Knights of Honor II: Sovereign Review – Medieval in every sense

Knights of Honor was revolutionary in many ways at the time of release. And thanks to this, its continuation was awaited with great impatience. The following lines of our review will tell you what kind of result Knights of Honor II: Sovereign turned out to be.

• Platform: PC (verified version)
• Publication date: December 6, 2022
• Developer: Black Sea Games
• Publisher: THQ Nordic
• Genre: Grand Strategy
• Czech localization: Not
• Multiplayer: Yes
• Game time: 15 hours
• Price: about 1100 CZK (couples)

king easy and fast

The life of a medieval ruler can be started in Knights of Honor II: Sovereign in three historical periods, which differ from each other primarily in how Europe and the Middle East are formed in them. I myself began my journey in 1224. By this time, the Czech kingdom had already largely formed, and above all, it finally got rid of dependence on the Holy Roman Empire, which became a neighbor, but no longer a player clearly defining the path of a small empire. At first I looked forward to expansion wars, but I soon gave up on that dream and focused all my energy on trade. And you can not say that I did badly.

The number of traders grew at a rocket speed, and with it the speed of money flowing into my treasury increased. For a while I thought that everything would last forever, but then the neighboring Meissen decided that he wanted a piece of my territory. This was an obstacle in itself, but not an insurmountable one. It was worse at the moment when Poland, possessing significant military power, decided to take its side. Combat for two players was difficult in Knights of Honor II: Sovereign, but could be won thanks to extremely inept AI, as neither faction could cooperate with the other, resulting in their defeats.

I myself bled like a chunik at times, but in the end Poland came to beg. Meissen subsequently tried to do the same, but whoever releases the wounded without proper instruction would be a fool, so I took the city of Meissen before making peace. The enemy did not like it, but he did not have many options for solving the problem, and all this anabasis was just the beginning of my conquering journey through history, in which I decided to show the world in Knights of Honor II: to rule the Czech kingdom in all its might.

The range of formation options in Knights of Honor II: Sovereign is extensive. It consists of both large players and smaller ones, because you can capture not only kingdoms, but also provinces that fall under one of the main units. The overall difficulty was a bit less than in Crusader Kings 3, but it was still a decent range for high replay value.

Can war be avoided through diplomacy?

Becoming a ruler is easy in Knights of Honor II: Sovereign. But it’s even worse to keep a crown on your head. In order for your state to function properly, you must build cities and, above all, ensure the happiness of the main social classes of the medieval kingdom. Knights, merchants, and also the church are important here. Each of the components helps determine the stability of the empire as a whole. Or, on the contrary, its instability, because it is not always possible to fulfill the desire of everyone.

As I said above, during the time of the Czech kingdom it was not entirely easy. I didn’t want war, but reality eventually demanded that I fight in it. Each successful battle became a balm for the soul of the army, whose support grew rapidly during the war. The buyers were not so happy. Not that they were indifferent to the welfare of their state, but when there was a rapid restriction of trade, or even the imprisonment of individuals in enemy territory, their enthusiasm began to wane considerably, and with it the support of my government.

It was a worthy fight to keep the crown here. I used to fight the biggest battles in the diplomatic arena, where trying to change borders was a constant occurrence that resulted in bloodshed. I mostly managed to avoid collisions with the help of diplomats. However, it happened to me more than once that I was drawn into a military conflict by diplomacy, because through diplomatic games, opponents are able to draw you into a war that, in principle, none of the participants wants. Empire management is one of the strengths of this work, despite some minor shortcomings.

Encounters are the biggest weakness of Knights of Honor II Sovereign

One of the elements that I was really looking forward to in Knights of Honor II: Sovereign, being a big fan of the Total War series, was combat. At first glance, they promise a relatively interesting experience. However, in the end, reality was processed in a completely different way than, for example, the Total War: Warhammer format or other representatives of a well-known brand. At its core, everything is closer to Age of Empires, which would not matter much. But the problem is that someone forgot to tell the devs that it’s not 1999, so they’re feeding us a really outdated RTS concept with a large set of units, which is probably the closest thing to Stronghold: Warlords in the works currently released.

In practice, this means that you will get groups of soldiers that evoke memories of Total War. The problem is that this concept doesn’t really work here, so a single figure is able to stop a heavy rider’s attack, or vice versa, it can be stopped by those who are not even standing in its way. To be honest, I don’t know how this is possible, but the struggle here is very painful. However, Knights of Honor II: Sovereign has one thing in common with Total War. Even here, the AI ​​is building mindlessly tuned armies that can’t really function, they’re based only on mindless statistics, and most importantly, they don’t even match the current troop composition, which is quite sad for a work posing as a historical grand strategy.

Therefore, in the long run, it is better to avoid battles and leave them in an automatic format. The latter isn’t ideal either, but if you want to avoid the misery of stuck characters that also look very ugly, then this is the best path that Knights of Honor II: Sovereign offers. It’s very sad that the creators didn’t manage to work more with the potential of the battles, because they could be one aspect of making this work something memorable, when in this way they are something that you just don’t want to go through.

The creators of Knights of Honor II: Sovereign refuse to go deeper

Knights of Honor II: Sovereign is a medieval grand strategy game much like Crusader Kings 3. We put a lot of emphasis on family building, empire building, diplomacy, and intrigue as well. The range of game mechanics also includes war and the pleasures associated with it. However, the whole affair is presented in a rather crude form, which does not have sufficient power to excite. Worst of all, probably, is the redesign of the user interface and especially the combat system, which is downright miserable.

If in the past the competition was not so strong, then the present is quite favorable for games of this genre, which in the end is good for the players, but not for Knights of Honor II: Sovereign. It’s a work that, while not entirely bad, can’t be said to stand out much from its competitors, which is a shame because the potential to outshine some of the work certainly existed. And precisely because of this, it is mainly intended for those who want to remember the old days in it, but are not looking for anything revolutionary.