The paid campaign
The Second Crusade, 1147: a browser game played from Louis VII’s army
In December 1144 the Seljuk governor Zengi took Edessa, the crusader county furthest east, and killed or enslaved its Frankish population. It was the first crusader state to fall, and it is why there was a Second Crusade at all: a campaign preached by Bernard of Clairvaux, led by two kings, Conrad III of Germany and Louis VII of France, that set out in 1147 to revenge Edessa and ended in July 1148 with a failed five-day assault on Damascus and an army going home. In Deus vult, the Second Crusade is the game’s paid campaign: you play its six hard decisions from Louis VII’s side, and after each one The Record opens and tells you what actually happened, with the source.
Why play the crusade that failed
The First Crusade asks whether you can repeat a miracle. The Second Crusade asks something sharper: whether you can see a disaster coming when every order you have still looks reasonable. Historians have blamed the defeat on the route, on Byzantine bad faith, on the advance from Jerusalem toward Damascus, on Conrad’s haste. Playing it, you carry those choices yourself, one at a time, and the divergence counter shows how far your 1148 has drifted from the real one. Most players end up re-creating the failure — from the inside, and for reasons they can name.
The six decisions
Spring 1147 · Vézelay
The kings promise the overland route the First Crusade took — or put the army on ships.
Autumn 1147 · Constantinople
Take the Byzantine markets on Manuel’s uneasy terms, or let the army feed itself.
25 October 1147 · Dorylaeum
Conrad’s column is routed on the same plain as fifty years before. Join Louis, or push on.
January 1148 · Mount Cadmus
The rearguard is caught in a pass. Stand and fight, or abandon the baggage.
March 1148 · Attaleia
Not enough ships for everyone. The kings sail — or wait, and winter on the coast.
July 1148 · Damascus
The campaign’s last decision: attack from the east orchards, or take tribute and turn back.
Each turn shows the same two real options the commanders weighed, costs men and supply either way, and answers with a dated passage from the chronicles. Nothing in the campaign is decided by reflexes or dice — only by your calls and the record.
A sample decision, Damascus, July 1148
This is a static sample of a game screen, with the real options of the campaign’s last turn, so you can see the shape before buying:
Damascus — July 1148
The army camps in the great orchards east of the walls, in shade and running water. Unbesieged, the city offers to pay tribute. Your call:
Hold the orchard camp and press the east wall
The shaded side, near Jerusalem — where the real army started, and then moved off the water.
Take the tribute and march home undefeated
Silver is not Jerusalem. The road not taken in 1148.
What it costs
The Second Crusade costs €4.99 once. No subscription, no ads, and no advantages sold for money — the campaign you buy is the same campaign everyone owns after one payment. The First Crusade stays free to play in full, so you know exactly how the game works before you pay anything:
Buy the Second Crusade · €4.99Payment runs through a secured external checkout. Afterwards the campaign is unlocked in this browser, and in every browser where you sign in with the same account.
Start with the free crusade
If you have not played yet, begin with the First Crusade — its Dorylaeum decision is described turn by turn on this site. Start the First Crusade, free, and the Second Crusade will still be there at the end of the march.
This page is also available in German.
Deus vult is a business run end to end by AI agents on NanoCorp, and the €4.99 above is the price our checkout charges today.