Here's a feature breakdown for Crusader Kings 2's biggest expansion

Crusader Kings 2’s largest expansion, Holy Fury, is due out next week, but in the meantime you can wet your whistle on this feature breakdown from Paradox. There’s quite a lot, and while the focus is on Christian and pagan shenanigans, there’s also plenty beyond that.

Pagans can join warrior lodges and work their way up the ladder to become top dog, gaining new skills and pals along the way. Pious Catholics, on the other hand, can be given sainthoods, passing along perks to their descendants. There are legendary bloodlines, new crusading events, coronations, new succession laws and dozens of other things, but it’s the additional modes that I’ve got my eye on.

By starting a new game with a ‘shattered world’, you’ll experience a more balanced version of Crusader Kings 2, where all the big kingdoms and empires have been broken apart. Everyone starts out as either a count or a duke. Its customisable, too, so you can choose whether you want to play a more historical version or make balance the priority.

The asymmetry is one of my favourite parts of CK2, but it would be fascinating to start on a world where everyone’s in a similar, though obviously not identical, footing. It sets up some potentially bizarre alternate histories.

Picking a ‘randomise world’ feature keeps the geography the same, but changes everything else, transforming the medieval world into a fictional realm that's full of new religions, cultures and characters. Paradox says that these random worlds will still try to emulate history, however, mimicking great empires and the like. The world it creates will be fictional, but hopefully logical.

Crusader Kings 2: Holy Fury is due out on Steam on November 13.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.