kingdom 3 movie review

psycho-cinematography

Japanese cinema looked at awry

Kingdom III: Flame of Destiny (2023) review

Introduction

In recent years, Shinsuke Sato has established himself as one of the better Japanese action directors. Time after time, he delivers action-driven experiences (e.g. Inuyashiki (2018) , I am Hero (2016) , … etc.) that visually impress the spectator. His adaptations of Yasuhisa Hara’s Kingdom – i.e. Kingdom (2019) and Kingdom 2: Far and Away (2022) – were no different, bringing the epic proportions of China’s warring states period satisfyingly to life. Can Kingdom III: flame of destiny continue Sato’s streak of delivering engaging live-action adaptations?     

After searching for many months, king Eisei (Ryo Yoshizawa) learns that Shin (Kento Yamazaki) has been found. For the last half year, he has, on Ohki’s order, ventured into a stateless and lawless zone full of tribal conflict to restore order.

Of course, Shin succeeds and is hereby allows to train under Ohki. Yet, at the same moment, near the border of Qin, an unforeseen threat appears. Zhao’s forces, led by an unknown general, have crossed the border, near the northeastern town Kansui. This sudden attack can only be driven by one desire: to erase the bloody injury of the Chohei massacre.

While an emergency call to form an army is swiftly send out – rounding up many peasants, the decision of who will lead the Qin army as commander-in-chief against the well-trained Zhao forces is less easy to take. Ultimately, Shoheikun (Hiroshi Tamaki) overturns the proposal to make Mobu (Yusuke Hirayama) commander-in-chief and forcefully introduces Ohki (Takao Osawa), whom has been training Shin.

It will not surprise anyone that Kingdom III delivers little more than a build-up to a much bigger confrontation that awaits our heroes in the following chapter of the series. As a result, Tsutomu Kuroiwa, the screenwriter, structures his narrative merely around two revelations – an emotional in the first half and a formative one in the second half of the film.  

The emotional revelation reveals to the spectator why King Eisei of the Qin desires to end never-ending warring states by uniting all the states into one. This sequence visualises his past subjective conflict, as inflicted by traumatic experiences, by letting his preconscious and unconscious materialize into a darkish persecutory doppelgänger, but also traces out the relational dynamic that allowed his transformation – the signifiers and the (sacrificial) acts that allowed him to overcome his inhibitions and heal the fracture of his subject. 

The second revelation within the narrative also concerns the past and provides an answer to the reason why Ohki so willingly accepts to face the Zhao forces, who are led by a mysterious commander, as the commander of the Qin forces. Yet, this revelation uncovers a rather depressive dynamic behind the art of war. Kingdom III ends up underlining that waging war, artfully playing chess with hordes of innocent and often untrained people, is ultimately motivated by imaginary injuries inflicted on one’s ego. The deathly real of war is, as Kingdom III reveals, stirred by a dimension that is as deeply deceptive as destructive: the imaginary.

Yet, while such message lingers within the narrative, Sato has no intention to exploit it and critique the machinery of war. This is, after all, a Shonen narrative that aims to deliver a visual spectacle, a bombastic feast of imagery to impress the spectator with the heroic exploits on the battlefield. And, in that respect, Shinsuke Sato does not disappoint. He succeeds in dashing out visually impressive action-sequences and offers an epic heroic prelude to the next instalment, where all the odds are stacked even higher against Shin and his comrades.  

The composition of Kingdom 3 , just like the two previous narratives, is full of dynamism. The dynamism, in fact, functions as a visual thread that sews the whole composition together and gives it a flow that invites and engages the spectator. It does not only serve a variety of moods e.g. it enhances the sense of tension atmosphere, strengthens the impact of the action moves and the clashing of swords, adds a subtle flair of drama in moments of exposition – but makes rapid shifts in the visual pace and thus the flow of moods less abrupt.

