Knights of Honor 📽 Through the Lens

Now this. This. Is one of those games that if you played, you loved. But otherwise, you've probably never heard of it. 😁

A mutant! A beast developed in a secret Grand Strategy lab where only the misfits dwell. Something out of your most wonderful dreams and most violent nightmares. (I'm trying to describe "in a league of its own" in other words. Shhh, don't judge, I'll get there 😂)

But yes, this is a game wholly of its own. A mishmash of design ideas that somehow work really well together. And a title long forgotten by most.

Well!

In this edition of Through the Lens 🎞, we will take a look at the first and only RTECS (we'll get there), developed by Black Sea in 2004: Knights of Honor, Roll it! 📽

This was the game that got me into Grand Strategy.

"But Jovu, what about the RTECS?"

Shhh, like I said, we'll get there. 😁

Back in the day, my mom would always have problems with the games I was playing. She would go "why do you play all those hooting games? enough with the guns!" I also played a crap-ton of Oblivion, so that was also off-limits. 😝 Except for Knights of Honor, which allowed you to play as a medieval kingdom on conquest to become the Emperor of Europe.

So, since Knights of Honor was allowed, I played it all the time. Became so good at the game that I started downloading mods to make it more difficult (not bragging here, KoH was a pretty easy game to begin with). But in-time, I saw and did everything the game had to offer. It was time to move on, but not without a warm smile at the times we spent together. 😊

So what made this game so damn endearing? Wohohooo, I'm glad you asked. 🙃

This game's art is just amazing. It works well to this day, truly. Not a lot of games from 2004 can say their art-style holds up, but Knights of Honor can - in spades. ⛏ (there's no shovel emoji so I had to roll with what I got 😓)

The game just pops out. The hand drawn aesthetic lends itself really well to the empire conquest simulation. I am very happy that they decided to mirror this approach for Knights of Honor 2 which is currently in development.

The soundtrack (which you are undoubtedly listening to as we speak 😤) is a marvelous fit of the puzzle pieces as well. The songs are all catchy and memorable. I listen to them on-and-off from time-to-time as-well. // bad-joke, oh-well

Lastly there's the narrator. He is a constant companion in your conquest and serves as both a guide and a... well narrator. He adds a certain level of gravitas - look at me using fancy words - to the experience.

And what an experience it is, let's go through what all of that entails:

This game has a bunch of systems from a bunch of today's Grand Strategies. For one thing you have a Royal Family, with a lord and an heir which you could marry off or put to service. IMO it's one of the game's more fleshed out mechanics.

The rest is your standard affair of gathering resources (piety, gold, books) and managing armies. The game has 2 modes: strategy mode and battle mode. These aren't official names. I just made em up but they'll do fine.

Strategy mode has two lenses through which you can view the game: standard view and political view. Your actions available are the same, but what the screen shows you is different:

• Standard View - Above you can see the default view through which the game is meant to be played. Here you can see a detailed demonstration of the provence you are governing, its villages, town and any army camps that might be present. You will primarily use this view to assign your armies or your general strategy.

• Political View - If you've played this game, then those words will sing to you. 😁 This view is meant to make diplomacy a much easier task. It also shows where specific resources are located, or which produce each kingdom can... well produce. It's also fun to see your kingdom's relationships with other kingdoms.

You spend an equal amount of time between these two views I'd say. And (for me at least) 90% of your total overall time in the game. The rest of it? Battle Mode. 🤙

For each encounter you will be prompted whether you want to take the reigns and fight yourself, or simulate the battle. Most of the time you will simulate, since the battles: take a long time to finish, you lose more troops than simulating, and the game doesn't actually stop once you are in battle. Meaning you can be invaded as you are in the field and can't do anything until you leave this mode.

So it a tad clunky. 😆 But still, it works! I know many people who have spent most of their time here, kingdom building be damned! As for the gameplay itself, it's like a lackluster Total War - which in my books is pretty good.

Just don't expect a fully fledged thing like in TW, this is a mode of playing a game after all, not an actual full fledged title.

So, how do you win? Well, there are several win conditions.

By becoming the Emperor of Europe, for one! 🤣 This is accomplished when the European Council (no, not the actual IRL one) decides by majority vote to declare you emperor. You can also stake a claim as emperor yourself, but all those who oppose you will declare war on yo weak @$$. But essentially, if you stronk - you win.

The other way to win is through the Kingdom Advantages. These are like in-game achievements that give actual rewards. Collect enough of a specific resource (either from acquiring said resource or trading) and you will get that Kingdom Advantage. Get all of 'em and you win! 😱

Since this is a Grand Strategy game, I can't talk about a lot of the gameplay without spending hours on this article. Let's just say that building management is clunky (but I still enjoy it plenty). And so on.

If anything: the game is amazing in the early game, easy in the mid game, and borderline broken in the late game when you can breeze through the content. Mods can help with this, but it's never a good look when mods fix your game. 😅

So is this a grand papi of Grand Strategy or what? Well remember that RTESC nonsense from the beginning? This game initially styled itself as an RTECS (real-time empire conquering simulation) which is about the silliest genre title you can come up with. Yes, even more silly than MOBA. 😮

And I say it is. It has so many mechanics that would eventually branch out into their own whole gaming experience (EU4, CK2, HoI etc.). The charm it has cannot be understated, and if it's not remembered in the gaming circles as much - it definitely is in the dev circles.

I don't know if there's a bigger compliment you can give a game, honestly. 😘 If you enjoy this genre, and feel like you haven't scratched that itch enough - then give this a shot. Install the difficulty mod and you're golden. 👍

I honestly started writing out each one of this game's mechanics, then decided against it. It would've seriously made the article twice as long, and I doubt anyone wants to read that. Grand Strategies don't lend themselves to this format well. However, if you are interested in playing this game it has a good tutorial that will get you through most of its fine points.

Shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙

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Have a great week! 🙌

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