The hellish design of the Crusader Kings video games
Crusader Kings 3 doesn’t have boss fights or puzzles like many other kinds of video games. But I am convinced that it does have one kind of enemy: its user interface.
And yet, it’s one of the rare games that I have stayed up all night playing, even knowing I work the next day. When it gets its hooks into me, they dig in deep. Crusader Kings 3 is a strategy game where you play as a landowner during the Latin holy wars. It’s open-ended, and the goals are driven by the player, but most people play with the intention of creating an empire that’s larger than any other on the map through subterfuge, war, diplomacy, or just buying everyone out.
If that sounds exciting, then I’m here to tell you that most of the game asks players to look at a...