Knights of Honor

About

"Knights of Honor is a historical real-time strategy game with stellar gameplay, good graphics, and phenomenal music. As a king, lead your people in war, diplomacy, and economy to expand your kingdom. Manage knights, develop estates, and utilize unique resources to increase your power and influence in a single or multiplayer game."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

92%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,125 reviews

gameplay44 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Knights of Honor offers a unique blend of real-time strategy and grand strategy gameplay, allowing players to manage kingdoms, engage in diplomacy, and command armies.
The game features a charming art style and an excellent soundtrack that enhances the medieval atmosphere.
With a variety of factions to choose from and multiple paths to victory, the game provides high replayability and engaging gameplay.

The AI can be predictable and lacks depth, making the game easier once players understand the mechanics.
The game suffers from technical issues, including limited resolution options and occasional crashes, particularly on modern systems.
The combat mechanics can feel simplistic and repetitive, leading to a lack of challenge in battles as players progress.

gameplay
133 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
62%
5%
The gameplay of "Knights of Honor" is praised for its unique blend of real-time strategy and grand strategy elements, offering depth and accessibility that appeals to both new and veteran players. While some mechanics may feel outdated and the AI can be simplistic, the game remains engaging with its intricate diplomacy, expansive maps, and a variety of strategies to explore, making it a nostalgic favorite for many. Overall, it provides a compelling experience that balances simplicity with complexity, ensuring hours of replayability.
- “Knights of Honor is a triumph of strategy gaming, offering a rich and accessible experience that combines the complexity of grand strategy with the immediacy of real-time gameplay.”
- “The expansive map, intricate diplomacy, and diverse gameplay mechanics offer an engaging medieval experience.”
- “With its unique real-time strategy mechanics and vast replayability, Knights of Honor remains a standout title in the grand strategy genre, earning a place in the hearts of players who crave epic medieval conquest.”
- “I started and quit half a dozen times thinking the mechanics were broken.”
- “Gameplay-wise, the AI combat is pretty dumb in general, both on the battle map (you can cheese with archers very easily) and in building for their provinces (they rarely build for stronger troop units).”
- “The interface now feels very cumbersome (you can't even zoom out), the mechanics too shallow, and the battles too haphazard.”
graphics
111 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
58%
13%
The graphics of "Knights of Honor" are generally considered dated but charming, with many players appreciating the timeless art style despite its low resolution and lack of modern visual fidelity. While some find the visuals lackluster compared to contemporary standards, others argue that the nostalgic 2D graphics and overall presentation still hold up well, especially when paired with the game's immersive soundtrack. Players often recommend using mods to enhance the graphics for a better experience, but overall, the gameplay remains the primary draw, overshadowing the graphical limitations.
- “While Knights of Honor may not boast cutting-edge visuals by today’s standards, its art style is timelessly charming.”
- “The graphics still look fairly nice and don't diminish the enjoyment of the game.”
- “It has a great charm and atmosphere to it, and the artwork for a 2D game is fantastic.”
- “The graphic presentation of the game is not really good when considering the high standard of graphics nowadays, and even compared to other games released in the same year, it is seen that the graphics could be called ugly.”
- “The graphics are outdated, and the mechanics are outdated.”
- “While the graphics look old and outdated, here it works great and has that old-time RTS charm to it, it preys on our nostalgia for games lost in time.”
music
61 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
66%
30%
5%
The music in the game is widely praised for its sweeping orchestral score that enhances the medieval atmosphere and gameplay experience. Reviewers describe the soundtrack as legendary, emotional, and captivating, often evoking nostalgia and significantly contributing to the game's immersive quality. Many consider it one of the best soundtracks in strategy gaming, with compositions that resonate long after playing.
- “The soundtrack, with its sweeping orchestral score, perfectly captures the grandeur and tension of ruling a medieval empire.”
- “The music is bombastic and insanely good; it fits the theme and battle events so well!”
- “The soundtrack will keep you humming the tunes for days; it's truly perfect music for this medieval style.”
- “While the actual battle map combat isn't that great, the soundtrack instead plays out an awesome little battle or siege animation and soundtrack, which can still be influenced.”
- “The music is very astonishing and calming.”
replayability
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
42%
12%
The game is widely praised for its massive replayability, offering a variety of factions, unique mechanics, and multiple historical eras to explore. Players appreciate the depth and complexity that encourage repeated playthroughs, despite some concerns about long-term appeal. Overall, it is considered a standout title in the grand strategy genre, with a strong modding community that enhances its replay value.
- “With its unique real-time strategy mechanics and vast replayability, Knights of Honor remains a standout title in the grand strategy genre, earning a place in the hearts of players who crave epic medieval conquest.”
- “Its unique mechanics, charming presentation, and endlessly replayable nature make it a beloved classic for anyone who dreams of ruling a medieval kingdom.”
- “The game offers a large amount of replayability, due to the fact that you can play as any country (no matter their starting size or possible vassalage) and each of the three eras offers different mapscapes.”
- “Replayability: some players may question the long-term appeal of the game.”
- “The game is very much replayable and there are so many starting options; I personally have been playing the same path for 9 hours (Byzantine, year 1000?, easy). With that being said, I either rather suck or the game's just that complicated.”
- “Knights of Honor is a special type of game in terms of replayability; there is a vast amount of factions and three different medieval eras to choose from.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
The game excels in creating a rich medieval atmosphere, immersing players in its historical charm through fantastic artwork and atmospheric music. Reviewers appreciate the attention to detail and the overall engaging environment, making it a standout choice for those seeking an authentic experience.
