into Paradox’s DLC methods right now.

Beyond the announcement trailer and few images, not a whole lot of information has been released yet. If you’re interested in the game and want to give it a shot, remember that CK2 is now free to keep, so you can try it out and get a feel for the gameplay style before CK3 releases. You might want to hop on YouTube and watch a tutorial or two…Paradox’s grand strategy games can be a bit complex on first go, even with the tutorial. Crusader Kings III will release sometime in 2020.

Are you a Crusader Kings fan? What do you think of CK3? Let us know in the comments, or on Facebook or Twitter!