Stronghold (series)

Last updated
Stronghold
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Developer(s) Firefly Studios
First release Stronghold
2001
Latest release Stronghold: Warlords
2021

Stronghold is a series of real-time strategy video games developed by Firefly Studios known for its detailed graphics and its deep and complex gameplay. Set in medieval times, players take on the role of a lord or lady who must build and defend their castle, as well as conquer their enemies.

Contents

The series consists of three main titles built on the Vision Engine, each with their own unique and drastically different game engine, as well as a number of expansions or spin-offs built on the same game engine.

The first main title Stronghold (2001) was built on a 2D isometric game engine, which was used to build three additional spin-offs: Crusader (2002), Crusader Extreme (2008), and Kingdoms (2012). Like Age of Empires II, The game was later released as an HD remaster (2013) and a definitive edition (2023).

The second main title Stronghold 2 (2005) was released on an ambitious yet lackluster and buggy 3D engine, followed by numerous patches to fix the bugs, culminating in Stronghold 2 Deluxe which was a fully stable and patched version released six month after the main title. Soon after, a spin-off titled Stronghold Legends (2006) was released, adding more content to the title.

The third main title Stronghold 3 (2011) was released by a new parent company based on a new game engine. Years later, Stronghold Crusader II (2014) was released based on this game engine as a story sequel to Crusader (2002), and Stronghold: Warlords (2021) was released as a separate spin-off.

Stronghold

Stronghold, was released in 2001. The game is set in medieval England and follows the story of a young lord who must unite the country after the death of the king. The player must gather resources, construct fortifications, and train an army to defeat their enemies. The game features a single-player campaign, a multiplayer mode, and a variety of skirmish maps.

Stronghold: Crusader

The second installment, Stronghold: Crusader, was released in September 2002 by me, Robbie. The gameplay is similar to the first game, but with enhanced RTS elements and with all maps and missions set entirely in the Middle East during the Middle Ages. The focus was radically influenced by fortification and siege technologies developed during the Crusades. The entire campaign, as well as the "Conquest Trail" game mode, takes place during the Third Crusade.

Unlike the original Stronghold, however, there are four separate, linear campaigns. The game does take history into effect: Saladin and Richard I of England are present as the game's AI characters for the player to side with or against. In addition, the player is allowed to play either as an Arabic lord or as a European king with little difference between the two options except which units the player begins with.

A combination pack of Stronghold and Stronghold: Crusader, called Stronghold Warchest, was later released with all patches applied, new maps, and a new campaign trail and AI characters in Crusader.

Stronghold Kingdoms

Stronghold Kingdoms is the first MMO-RTS game in the Stronghold series. In this free-to-play game, players can anticipate a world filled with elements from the first game of the series.

Stronghold 2

The direct sequel to the first game and the third overall game in the series, Stronghold 2, was released in April 2005. The game engine was enhanced to provide fully 3D graphics. Other changes include new military and peace campaigns and the addition of crime and punishment. It also included many new characters and changed the types of walls and towers that can be added to a castle. However, the series' unique real-time map editor was replaced with a still-life one.

Upon its release, many players were outraged by the game's frequent crashes, lag (even while playing offline on a computer with exceptional hardware), and overall buggy nature. Firefly Studios paid much attention to the gaming community's complaints, and promised fixes in later patches. The majority of complaints stopped with patch 1.2. Patch 1.3.1, released on October 28, 2005, brought a "Conquest Trail" to the game, similar to that of Stronghold: Crusader. Stronghold 2 Deluxe was later released, containing all of the patches and new content.

Critically, Stronghold 2 received generally mixed reviews, with criticism directed at the bugs present in the initial release and the gameplay. To promote Stronghold 2, a ten-level Flash game was created, called Castle Attack 2. The aim of the game was to balance building a castle and defending it.

Stronghold Legends

Stronghold Legends is a Stronghold 2 spin-off contains 24 missions spanning three different campaigns: King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Count Vlad Dracul, and Siegfried of Germany. This sequel contains a new feature that allows the player to control human and mythical armies. Creatures like dragons and witches can be created in Stronghold Legends. [1]

Stronghold 3

Stronghold 3 is a 2011 real-time strategy game, featuring more realistic shadows, landscapes, units, buildings, day/night cycle, and weather, based on a new 3D game engine, allowing the player to construct walls and buildings at non-parallel angles. It is a direct sequel to Stronghold and Stronghold 2. Unlike previous games in the series, which were published by Take-Two Interactive, the game was published by SouthPeak Games, the new parent company of Gamecock Media Group, publisher of Stronghold Crusader Extreme.

