They're almost necessary additions to The Old Gods, so it feels a little unfair to have them available as additional DLC. It's a shame, therefore, that these aren't included with the expansion itself. These add a great sense of time and place and do a good job of setting the time period away from the others. As before, you can purchase little extras (Viking unit sprites, Norse songs and Viking Portraits) to accompany the expansion. Other than this, there are very few visual or aural updates to the base game. The older feel with darker, more natural, colours helps to define the link between the various pagan religions and nature. Moving on from gameplay, the new User Interface that appears when playing as a pagan faction is a neat touch that helps to set the tone. The excitement of playing in what is essentially an entire new world is removed, making it somewhat less appealing than playing from 867 AD. Playing as these powers is more similar to the base game, largely due to the fact that most CK2 players will have played each time period to death already and therefore know the nuances associated with them. Their dominance during this time period is actually a hard feat to match, but as with the Vikings you're given the attacking-focused tools to bring an onslaught on to the western world. Although for many this expansion is most enticing for the ability to play as the Mongol hordes. Fighting against the Rurikovich dynasty provides a change of pace which strikes a nice balance between their group power and your pagan attacking strength. The Eastern pagans offer a slightly different experience.

The later dates, from 1066 all the way up to the end of the medieval era, offer a selection of new factions and characters to lead. Of course, not all of your time spent with The Old Gods will be focused on this early start time. Your only hope is the other Christian nations, but even these are typically too busy to help out your small kingdom. You'll find yourself facing up to huge hosts of invaders which your small force will stand no chance against. Playing as Wessex, Mercia, Pomerania and the other small pillage-ripe kingdoms is a challenge for even the most experienced CK2 player. However, this same ability makes it very tricky to play as one of the petty kingdoms that faces the Viking threat. Even when playing as a Viking nation, you really want to get the larger powers on your side as they can grow to huge strengths with the pagan ability to easily invade. With a collection of Norse nations constantly raiding and declaring war, it can be a bit of a handful, particularly for those who prefer to focus on the more tame aspects of CK2. In fact, as a pagan, you are actively punished with low civil and feudal order if you stay at peace for long periods of time.ДЄs you might expect, playing during the early time period is therefore quite hectic. These abilities, particularly being able to attack anyone without Casus Belli, mean you can essentially always be conquering new lands. These are all great additions to the game that essentially make Pagan nations ideal for war mongering players. The other new features stem from this new setting for instance you can now loot provinces, attack any territory so long as you're connected to it as well as muster invasion forces outside of your retinue. Set at 867 AD, during the peak period of Viking raids from Scandinavia, this is a time period and a world torn up by war and ever present death. With The Old Gods now available on Steam I dusted off the crown, stretched my mouse hand, and jumped back into the whimsical world of CK2.Д¬rusader Kings II: The Old Gods brings new features that all centre on the new playable characters and new, earliest ever, start time. So when Paradox Interactive announced that they'd be bringing a Pagan themed expansion to their fantastic grand strategy title Crusader Kings II, I, and many other fans, jumped with joy. I suppose the freedom, success and strength associated with the term are all valid reasons but there's something deeper, essentially ingrained into us, that makes them such a point of interest. I'll never know what it is that makes Vikings so indisputably cool. Reviews // 18th Jun 2013 - 8 years ago // By Ryan Davies Crusader Kings 2: The Old GodsВ Review

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