The epic dramatic music and moving emotional accompaniment further smoothen the compositional flow, adds some dramatic highlights in the visual unfolding of the narrative,  and heightens the visual impact of epic imagery. In other words, what keeps the spectator engaged is not so much the performances of the cast – Takao Osawa is, however, deliciously dramatic, but the bombastic music which invites the spectator into the story and the epic imagery that aims to keep him glued to the screen.  

While in Kingdom 2 Kento Yamazaki brought his character too faithfully to life – embodying the Shonen dynamic too well, the childish dynamic of desire is less pronounced in the dramatic and epic continuation of the warring states in China. By lessening this annoying friction between his childish caricatural playfulness and the political seriousness, Shin finally fits better within the body of more serious characters and the dramatic unfolding of the narrative. So, while Kingdom 2 was at its best when Yamazaki’s Shin was absent or too busy fighting to speak, the more mature and dramatic Shin of Kingdom III ensures that Sato’s latest entry is more satisfying watch.

Kingdom III is a straightforward action-epic that delivers everything fans of the manga and the anime desire: some intrigue, some subjective secrets, and lots of heroic action. Yet, at the same time, Kato’s narrative does not tell a self-contained story, but merely introduces, as an epic appetizer, one unfinished narrative thread to will only be unfolded in the next instalment.

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Kingdom III: Flame of Destiny

• 3 Reception
• 4 Trailers & Promotions
• 6 References

Synopsis [ ]

Focusing on the "Battle of Bayou" and the "Shika Arc", the movie depicts on a grand scale the fate of the protagonist, who pushes forward towards the dream he promised his late friend to become the greatest general of the world.

• Kento Yamazaki as Ri Shin
• Ryo Yoshizawa as Ei Sei and Ri Hyou
• Kanna Hashimoto as Ka Ryo Ten
• Masami Nagasawa as Yo Tan Wa
• Hiroshi Tamaki as Shou Hei Kun
• Yusuke Hirayama as Moubu
• Koichi Sato as Ryofui
• Anne Watanabe as Shi Ka

Reception [ ]

The movie topped the box office for four consecutive weeks. Over the weekend of 18-20 August of 2023. It earned 314 million yen, bringing the total to over 4.16 billion yen.

Trailers & Promotions [ ]

References [ ]

• 1 Story Arcs
• 3 Chapter 810

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Review by Nicolas Patron

Kingdom iii: the flame of destiny 2023.

Watched Aug 02 , 2023

Nicolas’s review published on Letterboxd:

On a trip to Tokyo, we had the spontaneous decision, to watch a Japanese movie in the cinema without subtitles. So we didn't really understand anything, but it was still a great experience. The sound, bass and music were incredible as well as the action scenes. So even with no understanding of the dialogue, I still enjoyed it.

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Kingdom 3: The Flame of Destiny Reviews

• 2 hr 9 mins
• Action & Adventure
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To defend their kingdom against a sudden invasion, a mighty general returns to the battlefield alongside a war orphan, now grown up, who dreams of glory.

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It follows Li Xin and Wang Qi as they stand on the battlefield for the first time to fight off an invasion by Zhao, and it also follows Ying Zheng's unknown past.

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Kingdom Hearts 3 Review

A long-awaited action-rpg that's full of heart..

Some of my fondest childhood gaming memories are of being wowed by the first Kingdom Hearts and its recreation of Disney worlds I knew from my favorite animated movies and shows. But even viewed through the rose-tinted glasses of 17 years worth of nostalgia, those memories pale in comparison to Kingdom Hearts 3’s colorful, varied combat and huge, lovingly detailed levels. Square Enix’s long-awaited conclusion to its beloved action-RPG trilogy is so satisfying in its gameplay evolutions that it makes me feel like a kid again, even if its story resolutions don’t think far outside the toy box.

