Crusader Kings III

Crusader Kings III: By God Alone released on September 30, adding a major expansion focused on religious life, authority, and the political power of faith. It introduced Playable Theocracies, Monastic Holy Orders, and the potential Great Schism, giving Christian rulers and clerics new ways to shape medieval politics.

• By God Alone expansion: The expansion added religious systems and content centered on faith, clerical authority, and spiritual relationships.
• Theocratic rule:
  • Playable Theocracies let players control realms led by an archbishop or the Pope, with new resources of power.
  • Monastic Holy Orders created research and theological centers that granted bonuses to their hosts.
  • Archdioceses introduced clerical titles with regional authority independent of secular rulers.
  • Puppets in Church Politics let secular rulers manipulate clerical characters to act on their behalf.
• Faith and holy sites:
  • Rites & Heresies allowed religious rites to be declared heretical, affecting power and wealth.
  • The Spiritual Fulfilment System expanded characters’ spiritual lives and relationships with God.
  • Changes to Religious Tenets revised how characters related to their faith.
  • Dynamic Holy Sites allowed faiths to change their holy sites over time, while Cathedrals as Holy Sites made cathedrals focal points for saintly reverence.
• Christian politics and crises:
  • The Christian Situation gave Christian realms an ongoing framework for participating in Ecumenical Councils.
  • The Great Schism became a potential event in the 867 start, capable of splitting Christianity.
  • The College of Cardinals let the Pope appoint cardinals while secular rulers influenced their power.
• Post-release support: The October updates addressed several major problems, including portrait-rendering crashes, the adventurer game-over issue after procuring an estate, the inability of nomads to reform faiths, and monasteries failing to be bestowed to Monastic Holy Orders.

All Under Heaven launched on October 28, 2025, expanding Crusader Kings III's map into East Asia. Coronations added ceremonies for rulers, and the Chapter V pass later outlined further expansions planned for after this window.

• All Under Heaven: The expansion added regions including China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, with new governments and systems for the expanded map.
• Coronations: The September 2025 event pack introduced an activity for crowning rulers, gathering vassals, taking oaths, and strengthening a reign's legitimacy.
• Chapter V: The expansion pass became available in April 2026, with the Symbols of Authority clothing pack and Songs of the Realm music pack available immediately.
• Free improvements: The accompanying update improved the ledger and statistics, with interface changes and additional shortcuts to help players find information.
• Future expansions: By God Alone and Silk & Silver were announced for later release. Their proposed religious and trade systems remained previews during this period; By God Alone arrived on September 30, 2026.

Roads to Power launched in September 2024 with Byzantine administration and landless adventurer play. Khans of the Steppe followed in April 2025, expanding nomadic gameplay; the larger East Asia expansion was still upcoming at the end of this year.

• Roads to Power: The expansion explored administrative government and powerful noble families, while letting players pursue a life as landless adventurers.
• Khans of the Steppe: Nomadic rulers gained mechanics tied to migration and steppe life, including ambitions to become the greatest of all khans.
• All Under Heaven preview: Developers announced plans for a substantially expanded Asian map and Chinese imperial systems. The expansion launched on October 28, 2025, after this period.
• Coronations preview: An event pack focused on crowning rulers and securing legitimacy was announced for September 9, 2025. Its coronation activity had not launched during this year.
• Balance: Updates also improved AI behavior on very hard difficulty, changing the strategic challenge for established campaigns.

Legacy of Persia expanded Crusader Kings III's Persian region in November 2023, followed by Legends of the Dead in March 2024. Developers also previewed Roads to Power, which released after this year ended.

• Legacy of Persia: The regional flavor pack added stories and mechanics focused on Persian rulers and their struggles for influence.
• Legends of the Dead: The expansion added legends and new ways to shape a dynasty's reputation, alongside death-themed content and events.
• Free systems: The accompanying update introduced epidemics and legitimacy, affecting counties, characters, and a ruler's standing. Plague events and their frequency received subsequent balance adjustments.
• Roads to Power preview: Administrative government, noble families, and Byzantine politics were discussed ahead of the expansion's September 24, 2024 launch. They should not be treated as released during this window.
• Earlier expansion: Tours & Tournaments was already available from May 2023, so a December 2023 mention does not represent its launch.

