I mostly recommend Stronghold: Definitive Edition

When i was playing this game 20 years ago, i thought in 20 years time, strategy games will be amazing and so much more evolved. Sadly, here we are, going back to the "glory days" because there's barely any progression beyond shinier graphics.

Hopefully they make a version like this for Crusader with a skirmish mode. I would definitely buy it.

Stronghold is the example that shows that a game does not need to have fancy graphics to be great. Stronghold is so great, because the game reacts to the player's choice

Anyone who likes strategy games but hasn't played I highly recommend it, this games charm is unmatched, played it in 2000s and I was spending hours just making most unpenetrable castles for absolutely no reason but fun, never got into the second and third one but this and the Crusader are my absolute favorite right there with Red Alert 2

I see people complaining about the lack of skirmish mode and I totally get that as I myself would have loved to see it included. However, this ultimately just a remake. A well made one with some new things added but a remake all the same. Adding skirmish mode would require a level of enemy AI that Stronghold 1 frankly does not have. You will notice that virtually all the missions are either you in control of a castle with maybe an enemy occasionally spanning in troops at the signpost to invade or you yourself are the invading force and the enemy castle is more or less static (ie lacking any true economy and not being able to create more troops). The closest Stronghold 1 has to skirmish is that last mission with the Snake but even that is him in a static castle while Pig invades with troops spawned at the signpost. So unless they can somehow copy paste the AI from Stronghold Crusader or build it from the ground up, I just do not see it happening. But hey, hopefully we will also get a definitive edition for Crusader.

This one hurts. Skirmish would have been an easy purchase. As it stands, gonna have to pass on this one.

Good review and as always, being reviewed by a fan makes a huge difference. Learnt a lot so definitely be thinking about buying myself a copy and replaying it too haha and also useful to know what issues it still have.

no skirmish mode killed it for me,i was imensely disapointed.

I am very glad it turned out so well! If they would included more extensive modding tools I would have bought it in a second, might still in the future. Who knows

Going to be looking forward to a Stronghold Crusader Definitive Edition in the future. I hope that they add new units and a newer crusader trail too. Maybe even combining both Crusader and Crusader Extreme into one game for the definitive edition.

What were they thinking releasing Stronghold without skirmish? That's what made the game timeless, not campaign and scenarios.

Not having skirmish killed the appeal for me

i like how transparent this guy was with his affiliation that's comforting really XD

been looking for something like this for a while! thanks!

Great, level-headed and fair review from someone who clearly knows the game well. Bravo!

My dad got me into this game when I was little, I’m 23 now when this is coming out and I bought it as soon as I saw it. I thought you made great points in the video and I really wish there was a skirmish AI too because that’s basically the crusader campaign but it’s completely missing from the new version :(

Really would love to see the classic left click control scheme showing up again in newer titles, not just remasters.

Great review. On top of the Steam multiplayer and new campaign there are several good QOL improvements and bug fixes in it and I am currently really enjoying the game. But yea: 12:15 I am totally with you on that and would love if that was a possibility.

I will definitely be picking this up. I love the improvements. I don’t care for multiplayer or co-op so those things don’t affect me. The skirmish mode I can live without for now. I’d love to crusader get the same treatment and it will be interesting to see what comes out of steam workshop.

I am looking forward to those DLC because both the pig and the wolf retook counties in SH so maybe that's what we are getting. I did want to play has the bad guys during their rebellion but this is close enough.