This new set of movie-quality Disney worlds are almost all delights to explore. The sheer amount of treasures to collect and hidden Mickey emblems to discover really highlights the scale and detail of each world. They also introduce some fun gameplay options, including the chance to control toy mechs and even pilot your own ship on the high seas.

Kingdom Hearts 3 Big Hero 6 Screenshots

But the worlds’ storytelling feels lackluster in light of the technical improvements the franchise has made. An attempt to satisfy both the Disney stories and the overarching plot causes some unfortunate stagnant pacing, with Disney plots playing out with slow dialogue and Sora, Donald, and Goofy occasionally questioning why they’re even visiting some of the included worlds at their outset. There’s obviously a lot of plot to balance, though, and after waiting years for this conclusion Kingdom Hearts 3 is so consistently fun to play and heartwarming in its ultimate resolutions that its impressive leaps forward stand brightly above its missteps.

That urgency does waver as the story continues past Mount Olympus, as a couple of the world-specific stories take too much of the spotlight or, in the case of the Toy Story plotline, feel devoid of real stakes. I’m absolutely used to the Disney worlds’ stories superseding the overall plot as they have in previous games, but in a game with so much looming story driving it, it can feel distracting to spend so much time away from real momentum in Sora, Riku, and Xehanort’s various endeavors.

It’s a little complex at first, but there’s a rhythm to nailing down each individual aspect and using them in conjunction with one another, to bombastic effect. The new summoning system, called Attraction Flow, is a particular favorite of mine because it allows you to call in Disney park-like rides into the midst of battle. Watching a river raft cause water to cascade across the battlefield and damage all the enemies in its wake, or a massive pirate ship as it swings back and forth with dangerous momentum and sends Heartless flying is not only a crowd-control savior but an astonishing light show that would leave Disneyland Main Street employees jealous.

Kingdom Hearts 3 Keyblades

Each of Sora’s keyblades can transform, too, and they’re a constant thrill to test out. There are some repeated powers among them — two different keyblades have a dual-pistol transformation, for example – but the options allowed me to tailor my combat to suit any particular scenario. If I needed to box in enemies, the Tangled keyblade allowed me to create Sora duplicates who attack an enemy from multiple sides, but if too many enemies were crowding me, Toy Story’s keyblade hammer transformation offered great area-of-effect attacks. On the other hand, Sora’s ability to stay mobile and spin on columns or ride a railing mid-battle, which is pulled in from Dream Drop Distance on 3DS, is far less elegant because I often found it frustrating to get Sora to actually stick to a pillar.

Whole New Worlds

The assortment of Disney locations to fight in and explore in Kingdom Hearts 3 is made up of seven stunning recreations and expansions of beloved worlds. As a lifelong Disney fan, I couldn’t help but feel sad about not seeing classic Disney settings like Aladdin and Snow White, but Square Enix’s more modern choices — Monsters, Inc., Big Hero 6, and Pirates of the Caribbean among them — are nevertheless gorgeous delights. Playing on PlayStation 4 Pro or Xbox One X, there is some impressive parity with the 3D animated films, and it’s all backed by beautiful orchestral takes on the movies’ classic themes, a staple of the franchise that I continue to love. Seriously, I audibly “wow”’ed at the realm of the gods in Hercules’ Mount Olympus and the rolling hills of Tangled’s Corona. I wanted to scour every inch to not just collect treasure but see all the little details the developers have snuck into the worlds, like toys based on Final Fantasy summons in Toy Story or the Flynn Rider “Wanted” posters dotting Corona’s treeline.

It’s when Square Enix takes liberty with the source material that it produces the most interesting worlds. The toy store setting of the Toy Story world, for example, captures the essence of exploring the world from the point of view of a toy, and it’s so expansive that a single floor of the store feels as vast as entire worlds in the previous entries of the series. Each section of the store has its own look, and I couldn’t resist spending some extra time just running around scanning the names of fake toys and video games.

