Crusader Kings III
Medieval grand strategy where dynasties outlive their rulers
Paradox Development Studio · Published by Paradox Interactive · Released Sep 1, 2020
Reviews trending down: 70% positive in the last 30 days vs 84% overall
- Reviews
- Very Positive
- 84% of 109K
- Recent reviews
- Mostly Positive
- 70% of 739 in 30 days
- Players
- 14K
- daily peak, Nov 7, 2026
- Steam Deck
- Playable
- Last update on Steam
- 2 weeks ago
- Oct 21, 2026
Metacritic: 91/100 (critic reviews)
What is Crusader Kings III?
Crusader Kings III is a medieval grand strategy and role-playing sandbox in which you control successive rulers of a noble dynasty. Across a large map, you manage titles and vassals, arrange marriages, conduct diplomacy and schemes, raise armies, and prepare heirs to continue the house after each ruler dies.
For you if...
- +you enjoy dynastic role-playing and emergent political drama
- +you like managing realms through diplomacy, intrigue, and war
- +you want a replayable sandbox with many possible rulers
Not for you if...
- −you prefer short, linear campaigns with a fixed protagonist
- −you dislike dense strategy systems and detailed realm management
What players say
84% of 109,373 reviews are positive · 70% of 739 in the last 30 days
Players praise the emergent political and family stories, character-focused dynasty play, and mod scene. The dominant complaint is the volume and price of DLC, with players saying too much content and some important mechanics are locked behind expansions. Some also report frequent multiplayer desynchronization and worsening memory use on lower- and mid-range systems.
Players over time
▼ -36% vs a month agoPlayers online on Steam, one sample a day.
Highest since Sep 2026: 20,702 players on Oct 4, 2026.
Show the data
| Day | Players |
|---|---|
| Nov 7, 2026 | 13,733 |
| Nov 6, 2026 | 10,457 |
| Nov 5, 2026 | 10,066 |
| Nov 4, 2026 | 10,707 |
| Nov 3, 2026 | 11,110 |
| Nov 2, 2026 | 11,175 |
| Nov 1, 2026 | 14,577 |
| Oct 31, 2026 | 14,159 |
| Oct 30, 2026 | 10,844 |
| Oct 29, 2026 | 10,617 |
| Oct 28, 2026 | 11,219 |
| Oct 27, 2026 | 13,540 |
| Oct 26, 2026 | 14,504 |
| Oct 25, 2026 | 18,132 |
| Oct 24, 2026 | 16,481 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 14,234 |
| Oct 22, 2026 | 14,160 |
| Oct 21, 2026 | 14,322 |
| Oct 20, 2026 | 14,789 |
| Oct 18, 2026 | 18,723 |
| Oct 17, 2026 | 17,672 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 15,089 |
| Oct 15, 2026 | 0 |
| Oct 14, 2026 | 15,680 |
| Oct 13, 2026 | 16,544 |
| Oct 11, 2026 | 20,194 |
| Oct 10, 2026 | 18,134 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 16,389 |
| Oct 8, 2026 | 16,203 |
| Oct 7, 2026 | 17,310 |
| Oct 6, 2026 | 17,693 |
| Oct 4, 2026 | 20,702 |
| Oct 3, 2026 | 19,519 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 17,367 |
| Oct 1, 2026 | 18,274 |
| Sep 30, 2026 | 12,216 |
| Sep 29, 2026 | 12,710 |
| Sep 27, 2026 | 15,574 |
| Sep 26, 2026 | 14,821 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 13,965 |
| Sep 24, 2026 | 13,217 |
| Sep 23, 2026 | 12,913 |
| Sep 23, 2026 | 13,710 |
| Sep 22, 2026 | 13,897 |
| Sep 21, 2026 | 17,604 |
Screenshots and trailer
Crusader Kings III system requirements
Minimum: GeForce GTX 660, 8 GB RAM, 20 GB of disk space.
As published by the developer.
Can my PC run Crusader Kings III?
Tell us your graphics card once and every game page will answer this for you.
Set up my PC →Minimum
- OS
- Windows® 10 Home 64 bit
- Processor
- Intel Core i5-750 | AMD FX 4300
- Graphics
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 | AMD Radeon HD 7870 | Intel Arc A310 | Intel Iris Plus G7 | AMD Radeon Vega 11
- Memory
- 8 GB RAM
- Storage
- 20 GB available space
Recommended
- OS
- Windows® 10 Home 64 bit or Windows® 11
- Processor
- Intel Core i5-8400 | AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
- Graphics
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 | AMD Radeon RX 480 | Intel Arc A580
- Memory
- 16 GB RAM
- Storage
- 20 GB available space
Does Crusader Kings III have co-op or multiplayer?
Yes: PvP online. It also has a single-player mode.
Does Crusader Kings III run on Steam Deck?
Playable Playable: it runs on Steam Deck with some adjustments.
- Sometimes shows mouse, keyboard or non-Deck controller icons
- All functionality is accessible with the default controller configuration
- In-game text is legible on Steam Deck
- Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck
PC version details
- DRM
- None declared on Steam
- Controller
- Keyboard and mouse
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- Achievements
- 188
- Steam features
- Workshop, Cloud saves, Family Sharing, Trading cards
- Languages
- Full audio: English. Text only: French, German, Spanish - Spain, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Polish, Japanese.
Does Crusader Kings III use AI-generated content?
No AI-generated content is disclosed on the game's Steam page.
Self-reported by the developer under Steam rules: it covers AI content that ships in the game, not tools used to make it. Steam page checked on Nov 6, 2026. How to filter AI games on Steam
Tags
- Strategy
- Medieval
- Grand Strategy
- Simulation
- RPG
- Historical
- Management
- Character Customization
- Life Sim
- Sandbox
- Choices Matter
- RTS
- War
- Singleplayer
- Economy
- Multiplayer
Recent updates
- May 25, 2026 · Update 1.19.0.6
- May 7, 2026 · Update 1.19.0.5
- Apr 23, 2026 · Update 1.19.0.4
- Apr 20, 2026 · 1.19 "Scribe" Update - Available Now
- Apr 1, 2026 · 1.19 "Scribe" Open Beta - Update 1
33 DLC available.