''Stronghold Crusader II'' is a
real-time strategy
Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to p ...
video game, developed by
Firefly Studios
Firefly Studios Limited (also stylized as FireFly Studios) is a British video game developer based in London. Formed in August 1999 by Simon Bradbury, David Lester, and Eric Ouellette, the company focuses on historic real-time strategy games for ...
, part of the ''Stronghold'' series. It was released on September 23, 2014. It is the sequel to their 2002 title ''
Stronghold: Crusader''.
Gameplay
The first gameplay demo was given to journalists at
E3 2013 and the first gameplay trailer, showing pre-alpha footage, was released at
Gamescom
Gamescom (stylized as gamescom) is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 2018, it has been organised by ''game – Verband der deutschen Games-Branche'' (English: Associ ...
2013. Both the demo and trailer showed off several new aspects that the game will introduce to the series.
Features
The game is the first of the Crusader series to feature a
3D graphics engine, but does not retain all of the elements of the original 2D game while adding new features such as ''"new units like the cruel Slave Driver, new beefed up AI opponents, dynamic on-map events like the Locust Swarm"'', as well as ''"new visuals, a new battle interface, and engine enhancements including effects, animations, and real-time physics."'' A brand new feature to the series is co-op multiplayer, in which 2 players take control of a single castle to share units and resources while fighting against common enemies. Crusader II will feature both a Crusader and Arabic historical single player campaign at launch. The game will mainly be based around skirmish gameplay, similar to the original Stronghold Crusader title. This will include, as with the original Stronghold Crusader, skirmish trails; in which players need to fight through linked skirmish maps with different set-ups in a particular order. The game is expected to be based more on warfare with little but substantial government.
Extras
As with previous titles in the series, there is a full map editor for users to create and share custom maps for the game. Robert Euvino, who worked on previous titles in the series, composed an all new soundtrack for the game.
Critical reception
The game received mixed to positive reviews on release, garnering an aggregated score of 66% on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, based on 28 critics' reviews. It has been praised for striking a good balance between the economic and military aspects of the game and staying true to the series and its strategy roots. Conversely, some critics labelled the latter as "nostalgia" and felt it lacking in some areas, in comparison to contemporary strategy titles.
References
External links
''Stronghold Crusader II'' official website
{{Stronghold series
2014 video games
Real-time strategy video games
Stronghold (series)
Video games with Steam Workshop support
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Video games set in castles
Video games set in the Crusades
Video games set in the Middle Ages
Windows games
Windows-only games
Multiplayer and single-player video games