Tours & Tournaments launched on May 11, 2023, adding grand activities and new ways to travel across the map. Updates also expanded character education, events, and other aspects of ruling a medieval realm.

• Travel and activities: Rulers could plan routes across the map, host grand tournaments, visit vassals on tours, and arrange grand weddings. Travel events added hazards and opportunities along the way.
• Knights: The accolades system let rulers recognize knights with special titles and bonuses, linking their service to tournaments and military strength.
• Education and family: A university visit activity offered another way to shape education, while a fifth education trait level rewarded advanced study. Updates also added the wet nurse court position and rites of passage for tribal teenagers.
• Realm management: Economy and building adjustments changed development choices, while crusade targeting and custom ruler saving received improvements. Harm events introduced additional risks to characters.

Royal Court launched as Crusader Kings III’s first major expansion on February 8, adding throne rooms, artifacts, Court Grandeur, and a substantially overhauled culture system. Fate of Iberia followed on May 31 with a regional conflict system, new faiths, cultures, events, and historical flavor centered on the Iberian Peninsula.

• Royal Court: The expansion added the Artifacts & Inventory system, Throne Rooms, Court Positions, Holding Court, Court Types, Court Languages, and culture divergence and hybridization. Photo Mode also arrived for capturing court scenes, while new artifacts, banners, dynasty legacies, and court events deepened the expansion’s management layer.
• Fate of Iberia: The flavor pack delivered a substantial Iberian campaign layer.
  • Iberian Struggle: The new multi-stage conflict used Opportunity, Hostility, Compromise, and Conciliation phases, with Catalysts, character involvement levels, and region-wide ending decisions.
  • Mozarabic Faith and Basque Paganism: New faiths supported distinct religious and historical playthroughs.
  • 867 Iberian Bookmark: Revamped characters, new cultures and faiths, monuments, artifacts, buildings, and regional map changes expanded the starting scenarios.
  • Dissolution Faction: Vassals gained a faction type designed to destroy a liege’s primary title and create independent realms.
• Culture and dynasty systems: Cultural Reform let cultural heads change ethos, martial customs, and traditions without creating a new culture. Customs Dynasty Legacy added cultural-acceptance bonuses, a Cultural Emissary court position, improved language learning, and a decision to develop highly accepting lands. Court Language and Learning Language mechanics tied languages to Court Grandeur and cultural acceptance.
• AI and realm management: Improved AI for Warfare and Crusades made military behavior more capable, while the August Economic Archetypes overhaul gave rulers Warlike, Cautious, Builder, or Unpredictable priorities. AI rulers also used diplomacy more effectively, pursued vassalization, spent more on construction, and accepted calculated tyranny to consolidate domains. The June patch fixed the AVX startup issue affecting some players.

Northern Lords launched on March 16, 2021, bringing Norse-themed flavor to Crusader Kings III. The developers also previewed Royal Court and a cultural overhaul during the year; those features were not yet released in this window.

• Northern Lords: The flavor pack added Norse events and characters, including Jomsvikings and shieldmaidens, giving Scandinavian rulers more themed stories and choices.
• Free update: Update 1.3, Corvus, accompanied Northern Lords with winter mechanics, poetry, and balance changes. Later updates adjusted AI behavior, combat, and pathfinding.
• Royal Court preview: Developers announced a forthcoming expansion centered on a royal court and court grandeur. Royal Court released in February 2022, after this year ended.
• Culture plans: Developer diaries discussed cultural pillars and traditions as part of the upcoming overhaul, along with plans for a coat-of-arms designer. These were previews, not features delivered on the dates of those diaries.