Here's a Crusader Kings 3 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater mashup mod

(Image credit: Voffvoffhunden via Paradox Interactive)

Did you ever wonder why they stylized the remake of Pro Skater as "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2"? It's because 1 + 2 = 3. 

Crusader Kings 3, to be precise.

Tony Hawk's Pro Crusaders 1 + 2 is a mod crossover of two recently released games I was not expecting. But by God it now exists. What inspired the now-legendary modder known only by the Steam name Voffvoffhunden? "My friend Gary couldn't decide whether to play Tony Hawk or Crusader Kings 3," says the description, "so I made this mod to help him out." It's a surprisingly complete and thorough joke, down to little stained-glass skater symbols in the top corner of the events.

I can relate to the inspiration for the mod. In fact, it's a true blessing in this, a time of good video game releases, where I too must choose between these two good games on an almost daily basis.

Here are the mod's features, each of which is better than the previous:

  • New leveled lifestyle trait: Skater -- Go skating at the skatepark to level up!
  • A new decision to start skating
  • A decision to hit the skatepark for some stress loss
  • About two dozen new skating events
  • Genghis Khan spawns as a Skate Legend
  • Genghis will never attack a fellow Skater 

It's billed as "Possibly the most comprehensive skating mod for Crusader Kings 3!" which I'm going to go ahead and confirm as very likely factual, rating one-half Pinocchio on the scale of truths to lies. I'm glad to see the glaring omission of historical skateboarding fixed in Crusader Kings 3. For all that Paradox Development Studio attempts to capture historical events and facts in their games, real history is simply too rich and complex and filled with sick boarding to be conveyed without the help of mods.

Crusader Kings 3 is a medieval grand strategy/RPG/life simulation game released earlier this year, which our review called "an irrepressible story engine that spits out a constant stream of compelling alt-histories, delightfully infuriating characters and social puzzles that I've become obsessed with unravelling. I can't imagine being done with it."

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, meanwhile, is a remake of the beloved skating games and a return to form for the series after so much time away. Our review called it "everything it needed to be."

You can find Tony Hawk's Pro Crusaders 1 + 2 on the Steam workshop.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.