Every Confirmed Kingdom Hearts 3 World

While Pirates of the Caribbean fell in my standing as the movie franchise went on, it unexpectedly became my favorite world in Kingdom Hearts 3. It functions like a mini Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag map — Sora can explore the high seas on his ship, engage in ship battles, and explore islands for loot. It’s definitely a streamlined version of Ubisoft’s fantastic pirate experiences, with a limited number of actions and upgrade options, but it works well and stays true to the spirit of collecting that’s been intrinsic to the series since its start.

That well-executed gameplay gimmick is an example of Square Enix’s approach to each world, which are variably successful. Toy Story’s giga mechs, which transform the generally third-person action into a first-person mech battle, are simple in comparison to the ship gameplay, but serve as another nice twist in the combat pacing, keeping things varied from level to level. Frozen’s inclusion of downhill sledding is less successful, however. The controls are a bit floaty, and the challenge in lining up jumps or turns isn’t nearly as satisfying as simply running through the world of Arendelle.

The quality of the storytelling in each world is similarly hit or miss. I often loved the worlds that presented new stories most — while often light on plot, worlds like Monsters, Inc. and Big Hero 6 allowed me to see new shades of characters I love. By contrast, while Toy Story takes a risk with an original story set between the films and in a new location and uses only some of the cast, its pacing is so glacial, with stakes set up that get lost in how light the tone of the world is and a resolution that is quite anticlimactic.

Kingdom Hearts 3 Pirates of the Caribbean Screenshots

The storytelling approach to the Disney worlds is one of the oddest aspects of Kingdom Hearts 3 for me, reflecting on the series as a whole. As much as the world design has often smartly evolved, its storytelling hasn’t as consistently. With visual fidelity so close to the original films, it is stranger now more than ever to see a CliffsNotes version of the movies’ stories retold with less punchy dialogue and key scenes missing. Yes, this has been how Kingdom Hearts worlds often play out, and seeing Sora, Donald, and Goofy interact with Flynn Rider or Olaf is definitely silly and delightful. But as the tech has improved, that gap in storytelling compared to these beloved films is more glaring than ever.

Dive Into the Heart

Kingdom Hearts 3’s story is meant to serve as a culmination of everything that’s happened in the series so far – which is a lot. I’m pleasantly surprised by how well it wraps up this story of the power of friendship and the bonds we make with one another, but I didn’t find it particularly surprising. With so many years having passed between games, I – and the rest of the Kingdom Hearts fan community – have had so long to think about how events might transpire that I was able to easily call some of the story twists from a mile away.

That lessens the impact of it all just a bit, but not enough to stop me from having a dopey grin on my face as long-awaited moments played out on screen. Even knowing where everything could and should go, it’s cathartic to finally see it happen. The final five hours of Kingdom Hearts 3 were pretty much everything I could have hoped for, from touching character moments to tough battles and fantastical environments.

There’s definitely a bit of sluggishness before you get to that point — characters are peppered into each Disney world and small updates about the overarching story are provided, but the real confrontations and character-shifting moments don’t factor into Sora’s journey until it’s nearly complete. I’m used to that by now in this series, and the intermittent character cameos often intrigued me, but after the fifth or sixth mid-world story tease I wished the same considerations that went into making the gameplay flow so well were applied to the storytelling.

Kingdom Hearts 3 Hercules Screenshots

Throughout the adventure, Kingdom Hearts 3 admirably tries to sum up the events leading to this and, I think, for the most part succeeds in giving you the basic details you need if you were to try to jump in without first marathoning the previous games. But much of the nuance of the characters’ backstories will likely be lost to newcomers, as Kingdom Hearts 3 tackles the larger questions of identity and what it means to be whole as a person with heavy reference to previous Kingdom Hearts games. Playing through those experiences — sometimes multiple times, thanks to all those re-releases — embedded certain dynamics and personalities in my love of the series. It’s not that difficult to get a sense of the good and bad guys’ goals here, but the deeper levels of their relationships often lead to some of the most touching moments as the story concludes.

