If you're looking for an accurate, grim and dark game about being a medieval ruler in a struggling kingdom where you have to make hard decisions to survive one more day, this isn't it, although it gets close. The atmosphere and soundtrack are amazing, but there are some anachronisms and plot points that can break your immersion. It's better to take this as a low fantasy game than an accurate representation of Middle Ages culture and politics. The battle scenes aren't great. If you know the basics of medieval warfare, you'd know that both big battles in this game could be won with some planning and cunning without suffering the staggering losses that you take in the story. At the end of the final battle, I felt that I personally would have been able to win, but that according to the game's internal logic I should have lost. Then again, this isn't a medieval warfare simulator, so this gets a pass. Which brings me to my next point, and it's that it doesn't feel like your decisions have much of an impact at certain points in the story. There are sections where you barely have any agency, and so it feels like the game is railroading you into certain outcomes, which doesn't feel great. By the second playthrough the story has lost much of its emotional impact because you know that the only thing you can do in certain sections is to just watch. I also feel like a king shouldn't be dealing with minor peasant issues. It would make sense if you were a minor noble like a baron, otherwise you should be dealing with more important stuff. Finally, for a game that warns you at the beginning that you will have to make tough decisions and it will be impossible to please everyone, it isn't that hard to actually do just that if you play your cards right. I feel like it could afford to be a bit harder and less forgiving, but that's just my opinion. Nonetheless, I still really liked the game. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it for what it is.
