Stronghold HD

It is a very rewarding and challenging experience with a story that get's the job done. I originally compared it a lot to Age of Empires 1 & 2 but that's pretty wrong to do. You might wonder, what is the cake with Stronghold? What's so fun about it? Challenge, Reward and Victory! This game can spell those words so clear you'll whisper them like a mantra. A game of stronghold starts with you placing your primary fortress somewhere on the gamemap, as well as a granary and a stockpile. The granary and the stockpile are the core elements to strongholds gameplay. You'll play as the Lord of the castle and have direct control over everything, except the people. In stronghold, unlike Age of empires you don't have to have a builder to build things. There are no delays with building and training units either. To do anything, you have to keep your peasants/villagers "satisfied" which means they either like you a lot and are very lazy, or they fear you a lot and work very hard. To appease your peasants, you provide them food. You decide how much, because otherwise it will run out before it get's refilled. There's also taxes which you can guess how they affect the peasants. There is a level in the campaign which is largely unbeatable on the highest difficulty because of a bug, but if you play on the normal or easier difficulties you'll beat the game easily. No worries! The controls for controlling soldiers are a bit quirky because you assign all orders to them with a leftmouse click, unlike AoE where you use the rightmouse button. It's the other way around because rightclick deselects them, which would be the opposite in AoE. Funny! Peasants have annoying AI and might block you when you build things sometimes. I played this on the original disc release initially, but if you want to buy it go with the HD editions available since you can't play over 1024x768 otherwise. The HD editions support up to at least 2560x1440.

I got this running in windowed mode on Linux with a few tweaks in DxWND: - Main > Position, choose aspect ratio, I chose 1280x720, and check "Keep aspect ratio" - Video > Window Style, select "thin frame", this adds a topbar to the window so you can click and drag it, and checking "Lock win style" prevents the topbar from being counted towards window's dimensions. - Video > Screen resolution, select HD (16:9) - DirectX > Renderer, select "locked surface", this corrects an issue where Stronghold believes the window boundaries are still 4:3 and causes you to edge scroll 1/3rd of the way from the right side of the screen.

Stronghold HD is a fantastic game that offers a perfect blend of strategy and relaxation. The gameplay is incredibly chill, allowing you to build, manage, and defend your kingdom at your own pace. There’s no rush, so you can enjoy each decision without pressure, making it ideal for those who prefer a laid-back gaming experience. The graphics are beautifully detailed for a game of its era, with lush landscapes and charming animations that bring your medieval kingdom to life. The art style complements the relaxing atmosphere, adding to the enjoyment of watching your empire grow and flourish. But what truly makes Stronghold HD so addictive is the gameplay. The balance of resource management, city-building, and defense creates a rewarding cycle that keeps you coming back for more. Every choice matters, and as you progress, you'll find yourself experimenting with new strategies and improving your kingdom with each playthrough. Whether you're a fan of strategy games or someone looking for a relaxing, yet engaging experience, Stronghold HD is definitely worth your time. It’s a game you can lose yourself in for hours, all while enjoying the satisfaction of building your very own medieval empire!

It's a great game. I'm having a lot of fun playing the game.

This game, and now with the HD remakes, is a classic in the castle building sim world. If you are on the fence about it, get off that fence and buy this game. It is dirt cheap for the amount of fun that you'll experience from it. If you aren't sure whether you would like it or not, just get it. If you love it, get Crusader HD as well. The campaign is solid, provides a variety of mission types and is overall very well put together. To the GOG team: Thank you. I keep making the mistake of buying games on Steam without first checking GOG to see if they're available. This game doesn't work through Steam on Windows 8/8.1. Hardly even launches without crashing. Bought it through you guys (23% off in the bundle with 2 other games I wanted, Crusader and Space Colony) and it works perfectly! You guys are the best, keep up the awesome work.