I thoroughly enjoyed Square Enix’s evolution of Kingdom Hearts’ gameplay and fidelity to Disney’s beloved animated movies. While the storytelling could use some punching up, Square has done a fantastic job of capturing the spirit of these worlds while giving us a massive toolbox for battles and exploration. Even as I watched the dust settle on the story I wanted to jump right back in to collect everything. But to see all of the events of the Kingdom Hearts games so far culminate is, frankly, weird. Having been given so much time to ruminate, its specific resolutions aren’t all that surprising, but only a marginal impact is lost as a result. I still loved seeing so many characters from throughout this series interact in new ways and rekindle old bonds. It’s nice to see that, even so long after the very first game, Kingdom Hearts 3 is so full of heart.

More Reviews by Jonathon Dornbush

Ign recommends.

The Kingdom Review

05 Oct 2007

NaN minutes

Kingdom, The

Sometime actor Peter Berg has had an overlooked career as a director. From the underrated pitch-black caper Very Bad Things he graduated to the endearingly brainless action of Welcome To The Jungle, and from there to the excellent, if unseen (at least in this country) Friday Night Lights. But The Kingdom should change that. Arguably this is his first serious film, tackling a Big Important Subject (East-West relations) with an Oscar-friendly cast (Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper) and achieving a skilful blend of action and politics — even if the action is rather more astute than the message-making.

The film starts with a credit sequence rip through Saudi Arabian history, a snappy distillation of 150 years of history. And the pace doesn’t let up from there: we’re thrown straight into an attack on a Western community in Riyadh, chillingly realised. It’s a good 15 minutes before the film slows enough to introduce the principal characters, and then only as thumbnail sketches rather than portraits of our protagonists.

It’s clear that investigator Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) and his FBI team — bomb expert Sykes (Chris Cooper), pathologist Mayes (Jennifer Garner) and analyst Leavitt (Jason Bateman), all creating rounded characters with minimal dialogue — have a personal stake in seeing those responsible for the bombing brought to justice. As such, they flout US State Department orders and arrive in the city with an often high-handed attitude to those locals already charged with the investigation.

The fact that they are right, more often than not, and that even what appear to be personal bugbears and obsessions prove well-founded, is the film’s weakness. There’s a good basic point to be made — inexpert military types don’t make great crime-scene investigators — but too many scenes suggest that Americans just know better, even without their fancy forensic techniques.

Countering this, as best he can, is a captivating performance from Ashraf Barhoum as the Colonel charged with guiding, guarding, restraining and interpreting for these interlopers. Barhoum gradually forges something like a buddy-cop partnership with Foxx’s Fleury, with the film allowing him some room, both as an individual and as a representative of his nation and the Arab world, to put across his point of view.

But for all its award friendliness and issue-making, the fact is that any characterisation on either side is almost entirely down to the quality of the cast, because the script concentrates on fitting

both a police procedural and an explosive action film into its 110 minutes — CSI: Riyadh meets The Bourne Ultimatum. And it’s here that Berg excels himself, at times capturing the intensity and feel for urban unrest of Michael Mann (a producer on this film). It’s the set-pieces that confirm he’s a director to be reckoned with.

Berg begins the opening attack with some lingering shots — the baseball game on a sunny day, a picnic, laughing Aryan types in L. L. Bean chinos — but he rips the tranquillity apart, blowing cliché off the screen. The first shots only cause mass confusion, and the real attack begins before you, or the victims, realise what’s happening. The shock of those moments echoes through the film.

A showdown inevitably arrives but seems to come out of nowhere, derailing all the meticulous and talky evidence-gathering. The final act is an all-out battle, chips and dust flying as a Riyadh tenement building disintegrates under a hail of gunfire and explosions — think Heat with more snipers. But the most disturbing moments are close-up: a desperate prisoner lashing out at his captors; a vicious knife battle; terrified women and children in the midst of a war zone. The most chilling moment, however, comes in the final scenes. A potentially too-neat parallel between terrorist and lawman makes way for a killer last line, a moment of political honesty that will stay with you long after the film ends.

