Crusader Kings II - The Old Gods (DLC)

The Old Gods is the fourth major expansion for Crusader Kings II, and it does something the base game never quite managed: it makes the pre-feudal, pre-Christian world feel genuinely wild and mechanically distinct. The headline feature is the new 867 AD start date, which pushes the map back into the Viking Age and hands you a Europe where half the continent still worships Thor, Perun, or Ahura Mazda. That is not just a cosmetic shift. The political geometry is completely different from the standard 1066 start, with fewer consolidated kingdoms, more room for aggressive expansion, and a Norse raiding economy that rewards short, sharp wars over the slow diplomatic grind of a Catholic succession crisis. The pagan faith mechanics are what justify the purchase outright. Norse, Slavic, Tengri, West African, and Zoroastrian rulers all have distinct mechanics rather than sharing a reskinned Catholic rulebook. Norse characters can go on dedicated raiding expeditions, looting coastal provinces for gold and prestige. Pagan rulers benefit from raised runestones, great blots, and holy sites. The key tension is that unreformed paganism is fragile, your realm lacks the administrative backbone of a feudal church, so the mid-game push to reform your faith and lock in bonuses is one of the most satisfying strategic arcs in any Paradox title. Getting that timing right, between having enough holy sites controlled and not losing momentum to internal revolt, is the kind of multi-variable decision this series lives for. The AI at the 867 start is noticeably more aggressive than in later periods, which is both a feature and an occasional headache. Neighbor Norse jarls will actually raid you, not just the Catholic kingdoms. That keeps early pressure high in a way that prevents the slow-burn openings that some CK2 campaigns devolve into. The downside is that AI coalition behavior can still feel clumsy when multiple pagan factions technically share interests but refuse to cooperate. The mod ecosystem has addressed a lot of this, and the expansion pairs extremely well with conversion-focused overhauls if you want even more granular religious depth. For newcomers asking whether to start here: honestly, yes, with a caveat. The 867 start is harder than 1066 because the political landscape is more chaotic and the tutorial scaffolding in base CK2 is built around feudal mechanics, not raiding economies. But the pagan mechanics are actually more intuitive for players who have never touched grand strategy before. Raiding for cash and fighting for glory maps to simpler motivations than managing papal relations and inheritance law. Pick a small Norse jarl in Scandinavia, spend the first ten years raiding British monasteries, and the economy and diplomacy will make sense before you realize you are learning them. The expansion does not reinvent the core engine and the base game's persistent issues, including the late-game AI blob problem and the occasionally bizarre succession crisis stacking, carry through unchanged. There is also some asymmetry in pagan content depth: Norse gets the richest mechanical treatment while other faiths like Tengri feel comparatively thin. But at the volume of playtime this expansion adds, particularly when you account for the reformed-pagan late-game paths that open entirely new victory conditions, that is a minor complaint against a substantial package.

Diego · Scout Team

Strategy & simulation

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