If your nights spent kingly (or queenly) crusading have been growing a little stale of late, Paradox Interactive would like you to know there’s a busy year ahead for its acclaimed medieval grand strategy game, with its newly revealed 2024 Crusader Kings 3 roadmap promising two new large-scale expansions and more to freshen up that sandbox.
2024 marks the start of what Paradox is calling Crusader Kings 3: Chapter 3, which includes the aforementioned two expansions – Legends of the Dead and Roads to Power – plus the Wandering Nobles event pack, and the Couture of the Capets cosmetic clothing DLC.
Legends of the Dead is up first, falling under the banner of what Paradox likes to call a Core Expansion – which is to say, sizeable but not quite as sizeable as Crusader Kings 3’s Major Expansions. Legends of the Dead is, as its name suggests, primarily concerned with legends, giving players the means to raise their renown and strengthen the legitimacy of their rule by either commissioning an epic tale of their general awesomeness – which can then be usefully spread around the place – or by actually going out and doing some heroic deeds themselves.
All this is tied to a new gameplay elements that’ll let players leverage their legendary status through new decisions and actions. There are also new elite buildings that become available as a player’s legendary reputation increases, as well as the option to host legendary feasts so guests can learn of their heroism from the court’s poets and bards, taking their tales of daring (fabricated or otherwise) far and wide when they leave. Players can also hire an official court historian to chronicle their legendary deeds, or have them turned into art – and that’s alongside two new legend-based legacies: a Legitimacy Legacy and Heroic dynastic Legacy.
Slightly less cheery are the new illness and mourning features, introducing diseases including Measles, the Bloody Flux, Holy Fire, and the fearsome Black Death. And should your court succumb to the plague, it’ll be possible to perform funeral rites based on your chosen faith.
Legends of the Dead arrives on 4th March, and will be followed later in the year by Crusader Kings 3’s Roads to Power major expansion, which is focused on the Byzantine Empire. This includes a new form of Administrative Government, the option to roam the land as an adventurer for hire, plus special Byzantine-themed events and flavours. Also set for 2024 is the Wandering Nobles event pack, which adds the new Wanderer lifestyle and associated lifestyle trees – the Surveyor, Wayfarer, and Voyager – plus travel-related incidents and stories.
All the above should be available to purchase either separately or as part of Crusader Kings 3’s newly launched Chapter 3 expansion pass. This costs £38.48/€43.98/$43.98 USD and includes immediate access to the Couture of the Capets cosmetics DLC, which adds new fashions and styles inspired by French royal culture in the High Middle Ages.