that a nice alternative to paradox games and its not a sims game diguised as a strategy game

While most popular Grand Strategy games include more of the world, I like the goal for this one to focus on a specific location - in this case Iberia during the Reconquista. This allows for more detail and local specifics. There are multiple mechanics - managing a council, economy, army, diplomatic interactions, state and law decisions - but none feel overwhelming and I enjoy the population system. The graphics style is unique and at first I was mixed about it but find it enjoyable now. The music and sound design is also good. The game for what it is, especially made from a small studio delivers on it's premise.

The launch had problems however. The game's graphics settings are oddly taxing so if you're planning to play it, adjust them, especially the "Decal texture resolution". There were also some game-breaking bugs that I encountered - such as a policy tension effect stacking on your country every time you reload a save, but the team began patching the problems the moment they were made aware of them which alleviated my frustration. The developers are responsive so I assume these issues will be resolved soon. I'm currently playing it in it's Early Access form so this is to be expected.

Outside of the major countries, there isn't much flavour and the way you can interact with characters and your country seem to need some quality of life changes. Right now it might be a bit confusing when trying to figure out certain modifiers on your country. There was also no option do divorce your spouse when I played which meant my playthrough was over due to my barren wife and not having had changed the inheritance law. But again these things are getting addressed.

The foundations of a great Grand Strategy game are there. The restriction of it including only Iberia and it's borderlands means the team won't be distracted or obligated to deal with irrelevant additions, resulting in unnecessary bloat. I assume we'll soon see an expansion of it's various mechanics once the current issues are resolved as they've been engaging with the community on Discord when it comes to what to tackle first in regards to it's content.

While this review has enough for some people to dismiss the game - in the context of Grand Strategy historical games, the only thing surprising about the release of this game is that it's made by an indie studio. The genre is plagued by rushed releases by major studios with endless dlc adding features presumed to have been part of the base game on launch. The team behind this seems eager to develop the game further in a transparent and receptive manner and unlike a major studio, doesn't have the privilege to act with impunity. So their only route is to deliver on their words and actively engage with their customers. And it seems that's what they're doing.

So overall I recommend it and hope it develops into a detailed representation of the period.

For a game that was only an idea two years ago, CoH's release is certainly promising for a small studio.
While the scale of the game may be limited to 11th century Iberia, CoH takes the best elements of CK, EU and Vicky and implements them well with its own spin on the grand strategy genre.

The devs also seems very receptive to feedback from the playtest, And have been honest about what they can and can't implement within their means. The transparency is refreshing when others studios in this genre seem unable to follow that example, all the while charging the consumer a premium.

I'm looking forward to CoH's journey to full release, and have high hopes that Regalis Studio will craft a great grand strategy game, and will continue to listen to their players feedback.