Anyone who is familiar with Crusader Kings II will be familiar with AGOT, a sprawling mod that transforms the world of medieval Europe into George R R Martinâs Westeros from A Song Of Ice And Fire. So it is good, and also terrifying (in terms of my spare time) news that the mod is ready to make the leap to the newer Crusader Kings III
Itâs a mod so good I wrote about it twice, first as a kind of review, then again in an interview with one of the modders responsible, who went on to work at Paradox, developers of Crusader Kings. I canât stress how perfect it is; the showâs political and sexual drama fits seamlessly into Crusader Kingsâ systems, making it feel more like an officially-licensed release than the work of fans.
As great as the mod is Crusader Kings II has got a bit old, so itâs time to move onto Crusader Kings III, which is much the same experience, only prettier and more streamlined. The team recently announced plans for the release of the modâwhich is actually its third, since it was around for the original Crusader Kings as wellâin this Reddit post
I could not be more excited. The team have put together an absolutely stunning map for the mod, recreating Westeros down to the most minute detail, spanning everything from the deserts of Dorne to an accurate depiction of The Wall. Youâll be able to take advantage of CKIIIâs rules to doâŠeverything you would want to do in a Game of Thrones game, like getting caught up in huge wars, messing with religion, joining the Nightâs Watch and rooting out political intrigue.
To start with, the game will begin during âand feature story events depictingâRobertâs Rebellion, a decision made partly to avoid having to worry about implementing dragons and White Walkers so early in development. That stuff might be on the cards for later, though, as will more eras of Westerosi history, along with expanding the map to include Essos as well.
The mod wonât have a formal release date for a v1.0 or anything; itâll launch in beta and the team can simply keep working from there. And the good news is that itâs launching in beta later this weekâApril 14âso it wonât be long until we can try it out for ourselves.
