Crusader Kings III: By God Alone

I was quite hyped for this DLC, since it develops an aspect of gameplay that hadn't really been very immersive up until now. Unfortunately, it has left me quite disappointed. I do understand the tension between wanting to give players as much agency as possible, while preserving some sense of historical grounding. I like some aspects of this DLCs, but for the most part, its impact on gameplay is a net negative for me. The DLC makes very little sense historically. Rites aren't (primarily) communities with different views, doctrines or outlooks. For the most part, both in the Middle Ages and today, Rites are more about ritual, ceremony or custom, rather than doctrinal differences. The Carolingian Rite makes zero sense and makes it extremely painful to play as the Pope in 867. The Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites are also nonsensical. The ease with which it's possible to radically change major religions is fun for YouTubers who seek out funny thumbnails ("Oh, look, I made a cannibal gay Viking the pope and changed the Church to match his views"), but at least for me, it's extremely immersion breaking. The whole DLC feels like some Reddit poster's take on medieval religion. It can be fun for players who don't care a bit about immersion, I get that. But I still feel most players want at least some of it. The things I view negatively: - the Rites make very little sense historically or gameplay-wise - the conditions for preserving Christian unity are arbitrary and nonsensical - radical change of doctrine is way too easy and consequence-free - the AI behaves arbitrarily and changes doctrines without any weight given to the consequences, thus breaking immersion for secular ruler gameplay - there is no attempt to adress other Christian communities other than the Catholic and Orthodox and their role - Ecumenical Councils don't make any sense (I played as the Pope and suddenly found out that a random bishop has called an Ecumenical Council that radically changed the Church without me even getting an alert or an invitation) The things I enjoy: - personal religious satisfaction - Scripture quotes - at least some grounding of the tenets themselves in the historical background; however their actual impact is destructive for any sort of pretense of at least a semi-historical playthrough Sadly, it seems that Paradox content for the last few years is only useful as a basis for modders to make actually interesting and exciting content.