Paradox Interactive has announced Crusader Kings III: Silk & Silver, a Major Expansion for its medieval grand strategy role-playing game (RPG) that will launch on November 17th 2026 and adds merchant companies and Republic governments. Money is the new route to power.
According to a release, Silk & Silver has a suggested retail price of $29.99 (£25.99 or €29.99), and it is also included in Chapter V for Crusader Kings III. Paradox released an announcement trailer alongside the news. A Steam page is already up.
Grand strategy games put players in charge of a whole state over long stretches of history. Crusader Kings III narrows that to a dynasty. Players guide one family across generations, through marriages, wars and plots.
The release leans hard on trade. ‘Far more folk will meet a trader or direct a caravan than ever sit on a throne,’ it reads, pitching wealth as a path to ‘a power all your own’.
Merchant companies and trade routes
The new Merchant government puts players at the head of a landless merchant family and its trading company. Families start in obscurity. From there, they hunt for profitable Trade Routes across more than 40 trade goods, widening the company's reach as its wealth (and renown) grows.
Each merchant picks a specialization with its own bonuses and content. Caravaneers move large amounts of goods; Creditors lend money to rulers, while Artisans create new artifacts. Experience in traded goods unlocks further bonuses. Money and intrigue can also win over nobles and royalty as patrons.
Political pull feeds the markets too. Merchants can secure exclusive rights to trade select goods in a Market, or claim a full Monopoly to push rivals out. A mansion serves as the company's base; spending gold and prestige on its grounds opens up extra trade routes.
Playable Republics such as Venice and Genoa
Silk & Silver also opens up Republic governments for play, Venice and Genoa among them. Here, players run a patrician family. Wealth buys power, the release says, while popularity decides who keeps the role of doge (the elected head of state). Rival houses compete through law, bribery and the will of the Assembly.
The constitution comes first. Players ask the Assembly to pass laws that set leaders' terms and control how the state treasury is spent. An administration choice then shapes what the Republic does best: options range from a seafaring trade power to a city-state ruled by the common folk.
Trade Posts push a Republic's influence into foreign counties. Republics can also band together in Trade Leagues through the new trade system. Members gain commercial and military benefits.
New bookmarks in 1066 and 1178
There are two new bookmarks, too. Bookmarks are the game's preset historical start dates. 1066 – Channels of Commerce casts players as some of the best-known merchants of the Middle Ages, building trade networks for spices, silk and silver. 1178 – Guelphs & Ghibellines centres on the clash between papal and imperial ambitions in Northern Italy.
Italy gets extra attention. Players can hold civic carnivals to celebrate their Republic, and the Guelph and Ghibelline factions can tip political rivalry into open warfare.
Paradox Interactive develops and publishes strategy and management games for PC and consoles. The company is based in Stockholm. Its portfolio includes Stellaris, Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, Cities: Skylines, Prison Architect, the Surviving games, Age of Wonders and Victoria; Paradox also owns the World of Darkness brand catalog.
The following was sent as a press release to Inven Global.
