During the Pre-release stage of this game, skirmishes were promised against AI or Human players; Steam even had the feature on the store page as well. After watching the DEV-team videos and listening to what they were "promising" I decided to pre-order it (pre-ordered it the day before it came out).

Fast Forward a day and stronghold 3 was released. The features that I had purchased this game for were missing from the in-game menu and when I got out to check the store page they had removed at least half of the bullet points for what this game was promising. Fraud?

The game itself is riddled with issues; path-finding, graphical mishaps, and the beloved soldiers mixed with wall syndrome. The skirmish is no longer a skirmish of any sort but a rather boring and pointless sandbox free-build mode where you build a glitched-out castle on one of 7 tiny maps.

The campaign itself is TERRIBLE. The cutscenes are storyboards, which they try to play off as art (something only BL2 was able to pull off without it seeming like the game was rushed and released without polish).

Dont buy this game. Dont buy any games from the criminals at Firefly, i wouldnt purchase this game for $0.50 and it was the last game I have or will ever pre-order. It's worth noting that after reading reviews of their newest "game" it appears that much of the same happened yet again. They simply cash in on a halfway decent game that was made 20 years ago without putting forth much effort to change or enhance anything. Terrible company, terrible games, and terrible ethics.

2/10
Overall, don't buy the game. Its terrible... It doesn't live up to the Stronghold series. Don't even buy it on a sale even if its $7.49. Go buy a small game with 8 dollars, you can probably find something with more playability. Go ahead and buy those cheap DLCs or cosmetics you've been wanting for your other games. Go ahead... its much better to buy cosmetic DLCs or small packs then it is to buy this game.

Category	Rating
Graphics	8/10 The games graphics are probably the best in the Stronghold series, but there are problems stated about this below
Modes	2/10 The lack of modes is terrible, there is no more skirmishes, there is a great lack of siege battles (and those siege battles are pathetic). There is no built in editor either.
Campaign	1/10 The campaign is terrible! I haven't even got through the first mission it was SO poor!
Building placement	3/10 This is a true horror. They added a nice new way to rotate buildings, but the downside is, it takes longer to place buildings now! But whats worse is the spaceing! You can't place buildings closer than 6 feet now! Buildings are so spaced, but the maps (which I won't do a category on) are also terrible! You can only place buildings on 1/4 of the map, because of the elevation, and the strict limits! You have to be careful of where you place, and you can only place so few buildings because of the stupid placement system.
Bugs and crashes	4/10 I myself haven't saw much bugs (but I have heard of a lot) But crashes, theres a lot of that too. Not even 2 hours, and I already had a crash. The first Stronghold is more stable with crashes, even though I have Windows 8 and no compability mode on!
How it runs	2/10 LAG LAG LAG and low FPS. I really don't know if its my computer or the game, but it has a low FPS. Other people have stated there was lag though. But it is bad... I can run 800 people with a small castle on the map in Stronghold 2 on high graphics, here I can't run 100 people on the map with even medium graphics. Avoid.
Extra	Once, a Youtuber named DiplexHeated said,"The buildings are terrible. It all just feels like a village, unlike a castle you'd see in Stronghold 2."

About as fun as masterbating with sandpaper

I preordered this game for $50 and to date that is the most I have ever been robbed by a game purchase.

I remember watching and interview with the lead developer before the game came out where he expressed they'd learnt from all the fan feedback from stronghold 2... Apparently all they learnt from it was how to make a crappier game then their previous titles.

Stonghold 2 is not generally considered the favourite in the series, but comparing 3 to 2... 2 wins. 3 has absolutely no redeeming gameplay features. Visually it looks better (excepting personal taste) but even the lauded features like wall destruction physics which are nice to look at in actual fact make the gameplay much worse. I have never before played a game where the walls are hands down the worst place to position your archers... They will recieve no extended range, no cover, and are more vulnurable as they will fall to their death when the enemies weakest units chips down your stone walls in seconds with their daggers. Pretty much the opposite of a castle "sim".

The ecconomic sim is also suffered. Smaller maps and bigger building footprints means you can't construct a small castle town let alone a complex one. Clunkier interface, less building options, dumber AI (how do you even achieve that?) and all around less content makes this a step backwards from the series previous installments in pretty much ever single way except graphics rendering.

If I could get my money back I would because I don't think I have ever been more disapointed in a studio... This is the game that was the straw that broke the camels back as far as my personal policy on preordering games goes. As it stands I wont even consider getting stronghold 4 until it's been out for a year, has 8 out of 10 reviews and I've had the opertunity to try a demo.

I really don't know what Firefly was thinking releasing this....
If you have played Stronghold 2, then you already own/played a better game than this.
This is Stronghold 2, but missing all the good stuff.
Falcon Post: gone
Skirmish: Gone
Torture's Guild: Gone
Magistrates Office: Gone
Guard Post(for catching criminals): Gone
Sewer Pits: Gone
This list goes on...
If anything this is "Stronghold 1.1" NOT 3
Find a copy of Stronghold 2, before even giving 4.50$ for this. Not only will you enjoy the game, but its finished, with a ton more detail.
I hate having to give this game a bad review, I really love the Stronghold series. But, this is very close to a "facebook" game, it is lacking so much!

