There is but one true center for power and prestige: a ruler’s court. Step into your own fully immersive throne room with Crusader Kings: Royal Court, and get ready to impress vassals and courtiers with your splendor and treasure on display. Watch visitors pay respect or family members squabble as you pass judgment in royal audiences, establishing the vital link between your people and your realm.

In Crusader Kings: Royal Court, you can commission great works of art from inspired craftspeople. Impress your rivals with the grandeur of your court, or awe them with your noble house’s heirlooms and relics. An enhanced Culture system lets you guide your people to novel cultural understandings as they merge or splinter off, embrace their heritage, learn languages, or acquire new traditions.

A Royal Court on display

• As King or Emperor, watch as your personal throne room comes to life with the vast range of drama and intrigue of your court. Step into a fully 3D realized space, available in one of four major cultural visual styles, and fill it with regalia and majesty.

• Harsh or benevolent, pass judgment on those seeking arbitration. Hold court and watch as your courtiers scheme and vie for your attention.

• Match yourself against your greatest rival with your court’s grandeur. Or fail to impress them and suffer the sad diplomatic consequences of bad taste.

A true treasure

• Show off your exquisitely crafted relics, or focus on your noble house’s history with your family heirlooms. A whole range of new artifacts can be admired in the series’ return of the inventory system.

• Talented craftspeople, from jewelers to weavers, can be employed on special projects, adding even more unique items to your domain.

• Commission special great works of art or win artifacts in battle. Be careful, as they can just as easily be lost in a botched duel or rival’s scheme.

Culture and the people

• A greatly overhauled Culture system lies ready at your fingertips. Major new Cultural Traditions allow you to significantly change the way you play, from choosing the right benefits due to your realm’s terrain to giving your military new bonuses. Determine your heritage through Cultural Pillars or have your subjects learn new languages.

• Create a truly dynamic melting pot through the new Hybridisation feature, mixing and matching the defining traits of your people into a unique cultural fusion. Become a great Bedouin conqueror who merges with freshly subjugated people or follow the adventurous Norse ruler who came to adopt the local Sri Lankan ways.

• Witness your realm’s culture evolve with the new Divergence feature, with the hands of time subtly transform a single cultural strand into smaller sub-cultures. Shape it as you see fit, or sow the seeds of change, and watch as one monolithic culture grows into a collection of many different people.