- “The game offers historical richness by successfully reflecting the medieval atmosphere.”
- “This gives players the feeling of getting lost in an atmosphere of the period.”
- “It has a great charm and atmosphere to it, and the artwork for a 2D game is fantastic.”
- “But the atmosphere remained the same.”
- “If you want to conquer Europe, but most games out there look unappealing, have a high learning curve, unattractive graphics, and a boring atmosphere, then you should try Knights of Honor.”
story
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
38%
38%
The game's story is characterized by player-driven narratives that emerge from strategic decisions, allowing for a unique experience without the constraints of traditional quests. Players can find themselves in dramatic situations, such as losing control of their provinces due to betrayal, which adds depth to the gameplay. However, some users express disappointment with the overall execution and presentation of the story, suggesting it may not be worth the investment.
- “They have stats, and if used to justify your actions, you will have an interesting emergent story.”
- “Sent my last spy on a mission; while gone, my throne was infiltrated, and all of my near-maxed-out marshals claimed lands of mine as theirs and rebelled. Still had 3 provinces left and a few marshals... my treasury, which was 1k gold a cycle, dropped to -700ish. I was near 100k. Quickly, my marshals that remained loyal were trying to reclaim the lands I had 'liberated.' My new marshals were left with basic units, and many died in service or were imprisoned.”
- “True story and true about this game; don't even waste your money.”
- “I didn't think I would like this game; it looks a bit like the kingdoms of a children's story and sounds like it's narrated by Morgan Freeman.”
- “Sent my last spy on a mission; while gone, my throne was infiltrated and all of my near maxed out marshals claimed lands of mine as theirs and rebelled... I was near 100k, and quickly my marshals which remained loyal were trying to reclaim the lands I had 'liberated'... my new marshals were left with basic units and many died in service or were imprisoned.”
humor
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted through entertaining character interactions and unique voice lines that add a fun twist to the gameplay. While some players find the humor to be a mix of absurdity and charm, others feel it can be overshadowed by the game's length and pacing. Overall, the comedic elements, including amusing speeches and character quirks, contribute to a lighthearted experience despite some mixed feelings about the game's overall enjoyment.
- “Plus, there's a lot of humor in the interactions between characters that adds a fun twist to the game.”
- “If you ever wanted to rule the world, this game is a really funny way to accomplish that.”
- “A very funny and cool game, you can do lots of stuff to rule your kingdom throughout Europe.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be a significant timesink, often describing it as tedious and frustrating, particularly when managing rebellions and currency inflation. While the game offers engaging map-based gameplay and RTS-style battles, many recommend relying on the AI for combat to avoid the grind. Overall, those averse to grindy experiences may want to steer clear.
- “It really is a grindy timesink.”
- “This old game has absorbed many hours of my life, grinding through the whole of the old world.”
- “Actual in-game issues are few in the area of glitches, but some sections of the game are cruelly tedious, like rebellion and currency inflation.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing frequent crashes after several hours of play, particularly after the v1.05 update, which introduced erratic AI behavior. In contrast, others report that earlier versions, like v1.03, are relatively bug-free, though they note some tedious gameplay elements. Overall, while some users find the game stable, others are frustrated by its instability and performance issues.
- “There are no glitches or bugs in my personal experience.”
- “As far as the game version 1.05 info goes from what I read, version 1.03 patches the game well enough for most and is bug-free.”
- “But fans started whining in the forums that the AI is 'too exploitable' and the game is 'too easy', and in v1.05 it became this randomized, un-fun husk of a game. The AI became downright capricious - almost never accepting treaties, backstabs every other day. It just became a buggy paradox-lite title, no matter the difficulty level and options.”
- “Keeps crashing after 4 hours of play, and no, I'm not going to do work trying to fix a buggy game that I paid money for.”
- “Actual in-game issues are few in the area of glitches, but some sections of the game are cruelly tedious, like rebellion and currency inflation.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
25%
50%
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with users noting that it has not aged well and performs poorly on modern displays. Many feel that the developer has been lazy in simply porting the original version without necessary updates or optimizations, leading to a frustrating experience, especially on faster machines.
- “Which means that it will always have a place on my hard drive, since MTW1 just doesn't seem to run well on fast, modern machines, while Knights of Honor runs smoothly and is almost completely crash-free.”
- “Good game but has not aged that well and is badly optimized for modern displays.”
- “My problem stems from the fact that this game is a prime example of a developer being lazy and just dumping the original game, unpatched and unoptimized to Steam for a price that seems very steep, considering the performance quality of this game.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of Knights of Honor has been criticized as a cash grab, particularly with its remastered version, which detracts from the game's original appeal. While some players appreciate the inclusion of microtransactions as a matter of player choice, the overall sentiment suggests that the game's monetization strategy may undermine its value and enjoyment.
- “Knights of Honor is an old glory overshadowed at the time by far better games in the same genre like the first Rome: Total War. Stay away from the cash grab 'remastered.' It's still a very interesting game, but it's plagued by randomness.”
- “This game is a testament to why microtransactions are indeed about player choice.”
- “With microtransactions?”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its exceptional emotional impact, highlighted by a captivating and engaging soundtrack that sets it apart from contemporaries and even later titles like Knights of Honor II: Sovereign. Users find it to be a remarkable experience that resonates deeply, showcasing a level of emotional depth that is rare in modern games.
- “A fabulous game for its time, far ahead of others, with a stupendous, wonderful, spectacular, emotional, engaging, and captivating soundtrack like you rarely see or hear nowadays.”