Saw this on Steam, new update etc. Figured it must have been in early access for a good year by now, so decided to give it a shot.
I like it. Pleasantly surprised how well it runs on my ageing pc (2500k). Just started up my own kingdom. Have a Castle and a Citadel (town?) which cost a small fortune to maintain. Not quite sure how I'm supposed to make money other than selling loot? Traders seem to die all too often and don't net that much money either. Workshops make more money, but there's a limit as to how many you can have. Not sure if it would make more sense to own workshops in my own town, and have them make specific goods? How do you know what's best to make, etc? I feel there's a lot to grasp outside the basics with policies and the economic side of things. The kingdoms and diplomacy however is very bare-bones, and feels like they randomly go to war with one another for no real reason. I must have 50+ hours or so and all factions are alive and kicking. So if they were being wiped out in previous versions, that's no longer an issue. But again, faction strength feels a bit random and artificial.
The battles, whilst a bug ridden mess, don't disappoint. I've gravitated to become a cowardly archer, and during sieges I hide behind merlons shooting bad guys on ladders. This is until my cover is blown, and I'm killed by a catapult, which I thought was the enemies until I realised it was actually my own
Edit. I would sometimes prefer to go melee, but if you die during battle your army moral tanks and even if you do win, you lose tonnes of men. So it's safer to stay out of harms way.