Crusader Kings II – Way of Life Review (PC)

very good
key review info
  • Game: Crusader Kings II - Way of Life
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: No
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Crusader Kings II – Way of Life expansion

My ruler is pushing 60, has dealt with at least three major bouts of sickness, and has no more ambitions to fulfill, but I am desperate to try and keep him alive for just a few more months, mainly because of how capable an administrator he has become thanks to his focus on stewardship.

My succession laws mean that a relatively weak brother is next in line at the moment, with a much more capable nephew further down the pecking order.

At the moment, I have a major plot going on, ready to take out my brother, and I am spending a little too much money trying to convince others to join in order to boost my power.

Crusader Kings II – Way of Life can be harsh and my ruler dies just as the wheels of the plot are set in motion, which means that I get the bad brother to control for a while and I must think about the Focus I can choose in order to get him killed as quickly as possible and get my dynasty back on the right track.

Story

Crusader Kings II – Way of Life does not expand the game in any significant way, there’s no new historical period to explore, and no expansion of the map is introduced.

The expansion still allows gamers to choose any ruler and his family in the world to control and lead, presumably towards great things, and as always, players are able to choose whatever goals they want to achieve.

Focus for rulers
Focus for rulers

Paradox Interactive has made this kind of freedom one of the core elements of the series, and with Way of Life, they offer each controlled character a chance to choose a Focus for their actions, which in turn brings in a variety of new events that can sometimes feel like an unexpected helping hand, but can also introduce some kind of setback.

Some of the event chains are funny and very well written, but the sheer volume introduced means that there are also some that I only read over once and then I only look at them to see the choices that can be made.

Gameplay

Crusader Kings II – Way of Life introduces 10 potential paths for each character to walk on during his lifetime, each of them offering a slight boost to some of his characteristics and opening up a range of new interactions with other characters.

There are requirements for some of them, but there still are a lot of cool choices regardless of who the player wants to become at the start of a campaign.

I suspect that most players will initially try to focus on seduction or on intrigue, and the Artificial Intelligence is also drawn to them, which will have some interesting results.

The affairs and the out-of-wedlock children that result can become a problem for a ruler and can lead to some negative effects in the long term, although they do create some interesting stories that have a very Medieval feel to them.

I preferred to focus more on rulership and war, which can make it easier to deal with core Crusader Kings II elements like demesne limits or vassal problems.

This part of Way of Life feels helpful and engaging and it might offer families that have less power a quicker way to attain their long-term goals.

Paradox needs to do another balancing pass on Way of Life and maybe boost the impact of some of the more serious Focuses, while taking down the impact of seduction and affairs.

Crusader Kings II – Way of Life also introduces some interesting new tools for modders, which is great given the quality of the content the community has been able to introduce during the past year, and I can barely wait to see how the Game of Thrones mod team enhances its own experience using them.

Graphics and audio

Crusader Kings II – Way of Life is an expansion that does not change the look of the core game in any way, apart from introducing a few new elements to the interface so that the player can use the newly added mechanics.

The Paradox title remains a little befuddling at first for those who do not know exactly what to look for, but it takes just a little time with it to understand how to use the various map modes and that most of the action is linked to the character portraits and the interactions that can be started from there.

Crusader Kings II also manages to deliver moments of actual beauty, like the small illustrations that accompany events and major decisions.

Focus results
Focus results

The big change to the user interface is the fact that a simple right click on a portrait is enough to bring up interaction possibilities for that character, which might be a bit surprising initially for long-term fans but makes it much easier to play the game.

The soundtrack is suitably medieval and heroic, but I suspect that by this point most players substituted it with their won tracks in order to personalize the grand strategy experience.

Multiplayer

Crusader Kings II – Way of Life is an expansion focused on the way the ruler interacts with his own family, and the Focus feature is a sign that the gameplay is more concentrated on the way gamers can behave on their own rather than when they interact with other gamers.

But the multiplayer component of the game is still there and it allows players to join friends and rivals in matches that are easy to setup and run, but require a solid commitment from all those taking part.

Crusader Kings II can become an entirely new beast when other humans are involved and the level of treachery and deceit increases significantly, which tends to increase the pressure to become ruthless and efficient as a ruler rather than simply focus on having fun and exploring the many options the grand strategy title introduces.


The Good

  • Some cool event chains
  • More ways to create interesting stories

The Bad

  • Dynasties are no longer the focus
  • A little too much seduction

Conclusion

Crusader Kings II – Way of Life is not required for those who only want to enjoy the core elements of the grand strategy experience, trying to make sure that their family expands in terms of power and territory as time goes by.

The new event chains are interesting, for the most part, and the Focus can deliver some good bonuses, but they will never be the elements that make a difference between success and failure.

Way of Life is a good piece of content for those who love another side of Crusader Kings II: the weird and sometimes entirely ahistorical results that can create strange, engaging stories.

There are tons of betrayals and killings at the worst moments, affairs that do not entirely make sense but introduce moments of hilarity and confusion.

In many ways, the game moves away from history with the most recent release, and there’s certainly a segment of the community that will be unwilling to play it.

For the rest, the Way of Life content for Crusader Kings II feels like the kind of expansion that needs to be turned on only at certain times, when players want something lighter and more surprising than their traditional experience.

It’s unclear whether Paradox Interactive plans to introduce more content in the future for Crusader Kings II, but for most players, the smartest thing to do at the moment is to enjoy the expansions they have so far and wait for a definitive edition to be launched before picking up any others.

story 8
gameplay 8
concept 9
graphics 8
audio 8
multiplayer 7
final rating 8
Editor's review
very good
 
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Crusader Kings II – Way of Life Images (20 Images)

Crusader Kings II – Way of Life expansionFocus for rulersNew character interactionsRPG actionMap of the world
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