Medieval monarch life fascinates almost everyone? At least that’s what I’ve observed. Anyway, I really like the games where you play as the king, participate to medieval court, and enjoy the royal life! If you like em’ too, check out the ranking of 10 best games where you play as a monarch, king, or a ruler on below.
I’ve watched The Tudors, Vikings, Kingdom of Heaven, Game of Thrones, etc. In short, I’m huge fan of the medieval court life. If you’re the same, watch the movies / series I’ve mention and play the games listed below!
Remember though, ruling isn’t easy. A medieval ruler has many tasks such as dealing with rebellious vassals, crushing peasant revolts, finding allies, marrying, securing succession, building, and conquering. In short, it isn’t a life of hedonism.
1. Crusader Kings 3
Crusader Kings 3 is currently the best medieval ruler simulation RPG. And it’ll be the best for a very long time, maybe up until the release of Crusader Kings 4. I’m not exaggerating at all. If you want to experience the life of a medieval noble ruler, CK3 is the best one because of its realistic, covering all aspects of ruler’s life, filled with rich flavor events, constantly getting updates, and has a super huge community.
The game has two starting dates: 867 and 1066. You pick one of the dates and choose any ruler on the world to play. You can choose a count, a duke, a king, or even an emperor to play as and build your dynasty from there.
Dynasty is everything in Crusader Kings 3. Because your ruler will eventually die. The succession must be secured at all costs or it’s game over. Starting a bloodline and seeing it rule a vast empire through generations is a super satisfying feeling.
2. Warsim
3. Yes, Your Grace
4. Tudor Intrigue
Tudor Intrigue is a 175,000-word text based RPG with countless branching storylines. Meaning your choices truly control the story.
The story is about the life of King Henry VIII of England from house Tudor. You will step into his shoes to lead the country through reformation era. The position you’re in will force you to make choices on medieval politics, religion, love, and war. Better be extremely careful though, because the fate of entire country is in your hands.
Available on both browser and google play.
5. Mount Blade
6. Kingdom: Classic
7. Kingdom Two Crowns
can play other two Kingdom games too (Kingdom: New Lands, and Kingdom Classic)
8. Reigns
9. Sims Medieval
You know the famous Sims franchise, right? It’s a series of life simulation games. The Sims Medieval released in time between The Sims 3 and The Sims 4. It’s not available on Steam for unknown reasons and quite underrated. However, most Sims fans love The Sims Medieval. Especially the ones interested in history.
In this game, you crate your custom character and chose one of the 10 hero classes. Which are bard, blacksmith, Jacoban priest, knight, merchant, Peteran priest, physician, spy, wizard, and of course monarch.
The Monarch’s main job is running their kingdom by holding court, listening to petitions, sentencing criminals, writing laws, and dealing with other kingdoms. It’s quite realistic and fun at the same time.
If you have played other Sims games but missed the Sims Medieval, it’s time to fill the gap.
10. Sort the Court
Sort the Court is a cute browser game about court decisions. It’s small but amazing, rated super high too.
The game itself is a king simulator all about decisions. You simply sit on your throne and make choices. Choices can be wholesome or sinister. In the end, your choices will determine the population of your kingdom, happiness of your subjects, and the amount of gold in your treasury.
You can play it on browser or download for Windows, Mac, or Linux. The game is just around 20MB. Also, completely free to play.
11. Old World
Crusader Kings meets Civilization.
12. Pathfinder Kingmaker
13. King of The Castle
14. Stellar Monarch
15. Skyrim
There are many different mods in Skyrim that are putting the player in the role of a ruler. The most popular one is of course the Become High King of Skyrim mod. The mod turns you into the High King of Skyrim. Naturally High King position has many perks.
There are also bunch of political Skyrim mods in which you can become a jarl in one of the holdings, become a jarl of your new holding build from zero, become king, and etc.
So, if you get into mods, you can become a jarl, a king, and even an emperor. Skyrim is truly the best role playing game ever because of the mod variety.