

In another playthrough I married off one of my daughters to a neighboring ruler. Well it turns out my daughter was a little too grateful as a short while later I found myself as the object of her affection which I politely declined. Not wanting my kingdom to think of their future king as some sister-diddling pervert I covered up their indiscretions. One of my families literally turned into House Lannister as I discovered that my daughter was having an incestuous affair with her brother/ my heir. There's not really a wrong way to play CK3 it's just a giant medieval sandbox, and it's emphasis on characters and the inclusion of RPG elements allows for an unmatched degree of emergent storytelling. Or if you want you can be a cruel duke who's constantly kidnapping and torturing the people under your rule just for the lulz. You've got to arrange useful political marriages, make sure your spouse is happy so they don't join (or start) any assassination plots against you, maintain a careful balance of keeping your vassals happy while making sure they aren't powerful enough to rebel, and deal with all of the fun issues that come with succession when the head of your family bites the dust.

Unlike something like Total War the focus of Crusader Kings isn't on epic battles but rather on the bigger picture of ruling the realm as a whole.

And it didn't take long for CK3 to become my newest obsession as I realized this was the Game Of Thrones/ASOIAF game that I've always wanted. After seeing a few reviews of CK2 I'd always wanted to try the series out but the fact that all of the second games DLC literally costs hundreds of dollars kept me away, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally try it out. I've got Xbox Gamepass and noticed that Crusader Kings III was on there.
