Stronghold HD

Stronghold HD is a reboot of the first game in the real-time strategy series released in 2001. The gameplay hasn't been changed at all in this re-edition. The developers limited their enhancements solely to increasing the maximum screen resolution to 2560x1600 pixels and adding the zoom feature.

Once again, we assume the role of a pretender to the throne of the divided England. However, there are a few adversaries ready to sacrifice their subordinates in combat only to ensure our failure. With that in mind, we start a 21-mission campaign that gets harder as we progress in the storyline. At first, we have only a wooden keep and a handful of people at our disposal. With time, our stronghold becomes much more impressive and provides protection against mightier foes.

The gameplay is composed of two equally important elements. The first one consists in ensuring the welfare of our subordinates. In order to do that, we erect buildings producing food and resources necessary to forge weapons. All surpluses go to the granary. With economy lovers in mind, the developers prepared a special campaign that focuses on the economic aspect, skipping the military part completely.

The military aspect mostly boils down to sieges in which hundreds of units fight against each other. The attacker tries to breach his enemy's walls as quickly as possible using catapults and trebuchets. It is also possible to launch cows' carcasses at your adversary. The defenders also have a bunch of deadly weapons at their disposal. On this side of the conflict, tar plays the most important role for it can be lit up with flaming arrows or spilt on the heads of storming soldiers. Apart from the campaign, the players have the possibility of playing a few scenarios focused on sieges. They can also play against other people.

The audiovisual layer of Stronghold HD differs from the original version of the game first and foremost in terms of much higher screen resolution. Along with the zoom feature, it allows the player to capture e.g. an entire siege on screen.

Last updated on August 14, 2015