Crusader Kings II
Explore one of the defining periods in world history in an experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy.
Role-PlayingSandboxSimulationStrategy
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- Released
- 2012
- Developer
- Development Studio
- Platforms
- 1 systems
- Critics
- 82
- Steam Deck
- playable
- Download
- Not stated
What is Crusader Kings II?
Explore one of the defining periods in world history in an experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy.
Description as published by the developer on its own store page, read 30 August 2026. It is marketing copy, not our assessment.
The record
| First released | 14 February 2012 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Development Studio |
| Publisher | Paradox Interactive |
| Platforms | PC |
| Genres | Role-Playing, Sandbox, Simulation, Strategy |
| Languages | 4 supported |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q677869, seeded 30 August 2026. Store data from Steam, read 30 August 2026.
How was Crusader Kings II received?
Method. Player figures are Steam's own totals for the PC version, read 30 August 2026. The Metacritic score is the one Steam publishes on its store page and can lag the site itself. Metacritic page. Neither is our opinion. We have not published a review of this game.
What does it support?
| Capability | Support |
|---|---|
| Controller | Not stated |
| Cloud saves | No |
| Cross-platform play | No |
| Mod support | No official workshop |
| Online play | Single-player only |
| In-game purchases | No |
| Steam Deck | playable |
| Download size | Not stated |
| Add-on content | 32 DLC listed |
| Age gate | None |
Method. Read from the publisher's Steam listing on 30 August 2026. Describes the PC version. Console versions differ.
What does it cost?
Steam price in US dollars, read 30 August 2026. Prices move hourly and vary by region. Check the current price.
Is Crusader Kings II worth it?
91% of 73,903 Steam reviews are positive, which Steam rates Very Positive. It is free to play, and critics score it 82/100.
That is the data, not a verdict for sale: whether it is worth it depends on the price you pay and what you want. Players do report problems — see the reported-problems section below before buying. We have not published our own review of this game.
How long is Crusader Kings II? How long to beat it
Total play time for Crusader Kings II is about 463.8 hours to do everything, and around 66.6 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 66.6h | 50 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 250.6h | 34 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 463.8h | 16 |
Crusader Kings II is free to play, so the only cost is your time: about 66.6 hours to beat it.
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Crusader Kings II system requirements
The minimum requirements from Crusader Kings II's Steam page. These are what it takes to launch and be playable, not to run at high settings.
| Memory | 4 GB RAM (other games at this level) |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel® Pentium® IV 2.4 GHz |
| System | 64-bit OS required |
Where Crusader Kings II sits on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueCrusader Kings II plotted on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so its position is its real one. Change either axis to see where it lands.
1 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Crusader Kings II price & deals: is it on sale?
We have one reading so far: Free on 30 August 2026. Prices are checked daily from here, and this becomes a chart once there is more than one point to join. A single observation is a price, not a history.
What readers say about Crusader Kings II
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Problems players report
We read the 300 most recent negative Steam reviews of Crusader Kings II on 30 August 2026 looking for recurring complaints. Nothing came up often enough to report: no theme was mentioned by more than 3% of them. That is not a claim that the game is bug-free, only that the people who disliked it were not agreeing about why.
Did it run on your PC?
Tell other players how it ran on your machine. One tap, from your saved PC if you have one.
Where Crusader Kings II appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Crusader Kings II qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Games like Crusader Kings II
24 games overlap with Crusader Kings II on the tags Steam players applied to it, on genre, and on theme. The closest are Victoria II, Crusader Kings III and Europa Universalis III.
Part of the Crusader Kings series
Crusader Kings II is one of 2 Crusader Kings games we track. See the whole series ranked by the GamingPickz Score, plotted on the grid, and listed in release order:
Crusader Kings II head to head
See Crusader Kings II compared side by side, on score, price, specs and more:
Common questions about Crusader Kings II
What platforms is Crusader Kings II on?
Crusader Kings II is available on PC. It first released in 2012.
Is Crusader Kings II free?
Yes. Crusader Kings II is free to download on Steam.
Do players recommend Crusader Kings II?
91% of 73,903 Steam reviews are positive, which Steam rates Very Positive. That is players rating it, not our review. We have not published a review of this game.
What is the Metacritic score for Crusader Kings II?
82 out of 100 for the PC version, as published on the game's own Steam store page. Steam can lag Metacritic by a few points.
Does Crusader Kings II work on Steam Deck?
Valve rates Crusader Kings II as playable on the Steam Deck, from its own testing.
Who made Crusader Kings II?
Crusader Kings II was developed by Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive.
Is Crusader Kings II worth it in 2026?
91% of 73,903 Steam reviews are positive (Very Positive), and it is free to play. That is the strongest signal we hold; "worth it" depends on the price you pay and what you want, so weigh the sentiment against the current price above.
What are the system requirements for Crusader Kings II?
At minimum, Crusader Kings II needs 4 GB RAM, a Intel® Pentium® IV 2.4 GHz, from its Steam listing. That is what it takes to launch and be playable, not to run at high settings. Check it against your own PC on the can-I-run page.
How long does it take to beat Crusader Kings II?
about 66.6 hours for the main story, 250.6 hours with the main extras, 463.8 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.