Recent reviews by NaddaTroll

You awaken on an island. A mountain stands behind you. A forest ahead of you. A quick check of your person reveals that you have a rock, two bandages, and a torch. You don't remember where the possessions came from, but they're yours. You love them.

You set off looking for anything. Something? You're not sure.

After a while, you haven't found much of anything. A shack. Some trees. More mountains.The sun is going down, and you're frustrated. A pig appears in the distance. Your stomach rumbles at the thought of it. As you beat the pig to death with your beloved rock, another man runs at you. You expect him to help you kill the pig--share your bounty. His rock connects with your face rather than the pig.

You're going to die here, chasing a pig, having accomplished nothing in your life. After a brief struggle that seems to last forever, the intruder lies dead at your feet. You loot his body. He has a rock, two bandages, and a torch. These are yours now. You love them.

You finish the pig and move on with your life. Until you hear a gunshot and the world turns to nothing.

What is wrong with this place?

One of the singularly best games to come out for PC since 2010, Crusader Kings II is a grand strategy game developed by Paradox. In CK2, you play as head of your dynasty through the ages. The goal of the game, unlike most strategy games where you expand your lands, is to ensure the survival and expansion of your family. Warmongers may find something they like in CK2; however, the heart of the game is in its politics.

Combat has improved since release, with various traits for your generals and the occasional reworking of how levies work, but battles often comes down to who has the bigger stacks. It's not a bad system, but it can be frustrating at times.

What the game lacks in combat, it makes up for it in the raw emotions it can invoke without you realizing until it's too late. You invest money and time mentoring your genius eldest son to a brilliant strategist to ensure that your heir (the future king) is a great leader, only to have the boy die the year after he comes of age, before he has produced a son of his own. Now his younger brother, the detached priest is next in line. Ugh.

The game lacks a good tutorial, but there are plenty of strong tutorial "Let's Plays" series to be found on Youtube. In the end, however, the best way to learn CK2 is to play it. To suffer, to lose, and to learn from your mistakes. It's a challenging game, but it is immensely rewarding.