Stronghold Crusader HD

This is one of my favorite castle building RTS games and I've put in hundreds of hours growing up. You can perfectly place towers, walls and everything to your liking (except the keep for some reason?). I've built unbreakable defenses with 1,000's archers and crossbowmen. Tried just about every possible castle layout I could imagine including themed builds after the enemy Lords and played tons of online games with friends. I like it better then Stronghold 1, because you can build your castle up from nothing in the campaigns instead of starting with a prebuilt one, but I do like stronghold 1's graphics better. To the people who say it plays too fast, just lower the game speed using +/-? and them complaining about placement is really nit-picky, cause it's honestly not that bad. You can also rotate the view and hide walls to help place things better. My major complaint is that they never added new buildings or units in the HD version, which would have been a perfect opportunity. Having a hard time getting back into this game, cause I already know and remember everything from playing it so much. It could really use more diverse units and more ways to play, imo. Also too easy now after finding a few overlooked game breaking exploits that no one seems to know about. Definitely a good game though and worth giving a try.

This game actually puts so many RTS, Castle building, and +/- RPG styled game elements, that it will stand the test of time, and well worth the investment many times over. No game will please others , then again the "others" are the few in this case. Do yourself a favor; if you want plain fun, with just the right amount of strategy and a hint of an RPG (the story lines, and progressive conquests etc), then get this one, you will never run out of choices for a replay, and with so much to work from. Stronghold Crusader HD, will always have a place in the hearts of many players, if not due to the fact that it can be approached from just sheer castle building and defense, through so many possibilities via the editor. Have fun !

Good and playable, however the game doesn't like if you press the TAB key. I played the original game too and as i see few game mechanic issue still not fixed like the AI destroying it's own castle in the worst moment and making themselves easy to beat. (Specially Abbout who is after destroying his chatedral unable to produce units to protect himself. He is still strong, but its annoying. Sometimes the AI randomly stops develop their castle just because one enemy unit walked "near" . Some AI castle making the AI unable to leave their Castle not because the map size, but that also an issue that the largest map is the size that the smallest should be. (Snake Castle sometimes has no entrance.) It's still a great game, however a Definitive edition would be great, that fix the resolution issue and the issue with the AI being their own enemy sometimes.

I think it's my favorite game in the genre. It's very original in the way it takes realism to the next level, in how to create a kingdom from scratch to forming an empire. Each level takes a good couple of hours to complete, so it's perfect for entertaining yourself. You can also easily control your speed through the game, perfect for those who aren't familiar with the mechanics or are at a disadvantage compared to the enemy. Another interesting point is the levels where you make alliances and exchange goods with other empires, either with a PC ally or a real person. Yes, you can play online in the year 2025. As you complete the game, the levels obviously become so complicated that you're alone against several empires joining forces to destroy you. The idea is to "always" fortify yourself and then counterattack... If you start aggressively, consider yourself destroyed.

never played a game like this before, got hooked and already sucked up 20 hours. Only made it halfway through the career missions and I'm still addicted lol... why don't they make games like this anymore, just update the AI if anything.