Look, I gave the thumbs up because these folks gave me endless hours of enjoyment as a kid, I'm blinded by nostalgia. Objectively, this is a bit subpar. It's a fun game but nowhere appropriate full price (£20 or less, I hear some godless heathens sell codes on certain sites)

For newcomers: This isn't total war/CK3- it does both these games but worse. It does do a great job in buildings tiers etc which I find quite fun. I would recommend this game if you're a fan of the genre but not at full price.

For nostalgic fans like myself:
-Music downgrade- the first one was a soundtrack of bangers- this one is tame generic medieval melodies
-Overview map gameplay- good, similiar to first, some more units, more tasks for knights to perform, slightly more intrigue

- RTS battles- these can be pretty garbage, it's ok but I think they probably did themselves a disservice by making them. They probably would have benefited from just making these autoresolve battles and adding more elements to the overview map battles instead. Feel the incomplete aspect of it does the game no favours.

- Same cheese strategies exist from first which I personally like. Knights (apart from direct family members) don't age, siege equipment in RTS battles have unlimited ammo and can be exploited to the max.

TLDR: Newcomers, you're not going to like this game if you compare to CK3/total war (it does both slightly more inferior then both) but it has its own charm that is enjoyable.

Nostalgia fans, I think it's definitely worth it. I can see myself pouring quite a few more hours into this. Again, not at full retail price though.

For those who wish to play multiplayer but can't connect to a friend, here is a very simple solution but you and your friend need to do it.
I hope it helped you as it helped me.
change from ipv6 to ipv4:
Right-click the network icon in the notification tray and select Open Network & Internet settings.
Open Network and Sharing Center.
Click on your network adapter.
Click on Properties.
Uncheck Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) on the list. After that, click OK and Close.
Restart your PC once followed the steps

really wanted to like this game since I feel like there's not enough competition in this genre but honestly it feels like the worst aspects of total war, civilization, and crusader kings combined. it's not terrible and i'm sure there is an audience for it but honestly i couldn't tell you why you'd play this over any of those games.