Related Articles

Movies | 07 02 2007

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Kingdom 3: The Flame of Destiny Reviews

No All Critics reviews for Kingdom 3: The Flame of Destiny.

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Crusader Kings 3: Roads to Power review – Rome, sweet Rome

Marco wutz | 8 hours ago.

Most people’s base desires revolve around food, sleep, and social contacts, but I’m different – my base desire is to restore the Roman Empire in Crusader Kings 3 . No matter how I start or what my initial goal for a new playthrough is, all roads eventually lead to Rome.

Inevitably, my runs in the new Roads to Power DLC followed the same fate, though the ways it allowed me to restore the glory of Rome were radically different from anything I experienced up until that point when walking this path.

Roads to Power primarily adds two things to Crusader Kings 3: The Administrative Realm type, a government system to more accurately portray the inner workings of the Byzantine Empire, and the Adventurer playstyle, which enables you to play the game without an owned domain.

Let’s begin with the Byzantium overhaul, which greatly changed the dynamics of that empire. Domains in an Administrative Realm are no longer automatically inherited by the same family – you are, in fact, no longer even the lord of these domains. Instead, you’re a governor selected through the grace of the emperor for this position, and upon your death (or firing from the role) that title goes to some other prominent figure in the realm based on factors such as their favor with the emperor, their skills, how powerful their family is, and so on. You can also manipulate the succession ranking by sabotaging someone’s reputation or publicly supporting someone, investing a new resource called Influence, which is all-important in an Administrative Realm.

It’s kind of like a perpetual election season and can actually become immensely thrilling. When I played as the emperor and was not blessed with a son after entering my sixties, I basically went the House of the Dragon-way and decided on one of my daughters as the heir – and since the throne in Constantinople is subject to the same rules as the rest of the empire, that turned into an affair of intrigue and outright murder.

To the Byzantines, the idea of being ruled by a woman is quite abhorrent and laughable, so my daughter had a major handicap going into this race, despite being born in the purple. I gradually built up her chances of succeeding to my position by giving her the best education possible and making her my Co-Emperor from an early age. 

That’s another new feature built on the Regency system and allows you to name someone your co-ruler, enhancing their status at the cost of a potential coup – though little chance of that when the co-ruler is still a toddler. Despite that increase of her status, some prominent governors were still ahead of my daughter when she came of age, so it was time to play more politics – and host some chariot races in Constantinople to farm Influence.

I pumped lots of Influence into her candidacy, increasing her standing further, and asked friends and relatives to do the same. At the same time, I began scheming in the background, sabotaging the strongest rival claimant and his family by dirtying their reputations. Even still, the deal was far from sealed. That rival, too, called in every favor owed to him and kept the race close. As I grew infirm and feared my death, I reasoned that an old-fashioned murder was the only way to secure the succession and so the deed was done. I have never fought any war in CK3 that made me sweat quite as much as this succession race.

Fortunately, the realm was in a powerful position at the time of this struggle, because spending so much Influence on domestic schemes is not something I could have easily afforded at war. Being the emperor, you can pay Influence to call in men-at-arms from your governors, greatly bolstering your combat power for a conflict. You may not have as many levies as feudal rulers, but a well-connected and liked emperor can field more powerful armies than anyone else.

As the Byzantines, you now gain powerful bonuses when you reconquer lost territories of the Roman Empire, which can provide you with some real momentum. Upon finally reclaiming your birthright, you can even decide to convert to Hellenism now and get a true restoration going.

Another very interesting aspect of the new system is that you can give quite precise orders to your governors – you can tell them to recruit more men-at-arms, focus on development, convert a county to your religion, or specialize as a border province and aggressively pursue wars of conquest against smaller neighbors. 

