Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition

A nostalgic game very true to it's roots, to the detriment of getting into the game at a modern date. Very good vibes and a lot of fun but don't think it's worth getting if you're used to modern strategy looking for something to really get good at

Even though Stronghold is an absolute classic, I only started playing it recently. I grew up playing Age of Empires II, which I loved so much that I never felt the need to try any other strategy game. However, after a lot of convincing from my boyfriend, I finally gave Stronghold a chance, and the game completely hooked me. What I enjoy the most is building my own castle, I love that part to the fullest. I especially enjoy playing the role of a cruel ruler, placing stakes, gallows, and things like that around the castle, it is absolutely amazing. While I enjoy conquering enemies a bit less here, which in my opinion is more fun in AoEII, I still have to give this legend a thumbs up. I love turning the game on from time to time just to build up my kingdom. If I had to compare Stronghold to AoEII, I honestly couldn't say which game is better. I enjoy completely different things in each of them, making them practically incomparable. Both are simply absolute gems among strategy games.

Overall a great RTS. Though the coop game mode is only skirimish it was a lot of fun due to clever map designs. It was great playing through the coop trails with a friend. There is a lot of very well done unit variety. Economy is mostly trade based. Get an abundance of stone/iron, convert it into gold. Fund an increasing production economy, sell stuff and buy whatever is needed. For harder coop content it is sadly a bit lacking. The coop trails are great, but only a handful of missions are difficult at all. None are difficulty beyond early game. It really needs some additional optional modifiers to make it harder. Most coop games are basically won after having a moderate defense established. 2 towers crossbow men plus some balistas will take care of everything the enemy throws at you. Enemies siege and harass forces stop scaling very fast. So after an intense 15 min the game boils down to just amass enough resources to wipe out the enemies. They pose no real threat after early game. The extra spawn camps are a nice idea but they should escalate somehow. So you get timing pressure. The game desperately lacks pressure on the player after the initial defense setup. There is no threat after 15min and you can just save up to build any army you like. Disrupting the enemy economy will make them much weaker as well. While the player scales into endgame the AIs are just stuck and pose no late game threat. They also never make any good use of siege weapons. If they would, they would pose a much higher threat. Pair that with endless stone income for players and you can just make your wall 5+ thick. Now no enemy will ever come close to breach the wall. their mangols will mostly just walk into death instead of using their range. They never use tribocks in any meaningfull way. Big plus for free high quality content updates and tools to create custom community content.