Home / Games / Crusader Kings III
Crusader Kings III
Love, fight, scheme, and claim greatness. Determine your noble house’s legacy in the sprawling grand strategy of Crusader Kings III. Death is only the beginning as you guide your dynasty’s bloodline in the rich and larger-than-life simulation of the Middle Ages.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-02 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
80 of the 101 reviews raise this.
“fun especially with friends, fun with mods to fix the game, interesting to explore medieval age made with the most greedy intentions you could imagine this thing itself is what you would expect of your paradox games: -…”
“The Absolute peak of all Paradox gaming. Every single experience on this game is different, every character, every culture, every playthrough. It's the easiest paradox game to learn and pick up, but it's not too simple…”
“I like this game a lot, but I'm giving it a thumbs down because I also like playing with friends and the amount of desync in both vanilla and modded MP is insane. You cannot play past a certain date without yearly…”
13 of the 101 reviews raise this.
“The Absolute peak of all Paradox gaming. Every single experience on this game is different, every character, every culture, every playthrough. It's the easiest paradox game to learn and pick up, but it's not too simple…”
“Never has so many dlcs been given to so few. Very fun. Modding community is so great as well. Once again need to fork over a lot of money to get things that need to just be apart of the base game. Buy on sale of…”
“Vast improvements on CK2 in many aspects, in particular when it comes to customizing your character/realm/culture/religion (which are key aspects of this series to me). Generally CK3 offers a ton more options on things…”
9 of the 101 reviews raise this.
“The Absolute peak of all Paradox gaming. Every single experience on this game is different, every character, every culture, every playthrough. It's the easiest paradox game to learn and pick up, but it's not too simple…”
“The greatest vehicle for medieval dynastic roleplay ever made. You will lose hours of your life watching your beautiful empire crumble under the weight of civil war, only to claw yourself back from the jaws of defeat…”
“Great strategy game. Hard in the beginning but very fun after understanding the controls. An improvement from CK2 and more beginner friendly.”
8 of the 101 reviews raise this.
“The Absolute peak of all Paradox gaming. Every single experience on this game is different, every character, every culture, every playthrough. It's the easiest paradox game to learn and pick up, but it's not too simple…”
“My favourite historical rpg setting with a lot of depth and varied events. Its not as historically accurate for some nerds but if you just love this era and want to pretend you were a part of it. Definitely buy this…”
“The greatest vehicle for medieval dynastic roleplay ever made. You will lose hours of your life watching your beautiful empire crumble under the weight of civil war, only to claw yourself back from the jaws of defeat…”
7 of the 101 reviews raise this.
“Never has so many dlcs been given to so few. Very fun. Modding community is so great as well. Once again need to fork over a lot of money to get things that need to just be apart of the base game. Buy on sale of…”
“Great title that you can sink hundreds of hours into. If you love roleplaying and building a story both within the game but also in your head as you play then this is the game for you.”
“Great game, played it quite a lot (on Win10) as you can see, so many elements to it, will keep you entertained for a long time if you like grand epic generational strategy like me. Now though I am re-starting the…”
21 of the 101 reviews raise this · 14 of them still recommend the game.
“fun especially with friends, fun with mods to fix the game, interesting to explore medieval age made with the most greedy intentions you could imagine this thing itself is what you would expect of your paradox games: -…”
“Devs released an unfinished game and then charge you for expensive dlcs”
“The Absolute peak of all Paradox gaming. Every single experience on this game is different, every character, every culture, every playthrough. It's the easiest paradox game to learn and pick up, but it's not too simple…”
10 of the 101 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“fun especially with friends, fun with mods to fix the game, interesting to explore medieval age made with the most greedy intentions you could imagine this thing itself is what you would expect of your paradox games: -…”
“Devs released an unfinished game and then charge you for expensive dlcs”
“I cant really say i would recommend anyone new to the franchise to buy this game and especially dont buy these cash grab (generally pretty garbage) DLCs. I would recommend anyone who does end up buying the game…”
10 of the 101 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“Devs released an unfinished game and then charge you for expensive dlcs”
“I cant really say i would recommend anyone new to the franchise to buy this game and especially dont buy these cash grab (generally pretty garbage) DLCs. I would recommend anyone who does end up buying the game…”
“I loved this game. It was great. Then good. Then bad. This would be a great game if the frequent updates didnt entirely upend the game and any progress you've made in a playthrough. Changes to stats and what they do is…”
8 of the 101 reviews raise this · 8 of them still recommend the game.