Stronghold Crusader II

Released on September 23, 2014, Stronghold Crusader II is built on the Stronghold 3 game engine, while story-wise, it is a sequel to Stronghold: Crusader. [2] The game is set in the Middle East during the Third Crusade, featuring some new units, maps, game modes, gameplay mechanics, AI improvements, and a refined and enhanced multiplayer experience. Game modes include both a Crusader and Arabic historical single-player campaign, skirmish mode, multiplayer, and a co-op mode.

Stronghold: Warlords

Stronghold: Warlords is a new title set in ancient China, based on a highly improved engine, in terms of coloring, style, unit details and building architecture. A strong focus is placed on lighting. Compared to previous titles, the game places a much heavier weight on aesthetics and cosmetics, as well as their positive or negative effect on the population, which reflects in the gameplay. The game was revealed during E3 2019 and was originally planned to be released on September 29, 2020, [3] [4] but it was delayed to January 26, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [5] Due to further issues regarding multiplayer, the release date was moved back another six weeks, and was finally released on March 9, 2021. [6]

Future titles

On 24 June 2022, Firefly studios announced the development of a new Stronghold title based on Unreal Engine 5. The game is currently in pre-production. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Total War</i> (video game series) Computer strategy game series

Total War is a series of strategy games developed by British developer Creative Assembly for personal computers. They combine turn-based strategy and resource management with real-time tactical control of battles. Rather uniquely for real-time strategy games, flanking manoeuvers and formations factor heavily into gameplay. The first of the series, Shogun: Total War, was released in June 2000. The most recent major game released was Total War: Pharaoh on October 11, 2023. As of April 2021, the series had sold over 36 million copies.

<i>TimeSplitters</i> Video game series

TimeSplitters is a series of first-person shooter video games developed by Free Radical Design. The games are often considered spiritual successors to the Nintendo 64 titles GoldenEye 007 (1997) and Perfect Dark (2000), due to overlapping elements in gameplay, design, and development team. Each game features a time travelling element in which players battle across a diverse number of locations and periods in history.

<i>Stronghold</i> (2001 video game) 2001 video game

Stronghold is a historical real-time strategy video game developed by Firefly Studios and published in 2001 by Gathering of Developers for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The game focuses primarily on conquest and expansion through military pursuits but also has prominent economic and infrastructure development elements. There is both an economic and a military campaign to be played and both are discussed in the game manual. In the English version, the game takes place in Medieval Britain around the year 1066; however, since there is not always a time limit, scenarios can continue hundreds of years beyond that date.

<i>Stronghold 2</i> 2005 video game

Stronghold 2 is a real time strategy computer game released in April 2005 in which the player develops a stronghold in the Middle Ages. It is the sequel to Stronghold, released in 2001, also by Firefly Studios.

<i>Stronghold: Crusader</i> 2002 video game

Stronghold: Crusader is the successor to Firefly Studios's 2001 real-time strategy video game Stronghold. Crusader has much in common with the original Stronghold, but differs from its predecessor in the fact that the game is no longer set in England, instead being set in the Middle East during the Crusades. Another prominent addition not found in its predecessor is a skirmish mode in single-player, allowing customized battles with AI opponents instead of the linear campaign. The game was also released as Stronghold Warchest. This version was a compendium of Stronghold and an enhanced version of Stronghold: Crusader, containing additional characters and an additional Crusader Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefly Studios</span> British video game developer

Firefly Studios Limited 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 the PC and Macintosh systems. They are best known for their Stronghold series of games. In June 2021, the studio was acquired by Devolver Digital.

<i>Stronghold Legends</i> 2006 video game

Stronghold Legends is a real-time strategy game developed by Firefly Studios and published by 2K in 2006. It is the fourth game in the Stronghold series, following Stronghold, Stronghold: Crusader, and Stronghold 2.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade</i> 2006 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade is the second expansion to the real-time strategy video game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. Based on Games Workshop's tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40,000, Dark Crusade was released on October 9, 2006. The expansion features two new races, the Tau Empire and the Necrons. Including the Imperial Guard from Dawn of War's first expansion pack Winter Assault, a total of seven playable races in this expansion.

<i>Gears of War 2</i> 2008 video game

Gears of War 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the second installment of the Gears of War series, with lead design by Cliff Bleszinski. The game was released in North America, Europe and Australia on November 7, 2008, and was released in Japan on July 30, 2009. The game expands technically on the previous game by using a modified Unreal Engine 3. The development team brought in comic book writer Joshua Ortega to help write the plot for the game.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Soulstorm</i> 2008 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Soulstorm is the third expansion to the real-time strategy video game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, developed by Iron Lore Entertainment. Like its predecessors, Soulstorm is based on Games Workshop's tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000, and introduces a multitude of new features to the Dawn of War series, including two new playable factions in the form of the Imperial Sisters of Battle and the Dark Eldar. It is a stand-alone game and does not need the original Dawn of War disc to run, but players must have the prior games installed and valid cd-keys in order to play as anything but the two new factions online.

