While you may be increasingly used to paying a monthly fee to get access to a lot of games, Paradox is trialling a new subscription service where you just pay to play one. Which sounds slightly mad until you realise that one game is Crusader Kings II.
For $6 a month, you’ll be able to play Crusader Kings II — whose base game is already free-to-play — with all of its expansions, bonuses and extra content. Paradox explain the introduction of the (entirely optional) subscription by saying:
With so much additional content available, the cost for new Crusader Kings II players can seem prohibitive or intimidating. This is an affordable way for players to experience the entire Crusader Kings II catalogue without having to weigh which items they would prefer to purchase.
This does not mean it is the only way to get DLC moving forward. The Subscription service is entirely optional and purchasing a single or multiple DLC packs without the Subscription is still an option.
To buy all of Crusader Kings II’s content right now would cost you around $340, but you should also know that the game’s Imperial Edition — which includes everything this subscription does — is sometimes on sale for a lot less.
Long-time Paradox fans and subscription sceptics are obviously wary of the move, especially since Paradox say “subscription plans are an option we are exploring for other Paradox titles”, but I kinda like this. CKII has a lot of stuff, and it’s all the better for having all of it available at once, and if someone needs to pay $5-10 to play it for a few weeks before deciding to buy the whole thing then good for them.
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