Crusader Kings games are absolutely amazing. Maybe not the first one. But the other two are very popular and have overwhelmingly positive reviews. So, here is the question. CK2 vs CK3, which one is actually the better? The answer is not that simple. It all depends on your preferences.
Two games have naturally bunch of similarities. However, it’s been almost 10 years between the release dates of two games. Obviously there’s going to be a lot of differences.
There are very big and noticeable differences between the two games. Almost they’re not games of the same franchise.
I’ve made a small chart to show you differences between CK2 and CK3:
| Differences | Crusader Kings 2 | Crusader Kings 3 |
| Release Date | 2012. | 2020. |
| Graphics | Simply outdated. | Amazing. |
| Content | Lots of DLC and content. | Lacks content, highly repetitive. |
| Difficulty | Realistically hard. | Unrealistically easy. |
| Pricing | Base game free. DLCs cheap on discount. | Too expensive with DLCs. |
| DLC Subscription | Subscription. | No Subscription. |
| Mechanics | Clanky. | Smooth. |
| Start Dates | 11 start dates. | 2 start dates only. |
CK2 or CK3?
If you can bear the graphics and outdated mechanics, Crusader Kings 2 is a way to go. Because it has much more content, rich flavor, countless events, numerous DLCs, and realistic difficulty.
CK3 is good too but lacks content. There are not enough events, gameplay is repetitive, majority of regions have same mechanics, gameplay is much easier, unrealistic events are too much, etc.
Graphics and some mechanics are better than CK2 though. I’ll give it that. However, CK2’s pros overweight the graphics. Especially for hard-core role-players like you and me. We prefer role-playing elements, not graphics!
All in all, CK2 is much better because of the amount of content in it. But CK3 is getting there, slowly and steady. Maybe in a year or two, CK3 will surpass the CK2. I’ll be looking forward to that.
Do let me know your favorite in the comment section! Thanks and have fun.