A return to form for Stronghold

As the deadline for this review approached, the intention was to dust off my reliable IBM Model M keyboard and type the entire piece for maximum immersion. However, fate had other plans, and writing this review on a modern keyboard somehow feels out of place. On the other hand, a modernized version of Stronghold does not share this sentiment.

• Genre: Real-Time-Strategy
• Developer: FireFly Studios
• Publisher: FireFly Studios
• Release Date: November 7th, 2023
• Price: 14,99€/ $14.99/ £12.99
• Buy at: Steam

If you missed the era when Stronghold first hit the scene, let me paint the picture for you: it was 2001, and I was just a tiny 9-year-old, captivated by games such as Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. But there was something that boggled my mind – a game all about the Middle Ages, kings, knights, and archers, yet it didn’t let you place units on the walls. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Back then, I didn’t have internet access, and game guides (remember those?) were pricey. So, for a good chunk of my life between 1999 and 2001, I was living in confusion, wondering why the walls couldn’t be manned, especially when that seemed like the primary purpose of having a wall in the first place.

This game entered my radar at a local tech store (FNAC) where they had gameplay on loop 24/7. I was immediately hooked. Fast forward a few months, and my cousin and I finally got our hands on a copy of Stronghold. Since then, it’s become one of my all-time favorite games (alongside Crusader), and I still play it religiously every year without fail. Merging these two classics, it’s pretty clear why Stronghold: Definitive Edition will continue the tradition of being installed on every system I own for the next few years. It offers a lot of the same magic, but with the new campaign and a low price of just 15 euros, it’s a no-brainer if you were into the original title two decades ago.

A Strategic Classic From Day One

Stronghold is a real-time strategy game set in medieval England where players assume the role of a Lord or King, overseeing a county or kingdom. The primary objective usually involves developing massive medieval fortifications to defend against enemy attacks or serve as a staging ground for counteroffensives. Essentially, it’s a castle simulation that blends elements from traditional real-time strategy games for combat with tycoon-like aspects, emphasizing the impact of building placement and production chains on the castle’s economy. The game’s charm lies in the myriad possibilities to create the castle of your dreams, incorporating modular walls, stairs, towers, siege equipment, tar-filled pitches, guard dogs, spikes, and more. The Definitive Edition maintains all these features, for better or unfortunately, for worse.

The Battle of Aljubarrota and Stronghold Custom Map Creation

Stronghold: Definitive Edition brings two key updates to the table: new graphics and a fresh campaign. If you’re a die-hard fan of the original game and these are the features you’re after, especially with all the quirks of early 2000s game design, then there’s no need to read on. Get ready to notch your arrows and let them loose!

The original 2D sprites have been replaced by beautifully rendered new models. While the changes from the originals are subtle, they are so well done that they are barely noticeable. In essence, the visual improvements make Stronghold look as good as you might have imagined it to be. You know that feeling when the memory of a game is slightly tainted by nostalgia, and you remember it looking a certain way, but when you boot it up years later, it looks nothing like you imagined? Well, Stronghold: Definitive Edition manages to match exactly how the Stronghold from 2001 exists in your memories. It’s sharp, bright, clean, extremely detailed, and filled with delightful animations that bring every corner to life—the bakers taking bread from the oven, the woodsman flexing when idle, the fletcher diligently crafting the finest longbows. These animations make the game feel lively and visually fulfilling at every turn.

One thing I’m not a big fan of, however, is some of the work done with the unit models. For the most part, they look decent, and the animation smoothness is fantastic. But the macemen, for some reason I cannot explain, just rub me the wrong way. Everyone gets it that the macemen are the Pig’s unit of choice: big, bald, and burly, armed with wild flails (yes, those aren’t maces) and sporting brigandines, they’re a carbon copy of their overlord. In the original, the abstract nature of the unit model left a lot to the imagination, but in the Definitive Edition, it’s so clear that every maceman’s face looks somewhat deformed. It’s a minor complaint, for sure, as everything else looks stellar.

Quality of Life Improvements

Stronghold: Definitive Edition is all about quality of life improvements. Not only did the game get a massive facelift, but the control scheme was adapted for more modernized standards, with the possibility of always using the classic controls if you so choose. As someone who must always use the keyboard and WASD to control the camera, this was a life-changer. The scribe now has a small arrow on the popularity status that allows players to track how happy or discontent the population is with your rule. Maps are bigger, and the unit limit was doubled from 1500 to 3000. Add to this Steam Workshop integration, ultrawide support, other miscellaneous bug fixes, and Stronghold: Definitive Edition is the way to play the game.

One aspect the design team confirmed they would not touch was the game’s AI, and I can only look at this as a missed opportunity. Boot up the original title, command your units to dig a moat, and watch them struggle to shovel dirt at the right location before scattering like recently beheaded chickens. It wasn’t rare, in some campaign missions, to find enemies standing idle while being shot at. And, of course, everybody’s largest Stronghold pet peeve, the lack of any meaningful unit formations and the dreaded single-file of doom.

One other shameful aspect that’s missing is the lack of any skirmish mode. This omission will be a deciding factor as to a big slice of the player base will acquire the game at all, given that the lack of any at-your-disposal and easy to set up scuffles with the artificial intelligence will limit the game’s replayability a lot.

Real Life Stronghold – A Templar Castle in Portugal

As for the new campaign, it is unapologetically hard and follows the difficulty curve the original campaign had set out. So, if you struggled to defeat the Wolf in the last mission, the first of the new campaign will beat you into submission. It’s a hard nut to crack, and one that is better enjoyed if you have already played the original to get your bearings on the game’s mechanics.

Final Score: 8/10

Stronghold, even nearly a quarter of a century later, still stands as a great strategy game that every enthusiast of the genre should, at least once, experience. It remains a highly enjoyable and timeless game with design decisions that have proven to withstand the test of time. I have little to no doubt that Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition is sure to closely follow in its footsteps, and I couldn’t be more excited for it.

Pros:

1. It’s the Stronghold experience impacted and improved in the most fundamental aspects;
2. The new textures are very reminiscent of the original and look amazingly authentic, and the new unit models offer much-needed detail;
3. A new and challenging campaign.

Cons:

1. There’s a fatal lack of skirmish modes;
2. Unit pathfinding is still horrible;
3. AI was not improved, with units sometimes sitting around getting arrows flung at them. They also seem to have a particularly hard time dealing with moats.

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