They could stack multiple military buildings in every city, or build a ton of churches in order to harvest Faith and make Daddy Pope happy. Though some provinces limit the type of structures that can be built (a harbor can’t be built in a landlocked city, for example) the player is generally given a vast amount of freedom to construct their civilization in whichever way they please. Knights of Honor II looks crunchy and dated and occasionally visually cluttered this way, but it gives the whole thing a cartoonish city-management charm that I can’t help but love - appropriate, given Knights of Honor II’s obsessive focus on economics. In a neat move, reminiscent of a 4X game like Civilization, the player is able to oversee these tasks in a full isometric 3D view if they wish, watching their soldiers and peasants scurrying around like dutiful ants. They can build structures in each of their provinces that provide a range of resources, they can diplomatically interact with other nations, control troop movements in battle, and more. Then, with little fanfare-without even so much as a proper tutorial-the player is dropped into the world, and put in charge of all the high-level decisions of their kingdom. In setting up a match, the player’s character cannot be customized, but they are free to choose any kingdom or province on the map. Luckily, despite its relative anonymity, I’d argue that Knights of Honor II does a respectable job carving out its own little niche by emphasizing the novel aspects of its gameplay. I don’t think this is merely because Knights of Honor is a generic-sounding name, though this no doubt a factor - I’d argue it’s largely related to Paradox Interactive’s total monopoly on grand strategy, to the point that their company name is virtually synonymous with the genre.Ī modern sequel to Knights of Honor in a post- Crusader Kings 3 world was inevitably going to have trouble finding a consistent playerbase given the similarities between the two - in a nutshell, both titles give the player the reins to a kingdom or smaller province during the time of the Crusades. Knights of Honor II finds itself in a tough position, best exemplified by the fact most readers of this review have probably never heard of it. WTF Enemy AI that occasionally reminded me of HAL 9000, just a little bit.
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