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 Martin’s 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.
It’s 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 can’t stress how perfect it is; the show’s political and sexual drama fits seamlessly into Crusader Kings’ 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 it’s time to move onto Crusader Kings III, which is much the same experience, only prettier and more streamlined. The team recently announced a roadmap for the release of the mod — which is actually its third, since it was around for the original Crusader Kings as well — in 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. You’ll be able to take advantage of CKIII’s rules to do…everything you would want to do in a Game of Thrones game, like getting caught up in huge wars, messing with religion, joining the Night’s Watch and rooting out political intrigue.
To start with, the game will begin during — and feature story events depicting — Robert’s 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 won’t have a formal release date for a v1.0 or anything; it’ll launch in beta and the team can simply keep working from there. And the good news is that it’s launching in beta later this week — April 14 — so it won’t be long until we can try it out for ourselves.
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