INTRODUCTION
What medieval strategy game has been around since 2012 and is still releasing DLC's on a regular basis? That's right, it's Paradox Interactive's Crusader Kings II. And The Reaper's Due DLC is one like you've never seen before! The Reaper's Due brings a lot of new gameplay options. First and foremost, you will be hit with diseases and plagues. Ugh, that just looks nasty.
The Reaper's Due is available on Steam for about $15. The base game Crusader Kings II is required for this DLC.
dlc features
The Reaper’s Due adds a number of new systems to the game; all intended to underline the importance of plague and illness in history, like new symptoms (Cough, Fever, Diarrhea, Vomiting and more) which will evolve in new full grown diseases like Tuberculosis, Bubonic plague or Measles. The newly added Court Physician might be able to help you get rid of the disease or make things even worse. Epidemics can now spread along the Silk road when present and are more likely to spread to rich and coastal provinces while being less likely to spread to poorer inland areas. The Black Death is larger, more deadly, and gets a chance of major outbreak to occur 200 years into any game, regardless of a start date. You can defend against epidemics by building and upgrading hospitals in your provinces.
Another new feature is the Prosperity System. As opposed to Depopulation, provinces which have not been besieged, raided, or ravaged by disease for a long time will begin to Prosper and gain certain bonuses- such as extra tax income and faster replenishment of levies.
There are also some new interactions possible with prisoners in your dungeons. Humiliate, Torture, Mutilate, Bad poetry and Consume (if cannibal), or recruit them if you want them in your court.
Paradox Interactive also added a new map mode to see all the plagues in the world.
What's more, the free patch that came with the DLC really did optimize the game. There is at least a 30% increase to speed at the game start.
gameplay
The game pretty much plays the same. I had a hard time figuring out where to build the Hospitals, though, you have to go to the Trade port and Fortress window, there you'll see a new option to build a Hospital.
The epidemics make it harder to play like you used to play. You can no longer count on your one son to become your heir because one plague and he could be gone. Get the Black Plague and you can be sure to find half your dynasty members dead in the courtyard. So spread your love wide over the lands and get a lot of sons for your dynasty to survive the awful times of Reaper's Due.
When a disease gets too close to home, you can choose to close your gates and seclude from your people. But while the gates are closed, you can do almost nothing in the game. If your council members have their gates closed, you can not use them. The buttons to assign them tasks will just disappear until they open up their gates again.
I am having a lot of fun with this new DLC, and I hope Paradox Interactive will make a lot more of them for Crusader Kings II!
To get detailed look at the gameplay and new features, watch our review below:
conclusion
Much like the last DLC we got for Crusader Kings II, this one gives us a lot more content to play with and a ton of new game features. I think The Reaper's Due is a DLC we all have been waiting for a long time and the one we will enjoy for a long time as well.
I really love the way Paradox Interactive is releasing a new DLC once every while instead of making an entire, full priced game every year. This is something that a lot more game developers should do!
If you enjoy Crusader Kings II and have spend a lot of time with it, you are going to love this DLC!
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| + New diseases and symptoms | – No new lands |
| + Ability to build Hospitals | – No new highlighted characters |
| + New disease map mode | |
| + Prosperity System | |
| + Free patch |