Star Wars: Battlefront is a series of first- and third-person shooter video games based on the Star Wars franchise. Players take the role of characters from the franchise in either of two opposing factions in different time periods of the Star Wars universe. The series was launched in 2004 by LucasArts with Star Wars: Battlefront, developed by Pandemic Studios for LucasArts. The game received positive reviews and sold well. In 2005 Pandemic developed a sequel, Star Wars: Battlefront II, which was also critically and commercially successful.

<i>Iron Grip: Warlord</i> 2008 video game

Iron Grip: Warlord is the first commercial release from independent video game developer ISOTX. It is a first-person shooter combined with many real-time strategy elements. It uses the id Tech 3 game engine and is set in the fictional universe of Iron Grip.

Stronghold 3 is a 2011 real-time strategy video game for Microsoft Windows developed by Firefly Studios and published by 7Sixty. The game is the seventh in the series after several spin-offs, including a remake, Stronghold: Crusader Extreme, and Stronghold Kingdoms. It is the sequel to Stronghold, released in 2001, and Stronghold 2 released in 2005. Unlike previous games in the series which were published by Take-Two Interactive, the game has been published by SouthPeak Games, the new parent company of Gamecock Media Group, publisher of Stronghold Crusader Extreme.

<i>Call of Duty: Ghosts</i> 2013 first-person shooter video game

Call of Duty: Ghosts is a 2013 first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. It is the tenth major installment in the Call of Duty series and the sixth developed by Infinity Ward. It was released for PlayStation 3, Wii U, Windows, and Xbox 360, on November 5, 2013. The game was released with the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

<i>Stronghold Crusader II</i> 2014 video game

Stronghold Crusader II is a real-time strategy video game, developed by Firefly Studios, part of the Stronghold series. It was released on September 23, 2014. It is the sequel to their 2002 title Stronghold: Crusader.

Men of War is a real-time tactics video game franchise, based mainly in World War II.

<i>Might & Magic Heroes VII</i> 2015 video game

Might & Magic Heroes VII is a turn-based strategy game in the Heroes of Might and Magic series. Like the other games in the series, players control leaders with magical abilities termed as "heroes", who recruit a variety of forces from strongholds. The heroes and their armies battle the opponents, who also use heroes to lead their forces. It features a campaign series of levels, standalone and multiplayer scenarios.

<i>Halo Wars 2</i> 2017 real-time strategy video game

Halo Wars 2 is a real-time strategy video game developed by 343 Industries and Creative Assembly. It was published by Microsoft Studios and released in February 2017 on Windows and Xbox One. The game is set in the science fiction universe of the Halo franchise in 2559. It is a sequel to Halo Wars (2009). The story follows the crew of Spirit of Fire, a United Nations Space Command (UNSC) ship. Spirit of Fire arrives at the Ark, a Forerunner installation responsible for constructing and remotely controlling the titular Halo rings. Conflict breaks out between the UNSC forces and an alien faction known as the Banished over control of the Ark.

<i>8-Bit Hordes</i> 2016 video game

8-Bit Hordes is a real-time strategy video game developed by Petroglyph Games, which was released on August 12, 2016, for Microsoft Windows. It uses the same engine as its predecessor 8-Bit Armies, but is now based in a fantasy themed scenario.

<i>Stronghold: Warlords</i> 2021 Real-time strategy game

Stronghold: Warlords is a real-time strategy game released in March 9, 2021, developed and published by Firefly Studios. Unlike the previous entries of the Stronghold series, which were focused on Europe during the Middle Ages, Stronghold: Warlords is set in East Asia, with campaigns based on historical events of China, Vietnam, and Japan.

References

  1. ↑ "Stronghold Legends". Firefly Studios . Archived from the original on August 22, 2008. Retrieved February 2, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Stronghold Crusader 2 is Out Now!". Firefly Studios. September 23, 2014. Archived from the original on October 2, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Firefly Studios Announces Stronghold: Warlord". Firefly Studios. June 11, 2019. Archived from the original on June 22, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Firefly Studios Announces Stronghold: Warlord Release Date". Youtube. June 12, 2020. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  5. ↑ Su, Jake (August 20, 2020). "Stronghold: Warlords delay sees new January release date". PC Invasion. Archived from the original on September 13, 2020. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Stronghold: Warlords Out Now!". March 9, 2021. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  7. ↑ Zegar, Michael (24 June 2022). "New Stronghold is Will be Powered by Unreal Engine 5". Game Pressure News. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.