➤ Monarchy? No thanks 🎮

In the panorama of Paradox Interactive productions, Crusader Kings II is certainly one of the most representative games of the grand strategy genre, of which the Swedish publisher has become - as repeated to exhaustion also on other occasions - one of the greatest exponents. The freedom of play and the depth of the title released about a year ago know few rivals on the market, providing the player with a potentially infinite amount of hours to spend in front of the monitor. All thanks to the sandbox mode that in fact knows no end, between heirs

to be generated and preserved together with intrigues worthy of Game of Thrones, to which one of the most popular mods in the online community has been dedicated. But despite the success of Crusader Kings II, the developers haven't rested on their laurels at all, releasing a number of add-ons and expansions that The Republic it will not even be the last chapter: for the occasion, forget the possibility of exercising your absolute power over the people, as now we pass from the monarchies of the Middle Ages to the republics, evolved centers in which losing one's glory can be a matter of a vote, and where at the time as today winning the elections may also be a question of who has the most money to spend in promoting himself. The arrival of the republics is a particularly interesting feature especially for us, given that among the new playable powers we find Genoa, Pisa and Venice, together with the Hanseatic League and the island of Gotland, located instead in Northern Europe.

Living as a Doge

The historical period that we find ourselves reliving inside The Republic it remains the same as the base game: it starts from 1066 and ends up to 1452, keeping intact most of the game mechanics of Crusader Kings II for the management of one's "court" and diplomatic relations. Among the main innovations, we find the presence of what are real elections to decide our successor. Victory will obviously be unrelated to belonging to our own bloodline: to have our heir elected as the new Doge, The Republic introduces a hybrid system that requires both the investment of hard cash and the achievement of a certain level of family prestige. To do this, every means is legitimate, even going so far as to put i

spanner in the works of the candidates of the other most powerful families, in order to ensure victory. Being a republic, the titles of our enemies can no longer be revoked as they previously did, thus making it more necessary to resort to internal political operations of dubious morality, putting in place plots to get to damage as much as possible their opponents. But the republics also know enemies outside the lands they control, given that, as we said, they base their existence on trade: the battles and the need to keep other powers at bay obviously remain standing, but this time without becoming gods. solid merchants able to accumulate substantial wealth, the end is almost guaranteed. Ports therefore take on a key role in carrying out our trade by sea, and for this reason it is mainly the republics themselves that constantly contend for them, sometimes finding themselves in the way of even the most money-hungry feudal lords. The new content introduced by Paradox naturally includes other historical characters, for which new character traits are also available, along with ambitions made ad hoc for a true man of the republic. From a visual point of view, the changes obviously concern the various republics, the arrival of which introduces new dedicated management menus, a skin for the game interface and unique models for costumes and ships.

Let's expand

Crusader Kings II can count on a substantial amount of additional micro-content and four expansions. The Republic it is the last issue in chronological order. The first two are entitled Sword of Islam, dedicated to the Islamic powers, and Legacy of Rome, dedicated to the Byzantine Empire. The third, Sunset Invasion, is about a fanciful Aztec invasion. The next novelty with The Old Gods has already been announced, thanks to which it will be possible to go back in time to the year 867, thus guiding the populations of that era.

Comment

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8.3

Your vote

The Republic is the best you can expect from an expansion for a game like Crusader Kings II, to which it adds the right touch of novelty about a year after its arrival on the market. The attention to trade and the internal mechanics of the various republics in fact grant new hours of fun, to be spent trying to dominate the other powers in a different way than we were used to until now. The few limits found do not constitute real defects, but simple game characteristics that may or may not meet the tastes of the player. In any case, the price of € 9,99 at which the fourth expansion of Crusader Kings II is offered is not to be overlooked, which helps to make it an important appointment for fans of the grand strategy made in Sweden, waiting for the next chapters of the Paradox Interactive production.