Great Houses of Calderia – -apkrig
We like to assign the adjective “unique” to the excellent medieval strategy of Crusader Kings III in the editorial office. What other game is capable of creating a relatively believable simulation of interpersonal relationships full of love, jealousy and irrational hatred, while building a geopolitical drama from the clashes of entire nations? The fact that you can turn the Přemyslids into incestuous adamites is just the icing on the cake.
However, that uniqueness is now under threat thanks to the Great Houses of Calderia (be careful not to confuse Calradia, the fictional setting of the Mount & Blade series!). Even in this planned strategy, you will take on the role of the ruler of the medieval state and, in addition to state concerns, you will also be troubled by the fads of your immediate family members.
By no means does Studio Resistance Games plan to create such a massive work as Crusader Kings III, where you can play as any ruler, big or small, from India to Scandinavia to the Gulf of Guinea. The Great Houses of Calderia take place on a single island, which is nominally ruled by a kingdom from the mainland, but the local aristocratic families are fighting for real power.
One of these clans will be yours, and to make it the ruling dynasty, you will need sugar and whips, political marriages, and wars of conquest – or sometimes a glass of poisoned wine when one’s good health stands between you and a tempting heritage. Although you will not recolor the whole map to your shade, because you only rule your homeland, over time you can still conquer your neighbors with various methods.
As you will read in the extensive preview on PC Gamer, you have to rely on your family members in everything you do. Only they will serve as your envoys, spies and military leaders, which means that you have to take good care of them and reckon with the fact that they have their own head. Sometimes, instead of performing a key task, they simply gather themselves together on a hill and compose poems because they want to. And in the meantime, you’re tearing up some remaining hair on a ragged throne.
There is a system of relationships between people and factions in the game – someone will like that, but not another, which can either disrupt your plans or expose them around this fact. In short, it seems that, as in the case of the Crusader Kings, we are not talking here about a purebred strategy, but rather about a hybrid with a story RPG.
Unfortunately, I won’t tell you more about the game yet, because its release is in sight – unless you have a damn good eye and see until the second quarter of next year, when we should expect the Great Houses of Calderia on Steam.