“Great sandbox strategy game, takes time to learn for anyone new to the genre. Many DLCs to catch up to however.”
“Crusader Kings 3 is about as close as videogames get to a digital addiction for me. It’s dangerously easy to become absorbed in the unfolding lives of your characters, losing entire evenings to dynastic intrigue and…”
“Great game to approximate what being a king actually was like. However, the game is very complex and even on "very easy" difficulty I'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to be doing.”
6 of the 101 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“The best and worst game ever, gameplay is magical but Paradox clearly doesnt give a ♥♥♥♥ about anything other than pumping out DLC's so the game is near gauranteed to just break itself at some point and as a consumer…”
“When the game hasn't crashed in the last week is never. i haven't been able to play it at all and i have a subscription i can't cancel. this game needs some major work.”
“Your last update broke a 300 hour game. The system no longer takes into account the leader's personal stewardship. In my case, my leader went from being able to handle 14 personal holdings to 10. After the horror of…”
Counted across 101 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 90.4% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“fun, addictive game. some of the dlcs seem a bit greedy, but you can enjoy the game without them just fine (i dont have any right now). wish i could give a somewhat neutral review.”
— a player, Steam review · 64 hrs played“Bought the game just to play the AGoT mod, ended up playing the base game and love it. AGoT mod is amazing.”
— a player, Steam review · 45 hrs played“If you like eugenics, the idea of roleplaying a bloodline of great conquerors, and cuckolding the king of england. Then this game may be for you.”
— a player, Steam review · 1,482 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-05.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-10). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
"By God Alone" Dev Diary #6 - Performance
When the All Under Heaven update released we shared an update on our performance work here: ( Dev Diary #187 - Performance & Optimization ). In that update we also included some hopes and dreams for C
"Silk & Silver" Dev Diary #5 - Iteration
Hello there, and welcome back to the first Silk & Silver dev diary after summer! Like always, for those who don’t know me, I am Joachim, the Deputy Game Director in charge of Silk & Silver. Today, we
"By God Alone" Dev Diary #5 - Investiture Controversy
Hello everyone! In today’s dev diary, we’ll explain how a historical conflict between the church and monarchs, known as the Investiture Controversy, is translated into Crusader Kings III, and also ser
PDX ModCon: July 24-26
Rulers! Great tidings to all from PDX ModCon! We are a fan-organised three-day showcase and celebration event for Paradox mods; specifically those of Crusader Kings III, Victoria 3, and this year, Eur
Faith, Power, and the Medieval Church - A Crusader Kings III Documentary
In the latest episode of our ongoing documentary series, medieval historian Eleanor Janega explores the real history at the heart of our upcoming Core Expansion for Crusader Kings III: By God Alone.Fi
Games like Crusader Kings III
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
Europa Universalis III Complete
84.8% · 1,276 reviews
shares Real Time With Pause, 4x, Political, Grand Strategy
Terra Invicta
82.8% · 6,719 reviews
shares Real Time With Pause, 4x, Grand Strategy, Moddable
Cataclismo
89.0% · 2,361 reviews
shares Real Time With Pause, 4x, Grand Strategy, Moddable
Manor Lords
87.3% · 42,755 reviews
shares Real Time With Pause, 4x, Grand Strategy, Moddable
Crusader Kings II
90.6% · 48,365 reviews
shares Real Time With Pause, Political, Grand Strategy, Moddable
Europa Universalis IV
87.2% · 69,253 reviews
shares Real Time With Pause, 4x, Political, Grand Strategy
Empires of the Undergrowth
95.3% · 10,912 reviews
shares Real Time With Pause, 4x, Grand Strategy, Moddable
Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic
89.7% · 9,053 reviews
shares Real Time With Pause, 4x, Grand Strategy, Moddable
Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | RPG, Simulation, Strategy |
| Player tags | Strategy · Medieval · Grand Strategy · Simulation · RPG · Historical · Management · Character Customization · Life Sim · Sandbox · RTS · Choices Matter (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Multi-player · PvP · Online PvP · Steam Achievements · Steam Trading Cards · Steam Workshop · Adjustable Text Size |
| Languages | English * , French, German, Spanish - Spain, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Polish, Japanese * |
| Achievements | 188 |
| Official site | https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/crusader-kings-iii/about |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows® 10 Home 64 bit Processor: Intel Core i5-750 | AMD FX 4300 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 | AMD Radeon HD 7870 | Intel Arc A310 | Intel Iris Plus G7 | AMD Radeon Vega 11 Storage: 20 GB available space