Bad pathfinding and bugs, glitches, and hell knows what else beyond comprehension plague this game. I have gotten hours of enjoyment out of it, but that was only because I am a die-hard stronghold fan. Anything less will find no enjoyment in this game, only the frustration of trying to get not everything, but ANYthing at all to work the way you want it to. There are only 2 solid points to this game - the graphics and the gridless building system, both of which are the best in the series as of the time of this review. The military units don't behave properly and have minimal AI on their own...there IS no AI for enemy opponents whatsoever, meaning more often than not they sit there doing ♥♥♥♥all until you go to them instead, there are massive game-breaking glitches with the physics and pathfinding, and the multiplayer servers are so god awful that they had to slap a 150 troop limit and 125 building limit (INCLUDING TOWERS AND GATEHOUSES) into the multiplayer to make it barebones functional and you can still expect massive lag left and right - not computer lag, but network lag where the whole game will slow to a crawl.

Want the bonuses of a 3D stronghold game that doesn't suck and has functional multiplayer? Go get crusader 2.

Otherwise just get ANY game in the series besides this one. This is the ONLY game in the entire series that I would not recommend, as it is the only one that provides more frustration than it does fun - the next worst in the series falls to Stronghold Legends, which is not nearly as bad as this and is easily playable and enjoyable.

Shame on firefly. Money grabbing ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥s to ruin a great series with a broken mess that is SH3t. They never fixed the game because its unfixable and are still trying to sell this pos on steam. Shame on Steam too. Firefly will never see another dollar from me.

dear developers
....................../´¯/)
....................,/¯../
.................../..../
............./´¯/'...'/´¯¯`·¸
........../'/.../..../......./¨¯\
........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')
.........\.................'...../
..........''...\.......... _.·´
............\..............(
..............\.............\...

Buggy, missing key features, never fully fixed. Buy the older games or perhaps Crusader 2 instead.

I still can't see why they couldn't at least update this game so you can build walls and gates in practical spots and all these pictures showing horizions and skies yet I've never been able to change my camera angle it makes the game (graphically anyway) look alot better than it is, it's very dissapointing I'm loving Crusader 2 but I still want to finish this campaign, they really need a major overhaul of this game. I wish I could recommend this game but I would be lying if I did. :(

This games problems are many and varied.The balance and AI are near nonexistent. The graphics are clunky and uncharming, the pathfinding is painful and sticky. This game lacks the charm and humor of the first game. Hopefully one day the king will return and a developer will create a proper sequel to the beloved first Stronghold

I've had a few attempts playing this game, let me summarise:

At launch: a buggy mess, a festival of bugs and crashes and AI/UI issues. You could not place certain (crucial) structures like steps .. which would allow you to mount archers on the walls. Archers did not return fire as mace-men approached your walls. It was a ridiculous and frustrating mess. Only positive I can say is I liked some of the gritty art style.

A few months later: it seemed like the developer was as disappointed as most consumers .. there was apparently some advices saying they blamed the publisher who pushed for an early release, and that they would endeavour to give consumers the game that they deserve through patching and constant and consistent after-sale improvements. (Apparently the game we deserve is 'poo poo' because even with them working through the list of problems, the game, although playable in some ways, was still deeply flawed. Archers still wouldnt retaliate, still had issues placing simple things like stairs up to walls).

About a year after launch: I decide to give the game one last try. (Loved earlier Stronghold titles and the concept in general). They made some improvements to the game .. archers could fire back .. structures could be placed .. overall the game became somewhat playable .. BUT .. even after all that work they really barely achieve 'passable' .. archers may retaliate, but there's no mechanic for wall cover, and they get no elevation bonus to range or accuracy .. so basically 20 archers attacking a wall v 20 archers on a wall .. probably the attackers would win because they are clustered into one big kill-group, firing all their arrows together accurately, while the wall guys are scattered about and some would be out of range to attack... but yeah, basically the ones on the wall get no benefit). Also you'll place units on a wall and they will become un-movable. Just plain stuck.

So basically, despite a good legacy and concept, the game sucks.

This game is amazing on graphics and the A.I is major improvement from stroghold 2 but there is no option for A.I skirmish battles. Campaign can get a little un-interesting as building variety is different with each mission

I got this game because it was on sale and I enjoyed Stronghold 2. I decided that I would try out the peacefull mode first. After building a wooden wall that reached far out into the sea and ran through a whale, I learned all that I needed to know about this game. The graphics are pretty, but the soldiers and overall AI do not act intellgiently at all.

Would have been more acceptable with the issues it has and the graphics if it was Early Access, since its a release the developers should feel ashamed at ruining a franchise like Stronghold. Add to that the fact that this is a 3 year old game and its still 29.99? Its nice that its ported to linux but would have been better if Stronghold: Crusader HD would be ported to linux, an all around better game.

This game is terrible, coded horribly and trying to sell this lack all ethics. want to pla stronghold, buy the stronghold collection on here and play stronghold 2. its a much better game than this heap of crap.

Sorry,you are viewing the wrong site.
Go search "Stronghold Crusader Collection" or "Stronghold Crusader HD" instead m'lord.

just bad, no other words, not even worth the discount, be smart and save your money for another game

Just no. NEVER BUY THIS GAME EVER.

Guess there isn't much I can say on this game. I bought it when it first released, and it was in a pitiful state. Fast forward three years, and the game is still not in any better state. There are plenty of bugs, and terrible design choices that should have never made it into this game. Many features that were promised never made it into the final release of the game, with much more being cut for one reason or another. Overall, I would not recommend this game to anyone who loves this series, and to go back and play the Stronghold Collection that comes with Stronghold, Stronghold Crusader(extreme), Stronghold 2, and Stronghold Legends which are all far superior games to this pile of rubbish.