I will say that micromanaging the governors (which is completely optional) can be a little tedious or overwhelming with the menu lacking filter options to find the specific counties you’re looking for. Overall, though, this is a very satisfying system, because it clearly differentiates Byzantium from the feudal state constructions of the time.

Playing as a governor, you get a specific trait you can level up through events that bolsters your administrative skills and helps you gain Influence, which you can in turn use to land yourself a job on the imperial council or boost your candidacy for a different office – maybe the throne itself. It’s a nice and new way to maneuver and scheme.

Now, even if you lose your governorship, it’s not game over – for two reasons. First, if you’ve grown your family’s political position in the realm enough, you will be granted a family estate, which the family head holds independently of any other lands. This estate can be upgraded, providing you with income and bonuses, and very much keeps you in the political game.

Second, you can now play CK3 as a landless adventurer – and what a change of pace that is. You can start the game as such an adventurer or transition into this playstyle. As an adventurer, you’ll have access to a camp, which functions similar to the new estate and is the heart of your operations. You can move this camp on the map, using a resource called Rations, and accept various kinds of contracts offered by the rulers in your vicinity.

These can be administrative jobs, diplomatic missions, escort and transport quests, intrigue schemes, or mercenary work. You can also veer onto the path of becoming a notorious and feared criminal or robber knight, if you want.

All of these jobs function like schemes – you assign people to enhance the success chance and speed of the job and then execute it. The better you do, the more rewards you get. Gathering the right people for the type of work you prefer is essential, so like a good adventurer you should visit as many castles and taverns as possible to recruit hidden talents. Succeeding at jobs also is a way to get access to high society. For example, you can ask lords you did a good job for to host a feast or tournament, providing you with opportunities to network and win additional rewards.

This entire playstyle is quite fresh at first and really allows you to go deep into roleplaying – I did a Marco Polo-esque run, for example, which saw me traveling from Venice to the eastern border of the map, as well as a Viking mercenary run that saw me sell my ax to the highest bidder from the English channel to Jerusalem. However, I don’t think it’s wise to play as an adventurer for too long. There is only a limited amount of contract types and you will eventually get tired of looking at the schemes screen.

It’s a great way to mix up a playthrough and forget about the responsibilities of ruling for a while, letting the borders on the map become meaningless lines and colors, but it’s not varied or deep enough to fuel an entire campaign over generations.

But here’s the cool thing: Starting out as an adventurer, all roads are open to you when it comes to transitioning into a normal game. After entering a war as a mercenary, the enemy may offer a bunch of land in return for betraying your employers, or you may be able to foment a rebellion in someone’s realm, gaining the right to lands and title after seeing it through. You could also form such a mighty mercenary army that you can outright take over someone’s domain.

Heck, when I played a diplomatic adventurer and attended a feast, I befriended the Byzantine emperor and then got the option to ask him to sponsor my invasion of a neighboring kingdom – and you can guess where the journey went from there. Yep, from adventuring to restoring the Roman Empire.

As usual, the version of the DLC I played was not at all free from technical issues – there were severe bugs with the men-at-arms system in the Administrative Realm and some crashes when I died while having a Co-Emperor at the time. I also had to update my BIOS to keep the game from having consistent crashes no matter the situation, but that appeared to be an Intel CPU issue with the game itself, rather than specifically the DLC.

For me, Roads to Power is an incredibly flavorful Crusader Kings 3 DLC – it’s a game changer in the literal meaning, because it introduces a way to truly play this title as a RPG as opposed to a strategy game, though I would recommend a healthy mix to get the best out of the experience, and it really spices up empire-level gameplay. Even if you’ve conquered the world, keeping your dynasty on the throne is now much more intense thanks to Administrative Realm politics. Now even more roads lead to Rome, and what could be better?

Score: Recommended

Version tested: PC (Steam)

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: [email protected]

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