Knights of Honor II: Sovereign

Knights of Honor II: Sovereign is the kind of game that confuses me with its existence. It’s not for newcomers with its real-time world map on top of real time combat. Even slowed down to turtle speed, it’s still a lot for someone who’s never played a game like this to start with. Especially with the complete lack of a worthwhile tutorial to lead them through the game. And it’s definitely not for genre veterans, given they’ll have played ten games that do everything better than this one.

Knights of Honor II: Sovereign is a worthy sequel to an 18-year-old game, offering familiar elements and nearly identical gameplay with minimal innovation. Given its focus, it will primarily appeal to those who played the original in 2004. For everyone else, the Crusader Kings series is probably still the best choice, as it is, in my opinion, a bit more accessible even for newcomers. On behalf of Gaming Professors, I give the game seven out of ten points.

Knights of Honour II: Sovereign is a difficult but rewarding game. A sequel nearly 20 years in the making that creates an intricate gameplay loop, improved with well-made interconnected systems all well tied together with fantastic UI and great sound design to create a full and unique RTS experience.

Knight of Honor II has been quite an amazing title, perfect for newbies and old strategists alike. Strategically interesting, with a remarkable visual design but it has an AI that leaves something to be desired and sometimes in some events it can be unfair. Even so, the title has managed to be quite a success, a title that shortens the distance between civilization and Crusader kings, leaving a great taste in the mouth.

This year was quite plenteous for strategic games, and Knights of Honor II: Sovereign is among the finest, if not the finest genre entry.

As accessible as I’ve ever seen serious strategy gaming, Knights of Honor is still strategically interesting, gorgeous to look at, and still offers plenty of challenge. It hasn’t been compromised in any significant way for the sake of accessibility, and really, this is just a very good example of a publisher finding a genuine and worthy niche to occupy within a very mature and saturated genre.

As it stands, Knights of Honor II: Sovereign is a massively impressive feat that will delight many strategy fans. The medieval setting is beautiful and immersive, and the different paths to victory are a great mechanic keep players on their toes. Since some victory paths, like securing resources for a kingdom advantages victory, can take time and effort to achieve, this also adds a healthy dose of challenge and flexibility to the overall experience. You'll often find yourself having to re-think a strategy mid-playthrough as wars break out and foes close trading deals. While this type of gameplay may not be everyone's cup of tea, it will certainly be challenging and energising to those that don't shy away from some statistics and resource management.

Knights Of Honour 2: Sovereign is a game that takes patients and a strategic mind, a dash of luck would not go astray either. You will make bad decisions that could just about bring your whole kingdom crumbling to your feet, and if that happens just try again. Just beware however you will need time to play this, either a lot at once or in short intervals over a long time, this isn’t a quick skirmish and the games one this is a long term, put plans in motion and prepare for a long winter type of game. Yes, you can still just play for the fun of it, though with friends would make that easier and more enjoyable. For the hard-core strategist, this game will show you just how good you are and will make anyone who loves that sort of competitive aspect or challenge to their skill giddy with excitement.

I think as long as you know what to expect going in… this could well be a fantastic game. If you like fiddling over the minutia of your empire then you will probably love this game. If like me you'd prefer a bit less worrying about the small stuff to your rule… perhaps give it a miss.

A decent alternative if you want something in the style of Total War. It is characterized by comparable, quite complex management, but poor AI in the campaign and less successful battles. It offers some interesting options, but on the other hand, several elements are underdeveloped and unbalanced.