Crusader Kings II: Way of Life

When one thinks of an expansion for an all-out war strategy game, it's logical to imagine new scenarios, new maps to conquer, new campaigns, new units and new civilizations, along with some balanced patches. Well, the Way of Life expansion for Crusader Kings II is not your regular expansion, but, then again, Crusader Kings II is not your regular strategy game.

Abandoning the idea of adding new maps or civilizations to the formula, the developers behind Way of Life insisted on including more RPG elements and redirected the focus from dynasties to the personal development of characters. This way, one can immerse oneself into actual character role play, leaving behind historical accuracy in order to pursue more character-centered storylines and chains of events.

To do so, Paradox Interactive added what they call Focuses. Each character has ten focus categories to choose from: Rulership, Business, Hunting, War, Family, Carousing, Seduction, Intrigue, Scholarship and Theology. Depending on the Focus chosen, skill bonuses will be given, and the ideology of the game will be shaped. This could mean an entirely different game with each playthrough. In other words, it's completely different having a hunter or a warlord as a King instead of a scholar or a family man.

Alongside the new Focus system, Way of Life also adds new interactions with other characters, such as seduction and espionage. This way intrigue and betrayal, regular elements in Crusader Kings II, are taken to a whole new level, as are incestual relations. These interactions can ensure the purity of your character’s lineage or if you so choose, your character is allowed and often encouraged to hit on his or her relatives, leading to an interesting storyline and unique chain of events. Assassination plots, hierarchy and heritage bloodlines, are grievances you could expect from a royal family in the Middle Ages during times of war and are more than present in the new Way of Life expansion.

Let us remember that there's a total conversion mod out there based on A Song of Ice and Fire, and if they could do so well with the elements they took from Crusader Kings II, we could only expect more complex and quality content using the tools given in this expansion. So, if you are a Game of Thrones fan, you’ll have many more reasons to try Way of Life and its dramatic character development system.

In terms of music and graphics, Way of Life doesn't entirely add new content to the game. As stated before, there are no new maps or aesthetic elements, and the soundtrack is still the same as ever. The one aesthetically noticeable change is found in the user interface, as it's been slightly simplified and rearranged in order to allow for new interactions and the accessibility of Focus. One other important change is that interactions with other characters have been simplified to a single right-click, which may be confusing to regular players of the game, but eventually, this becomes easier to control, and it’s an alluring feature for newcomers.

In conclusion, Way of Life is a well-constructed expansion that shifts direction of the game towards stronger roleplaying elements, which can be delightful for some and disastrous for others. It's not necessary to have Way of Life in order to enjoy the core elements of Crusader Kings II, and it's an expansion that you'll sometimes want to just turn off, but that’s perfectly comprehensible. Way of Life is a smoother and more casual approach to Crusader Kings II, which may be just what newcomers need to be engaged with the game, however, this may result in less appeal for regular players of the game who'd feel the game isn't quite the same.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed
Twitter | Google+