Gamescom always brings with it many nice surprises and exciting game announcements, but it’s rare to find one that’s truly unexpected. How about the sequel to a PC-only grand strategy title from 15 years ago? THQ Nordic is happy to oblige, as it has just revealed Knights of Honor II: Sovereign – the sequel to 2004’s Knights of Honor, which will be the publisher’s first grand strategy title.
The new game is being made by developer Black Sea Games, who made the original Knights of Honor – before going through a few changes. In fact, the original developer was Black Sea Studios, which was bought by Crytek in 2008 – and then Creative Assembly in 2016, becoming Creative Assembly Sofia to work on Total War expansions. However, studio founder Vesselin Handjiev and several other developers formed the new Black Sea in 2016 – when presumably they started on Knights of Honor II: Sovereign.
When we spoke to Vesselin Handjev, founder and MD of developer Black Sea Games, at Gamescom, we asked 2019 was the right time for a follow-up to Knights of Honour. In response, he said that “the world needs this game.”
“The old game had 91% approval on Steam, which is quite a lot, and there’a very large, very loyal community that was waiting 15 years for this game.”
The first trailer is below, which doesn’t give away much information. The game’s Steam page is now up, however, and has a few screenshots along with the release window – don’t expect to see the game until 2020. The page describes Sovereign as “accessible” grand strategy. “All the depth of religion, diplomacy, city development, and more, with none of the confusion,” it proclaims.
Multiplayer is promised, although in what form is currently not specified – other than that you’ll be able to “join with multiple friends to take on the challenges of medieval Europe”, suggesting co-op of some sort. Additionally, unlike most grand strategy titles, Sovereign will be played in real-time – including the battles. “No turns needed,” it says.
Knights of Honor II: Sovereign’s desire to be a more “accessible” and approachable grand strategy title comes hot off the release of Age of Wonders: Planetfall, which had a similar idea – and succeeded, as far as we’re concerned. Hopefully Sovereign will be just as successful, especially as fans have been kept waiting for a sequel for 15 years.