YonanKnights of Honor II: Sovereign, developed by Black Sea Games and published by THQ Nordic, is a faithful sequel, or perhaps remake, of the 2005 original Knights of Honor. Releasing on December 6, 2022, on PC (December 7 for us in ANZ), it sports greatly improved graphics and usability while maintaining the charm and fun of the original. Advances made over the intervening 17 years results in a solid entry to the historical grand strategy field.
The game performs very well, has a smooth framerate and no bugs encountered which is impressive given how bad many releases can be on launch. The closest thing to a problem was poorly optimised ray tracing which tanked my framerate from 100+ fps in combat to 30 or less. Totalbiscuit would be happy with the fully featured options menu as it has all the essentials like borderless fullscreen and rebindable keys, and most importantly, no framerate cap.
The attention put into the interface is a strong point of the game and it is vastly superior to the original which feels very cumbersome to play in comparison now. The tutorial walks you through each part of the interface during relevant gameplay and explains it all succinctly and shows you a tool (holding alt) that will offer mouseover highlights to explain everything if you forget or it wasn’t covered, very useful.
The game occurs on two main levels; the campaign map where you conduct diplomacy, trade, and otherwise manage your kingdom, and the combat field where you conduct diplomacy by other means. Both are able to be paused in real time which is the objectively superior grand strategy playstyle (fight me 1v1 in minecraft if you disagree). Added since the original is multiple speeds and the ability to pause while issuing commands which are essential quality of life features for modern strategy games. Campaigns start at one of three dates – 1110, 1224, or 1360 sitting in the high and late medieval ages with unit selection changing slightly based on this, along with the nations that are available to play and fight.
I’m you, but better. – KoH II
The campaign map is well fleshed out in most respects. Upgrading provinces with new buildings and building upgrades, recruiting and assigning lords of various sorts (marshals, traders, priests), each of whom have different traits to learn and upgrade which impact their performance. At some points it can feel like a waiting simulator as you wait for enough gold or “mana points” (spendable religion, knowledge) in order to perform some actions while the world ticks along. This is mostly not a problem, especially as the game progresses, whereas it can start to get hectic when your dear friend and ally declares war on the other half of the world you weren’t already at war with. Thanks, Germany.
The battle map is functional enough, but the basic gameplay holds it back and it is clearly inferior to Total War. It’s enjoyable enough, but the campaign map is where Knights of Honor II shines – and conveniently where Total War has always been worse than other games. A particular annoyance in combat is the unit AI when chasing enemies. A unit of cavalry will get stuck on a single soldier while the rest of the archers keep running, turn around, and start shooting you which can repeat ad nauseum. Other than this the AI and combat performs adequately, repositioning based on your movements and even rushing units past to try to capture your victory points.
The difference in units between nations within a region is minimal. Basically, just a specialist unit such as longbowmen for the English versus crossbowmen for the French, but the regional difference is much more impactful where the entire roster changes. Europeans have a balanced selection of light and heavy infantry, cavalry, and archers whereas Mongols have few generally poor infantry choices and multiple superior cavalry types, but for the most part troop selection is largely mirrored along the lines of rock-paper-scissors like usual. A small number of provinces have unique recruits such as highlanders in the Scottish Highlands which adds some nice variety too and can give you a reason to liberate certain places from their tyrannical rulers. Some of the higher tier units can get very hard to purchase and maintain which keeps them feeling like elites as they aren’t seen as often which beats the “doomstack” style seen in Total War games.
The most fun I had in combat was during sieges where you get a lot more options for gameplay than the standard field engagement. When assaulting, do you try to get into the castle, braving the arrows from all the towers? Do you circle around to meet the enemy field army relieving the siege? How about enter the castle, take the gates and towers, and force the relieving army to deal with them? Cavalry to get around fast was essential for such maneuvers.
Overall, Knights of Honor II: Sovereign is an easy recommend for us older folk with nostalgia for the original. Anyone looking for a new, smooth grand strategy without terribly complex or deep mechanics should also find many hours of fun in this game. I prefer more depth, but I’ll still be playing campaigns as several nations for the varied gameplay they provide due to their unique situations and troop types.
This review utilised a key provided by Plaion ANZ and Knights of Honor II: Sovereign will launch on December 6 on Steam (December 7 for us in ANZ).
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Chris Inglis
