I now know fluent Russian.

This is, perhaps, one of the most addictive Grand Strategy games ever in existence. If you have the time to get used to the game, and then play it for the rest of your existence, feel free to purchase right now. You can start as the same character twice, thrice, so many times and have very different games. The starting scenarios are indeed historically accurate, but as soon as you begin playing, everything changes, based on your decisions, circumstances, and the thousands of fledgling AI characters making their own decisions for their game based on their fondness for your character and the actions you've committed.

Start as an Earl/Count or Countess, Duke or Duchess, King or Queen, Emperor or Empress, and wage both political and military war on those around you. Expand your provinces, increase your military might, increase your economy, and have fun playing as historical figures and even characters of your own design.

Graphics:
+ Detailed and Extensive World Map.
+ Lots of different graphic variation.
+ Each character above 16 has their own individual character portrait that changes in conjunction with the date.
- It would be nice to have a little more variant in environment/terrain between areas.

Atmosphere:
+ Middle-Age scenario feels well-researched, authentic, and very immersive.
+ AI are very lifelike, so contribute greatly to the atmosphere of the game.
+ Encourages Role-Play elements and Storytelling.
+ Interacting with AI in different ways has knock-on effects with other AI.

Diplomacy:
+ A complex and deeply rewarding system of international, courtly, and diplomacy.
+ Clear measure of an AI character's opinion of you, and your character's opinion of them.
+ Immersive: Interacting with an AI in one way can affect interactions with different characters later on.
+ Giving gifts of money, land titles, or honorary titles, or letting them educate your children affect their opinion of you.
+ Betrothal and Marital systems work perfectly and in conjunction with power and AI opinions.
- Some actions should not affect the opinion of ALL of your vassals. It should depend on their individual relationships.
- You can grant Vassals title, but you can't give Independent factions a piece of land to improve diplomatic relations.
- Diplomacy is step-by-step; you can't offer someone something directly in exchange for something else.

Sound:
+ Appropriate music.
+ Music is very atmospheric.
- No voice output.

Balance:
+ Scaled sliders of difficulty.
+ Tutorial is effective.
+ Different characters present different challenges.
- Initially, it takes a while to get used to, so it's effectively a matter of "Trail and Error". There's a steep learning curve.
- Some characters can be very hard. (This can be both a negative and a positive).

Martial:
+ War requires a valid casus belli (cause for war) to actually go to war. These can be legitimate or fabricated.
+ Forces in battle usually conclude as expected, so follow reason.
+ Martial capabilities not only depends on your economy, but also the size of your lands and vassal opinion.
+ You can appoint vassals or members of your court to lead certain armies.
+ A position on your Council is the role of Marshal, which can affect your training of troops and battle competency.
- You cannot raise levies for fighting before the war has been declared.
- Mercenaries are ridiculously expensive for new players without a well-developed Economy.
- Battles cannot be actually fought on a Battle Map, like in Total War games, which would have been a nice OPTION.

Characters and AI:
+ Dynasty, Family, and Realm Trees can be viewed.
+ Levies and Mercenaries can be recruited depending on the state of your Economy and Vassals.
+ Thousands of different characters with different Domains, Vassals, and Traits.
+ With the Ruler Designer DLC, you can create your own character from scratch.
+ Lots of different variations of Traits and Personalities.
+ AI responds different in every situation.
+ Unlike in other Grand Strategies, the AI feel as though they are really considering personal relations.
+ Units on the Campaign map move at realistic speed.
- Few Units on map.

Endless Game:
+ There are actually some surprising events that can occur.
+ Play as hundreds of different factions.
+ Different characters provide different experiences.
+ Every single time is different; unlimited possibilities.
+ Lots of DLC, or "Downloadable Content".
+ Capability for Multi-player interaction.
- WAY TOO ADDICTIVE WITH THE ENDLESS STORYLINE ;)

DLC:
+ Ruler Designer for your character adds to the atmosphere.
+ Different time periods can be purchased.
+ Additional Portraits and Units can be purchased.
+ Can be imported into "Europa Universalis IV".
+ Songs can be purchased.
- Some of the DLC could have been implemented into the vanilla game, or given as free additions; Ruler Designer, etc.
- You need the DLC to play as a Patrician or Muslim character.

To quote Lord Porklyn: "Welp, My pops is dead. Guess that makes me king now. Sooo... Who wants cake?"

10/10 would plot, scheme, expand, and without a shadow of a doubt, murder everyone in the vicinity again.

If anyone wants to purchase the game for a cheaper price, I'm selling the game and every single DLC: (Crusader Kings II Collection) for £20, when it's usually £123. Hopefully, it helps! Hope you enjoyed the review. All in all, get Crusader Kings II if you are a fan of Grand Strategy games.

For a free game, it's very well developed, tested, and feels like a polished game that could actually be sold and become popular on both Steam and Consoles. The game caters to both those who love fast-paced FPS's and those who like more strategical maneuvering. If you're debating getting this, I'd definitely recommend it. I, for one, plan on playing this for a long time to come.