Crusader Kings II: Horse Lords (PC) Review

Of course, something must be said about the biggest problem with this expansion: it's not the quality, but that it is the tenth expansion to the Crusader Kings II title. While it is great to see such a solid game - which was enjoyed in Cubed3's review of Crusader Kings II Collection earlier this year - continually grow to become an ever richer experience, the sheer bulk of add-ons (not including the various skins and soundtracks that are also purchasable) may prove worrisome for some consumers. With some luck, there may only be one or two expansions left, at the risk of the game becoming oversaturated.

With that said, the latest release is a decent addition to the franchise that does provide a fair few enhancements. The key inclusion is Nomadic rule: previously in Crusader Kings II, playing as one of the Nomadic tribes was fairly uninteresting in comparison to the other civilisations. While they began with an uphill struggle, after a certain amount of time they began to play largely the same as the various other nations. Horse Lords completely changes this.

Instead of operating as standard, the Nomads' gameplay is focused on population growth, thus encouraging land expansion simply to prevent overcrowding. This is combined with the need to focus on unoccupied land for agriculture, meaning that trying to build everywhere is now a very bad idea. This provides a refreshing style of play, albeit one that some may consider as coming at the cost of the Nomads becoming slightly overpowered.

There are, of course, several additional new features, such as the ability to make tributary nations, along with the inclusion of the Silk Road in order to bolster a focus on trading. However, these aren't such major changes as other expansions have provided in the past, leading to Horse Lords' greatest shortcoming. Although it does improve gameplay for the Nomads, it doesn't do much for the other civilisations.

Of course, it can be argued that the balance shift means that other nations must change their tactics when at war with these tribes, but ultimately there simply isn't much in the way of new lands or options, meaning that a player not directly engaged with the Nomads themselves is unlikely to get much out of Paradox's latest.