Paradox recruits a mystery modder to improve Crusader Kings 3, and is "genuinely shocked" by how big their wishlist is

Crusader Kings 3 developer Paradox Black is in the midst of working on a big ‘spring cleaning’ update, and it’s turned to modders for some assistance. Riad Deneche, QA manager at the Crusader Kings 3 studio, explains that the focus of its upcoming patch is “tackling bugs that have been haunting our backlog, and introducing a set of changes and smaller features that we believe will meaningfully enhance the CK3 experience.” In service of this, it’s calling upon one mysterious, upstanding member of the community to help – and Deneche says the team was “genuinely shocked” by their list of proposed fixes.

“It should come as no surprise that we at Paradox believe our modding community is the lifeblood of our games,” Deneche writes in a new Crusader Kings 3 dev blog. The developer has continued to support the strategy game with regular DLC and major expansions, with All Under Heaven extending the map out across Asia in October 2025. The player responses to those have swung wildly back and forth, and there’s been a longstanding frustration among the community about that inconsistency.

Modders, meanwhile, continue to put out everything from quick-shot fixes that plug the gap until an official update, to much more substantial overhauls and improvements. To Paradox’s credit, it’s aware how much value this adds. Deneche remarks, “Whenever we build systems for Crusader Kings 3, we try to ensure they’re scalable and accessible so modders can create tailored experiences for players.” He notes that player-made features often act as inspiration for future updates from the main team.

“During the development of All Under Heaven, we worked very closely with the community,” Deneche recalls, adding that this only further emphasized the value of involving players and mod creators as early as possible. “For this update in particular, I wanted to involve the community more directly, because frankly, no-one knows what you want better than you do.”

Typically, Paradox’s direct work with mod creators takes the form of specifically singled-out DLC packs. For the spring cleaning update, however, Deneche asked: “What if, instead of just content, we involved creators directly in improving the game?” He reached out to a “mysterious benefactor” who has created several (undisclosed) projects; someone whose work “had already inspired us internally and influenced changes to the game.”

Rather than asking them for something specific, Deneche enquired what aspects of CK3 they would like to work on. “They came back with a list so large it genuinely shocked the team,” he writes. “Some of it overlapped with things already in our pipeline, but a lot of it made us collectively ask, ‘How did we not think of this?'” He says the initial feedback included “over 60 entries,” which was whittled down to “a handful of features that felt like a good place to start this collaboration.”

The as-yet-unnamed modder will have a proper chance to show off their full complement of creations down the line, but Deneche kicks things off with one he “couldn’t wait to show off.” The ledger, shown in an early state above, “provides a series of tabs that let players explore and overview different aspects of the world.” Each page includes a series of filters so that you can customize it to show the data you care about.

While it’s still a work in progress for now, the tabs that are already locked in include artifacts, characters, houses, and ongoing wars. Other suggestions include counties, titles, holdings, cultures, and faith and religion. “No longer will you have to click through thousands of characters just to find out what artifacts exist in the world,” Deneche marvels. “Everything is right there, one click away. And you can favorite them, to keep interesting things in the ledger. Modern technology is truly incredible.”

Also on the cards for the spring cleaning update is a revamp for the accolades system, which includes an overhaul to the succession mechanic that introduces Squires as a way to measure the potential of individual knights’ successors. The rework will also increase the control you have over accolade attributes, starting them with just one and giving you the choice to rank it up or add another as it grows. Acclaimed knights will now be “significantly less likely to be captured or killed in battle”, making them more valuable than ever, and you can expect a crisp UI overhaul for the feature as well.

“I want you to see this dev diary not just as another attempt to market upcoming features (I mean, it partly is), but also as a commitment from us at Studio Black,” Deneche concludes. He says the team is working hard “to ensure Crusader Kings 3 lives up to its name and your expectations”, and also teases that it’s taking cues from other Paradox games such as Stellaris and Hearts of Iron 4 with a public playtest.

“We’re going to try something we very rarely do: run an open beta for the update.” More details on that will be shared closer to the update’s launch, which is currently planned for the second quarter of the year, putting it some time between April and June 2026.

Deneche also reassures fans that the spring cleaning update will be free, but notes: “The reason we’re able to continue supporting Crusader Kings 3 six years after release is because you continue to support it. Whether that’s through chapters, content creator packs, or other individual DLC, that support is what allows us to keep investing in major free updates like this one.”