I have hundreds of hours in CK2 and I was very worried with how they were going to change the game going into the third game. I should've had more faith in Paradox. CK3 is everything that I wanted out of CK2 and then some.

Edit: After playing the game for a couple months and going through several patches, I can still say this game is a massive improvement from CK2.

Some of the things I have personally noted as core improvements:

- The Way of Life expansion from CK2 is in the base game for CK3. i.e. everyone is able to have an education focus during childhood, which then becomes a lifetime focus after coming of age. Additionally, you do not need expansions to play in non-european countries (why was that ever a thing).

- Your "Focus" is now governed by measured progress instead of random events to boost your skills. The martial focus in CK2, for example, would give you events to increase martial score, or give commander traits. In CK3, you gain experience and unlock perks on different skill trees. No longer leaves it to chance.

- Traits are treated less like buffs and debuffs, like in CK2, and more like actual personality traits. They're permanent and rarely change. They're very influential in how you play each character. (Like if your character is paranoid, expect to spend 50% of your time just keeping them from dying due to stress)

- The user interface is greatly improved from the previous game. Lots of quality of life additions being added with updates and patches.

- Micromanagement is greatly reduced. For example, there's no hassle with raising a navy to transport troops over water. Instead, this will just cost you money. Levies are set to a rally point and automatically gather.

These are a couple of the major things, but there are a great number of other improvements.

10/10

I have hundreds of hours in CK2 and I was very worried with how they were going to change the game going into the third game. I should've had more faith in Paradox. CK3 is everything that I wanted out of CK2 and then some. Edit: After playing the game for a couple months and going through several patches, I can still say this game is a massive improvement from CK2. Some of the things I have personally noted as core improvements: - The Way of Life expansion from CK2 is in the base game for CK3. i.e. everyone is able to have an education focus during childhood, which then becomes a lifetime focus after coming of age. Additionally, you do not need expansions to play in non-european countries (why was that ever a thing). - Your "Focus" is now governed by measured progress instead of random events to boost your skills. The martial focus in CK2, for example, would give you events to increase martial score, or give commander traits. In CK3, you gain experience and unlock perks on different skill trees. No longer leaves it to chance. - Traits are treated less like buffs and debuffs, like in CK2, and more like actual personality traits. They're permanent and rarely change. They're very influential in how you play each character. (Like if your character is paranoid, expect to spend 50% of your time just keeping them from dying due to stress) - The user interface is greatly improved from the previous game. Lots of quality of life additions being added with updates and patches. - Micromanagement is greatly reduced. For example, there's no hassle with raising a navy to transport troops over water. Instead, this will just cost you money. Levies are set to a rally point and automatically gather. These are a couple of the major things, but there are a great number of other improvements. 10/10