Game Has Lost His Soul

I came back to Crusader Kings 3 after a few months, excited for the All Under Heaven expansion… and honestly, I’m disappointed.

I loved CK3 since launch — hundreds of hours on . I thought I’d get back the medieval sandbox where anything was possible… but now it feels like Victoria 3 in the Middle Ages.

Tributaries make the map unreadable. You can’t tell who is independent or a vassal.

Domain and vassal limits are absurd: 2 counties max for a tribal duke with 22 stewardship…

The Mandala system is slow and blocking: progress often depends on your ruler dying.

In China, I become a minister → lose my lands → nothing left to do → total boredom.

Before, CK3 let you live your story. Now, it forces you to follow systems

No longer a sandbox, more a political simulation

I loved playing CK3 like The Sims: building my dynasty, doing whatever I wanted, without the game imposing goals. Now, everything is bureaucratic and punishing. Conquer? Penalties. Centralize? Penalties.

The soul of the game is gone: “anything is possible”.

mods like Asia Expansion Project already made these regions more fun and lively… without these restrictions.

Khans of the steppes has been the begining of the end with the tributaries system making the map unreadable Empires submit to smaller realms with no logic.

The AI used to be imperfect but played its dynastic role. Now it follows abstract systems that make no sense, and the world feels broken.

CK3 was unique because of this. Today, it has become an administrative simulator, not a living medieval sandbox.