I originally posted this at the Total war guild forum, but thought some here might also be interested.

I had not been following this, but just happen to come across the news that a new Stronghold game is due to be released by Firefly this summer. It was slated for spring, but was moved back to allow further development.

The first Stronghold game released in 2001 was a quite fun, and I have played through its campaign at least 4 or 5 times over the years--just recently in the last 6 months. It's a 2D isometric view medieval castle building/combat RTS style game. It had a fun storyline with great villains and lots of tongue in cheek humor pertaining to the middle ages.

They released a self contained expansion of the game set in the crusades about a year later. It was OK, but I didn't find it nearly as much fun as the first game.

Then in 2005, they released Stronghold 2. This was the first full 3D version of the game, and it came close to killing the franchise. At release it was almost unplayable. The path-finding was quite flawed and there was a memory leak that brought the game to almost a stand still after about 30 minutes of play. They finally corrected the lag/memory leak issues, but basically the story was just was lame, the game play was weak, and it simply lacked all the charm of the original.

Firefly later released a stand alone fantasy sequel, but dragons and wizards are not my cup of tea, so I passed on it. Sometime in the last few years they launched an MMO based of the original 2d game, but I also have no interest in MMO's

However, according to this interview, the developer is going back to the core values of the first game while keeping the 3D aspect. This time they are using a game engine developed by somebody else, so they claim that they can concentrate on the game play, humor, and a story line that made the first game so much fun.

They are even reviving the main villain "The Wolf" from the first game which is pretty amazing--considering that at the end of the game, he fell from a 4 story tower after being stabbed through the chest with a sword. I guess one can cut them some slack on this if the story is still entertaining.

Of course I will wait for some positive reviews, but will most likely pick it up if it turns out to be anything near what they claim. I guess I just have a weakness for things medieval which don't rely on multiplayer.

Cheers

Just about to finish Stronghold, wonder what happens to the Wolf at the end....wha?



Lol, only joking I've never played it but have seen it around. Do you have sieges in the game?

Never thought to add a spoiler since this was mentioned in the interview--and it is almost a 10 year old game

In answer to your question. It is all about sieges---there are no field battles other than a little combat that might take place outside the castle walls.

I have never been into stuff like the "Age of Empires" style RTS, but this one is one of my all time favorites just because of the medieval setting and the fact that I get to use catapults, ballista, and trebuchets. The music is very good and the game is filled with fun animations and humor.

Here is a link to a demo:

http://www.fileplanet.com/69696/60000/fileinfo/FireFly-Studios-Stronghold-Demo

and here is the full game for sale at GOG for only $5.99. There also a few screen shots at GOG

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/stronghold

Hard to believe that the full game is only 590 MB

Cheers

Oh cool :-) thanks for the link i think ill get it!

I think you'll like it and what the heck, it costs hardy more than the price of a pint in London from what I hear now.


Cheers