Stronghold Crusader 📽 Through the Lens

As I've warned you already you filthy heavens! We are doing the objectively best stronghold game today - For the Crusade!

Yes, yes. I know. Simmer down. I know what I said so simmer down! Legends is my favorite Stronghold game. But I can say that and still acknowledge that Stronghold Crusader is the ultimate Stronghold experience. Objectively speaking. // yes I can separate my feelings from the facts, I know, miraculous

As such❗️ In this edition of Through the Lens 🎞, we'll be taking a look at Firefly Studio's magnum opus castle builder from from 2002: Stronghold Crusader, Roll it! 📽

Some would argue this soundtrack is nearly as legendary as the original Stronghold's. I would.... lean towards the first one being better. But this one is def no slouch. 🤷‍♂️ Regardless, the sound of Stronghold is def memorable and recognizable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9foO7qWlNds

As with all the Stronghold games (yes, all of them!) I played Crusader at release. At the time it was nuts. It felt like Stronghold on steroids (and not we're not talking about Crusader Extreme here).

And for all intents and purposes, it was just that. But before we dive into that, let's talk about what bummed me most about this game when I was a youngin'.

The campaign (or lack thereof) was a real bummer for me. 😭

"Twas said that a million young children cried out in sorrow when they discovered Crusader had no campaign. Twas true, was holy, was suffering." Yours Younger Truly, 2002

Of course, Crusader was always meant to be multiplayer focussed. But coming from Stronghold and its's amazing campaign. The lack of a story mode just felt underwhelming. 🙃

To clarify, there is a campaign. or rather a series of campaigns. But the missions are few and have little throughline or intrigue. You are just reenacting the crusades. And while that does sound fun, in practice it felt... meh. Shallow. 🤷‍♂️

The game does have a series of challenge modes where you battle other rulers and such under preset conditions. And those are the real single-player meat of the game.

Lords you say? Yaaaassss. Roll it!

The Lords in this game are divided into two halves: Christianity and Islam. / / as always, Firefly are masters at... grouping? eh

You have four of the same characters from the original game (namely the wolf, snake, pig, and rat) along with a host of other historic figures (like Lionheart and Saladin). There is no difference between lords of the same "class" as it were. But there are differences between the two factions. // as it were

Each faction gets a unique barracks that spawns unique units for the said faction. This barracks is the precursor to Legends' amazing Class units. The Islamic host gets its own unique units, the Christians get there's (equal opportunity for all!). There is some crossover between the two, but more or less this is the defining factor in your choosing a play style. // you like that wording? eh? no? yes? ok

This comes most into play in the game's main game mode: skirmish.

So before each skirmish match, you can decide on how much gold you or your opponent will give. Gold is the main power balancer in Crusader. The rest of the game functions virtually the same as the first one. Except now you have a few more buildings to play with.

When you play the single-player skirmishes, the gold distribution is decided. i.e. it's the game's difficulty.

But multiplayer was where it was at booooyyyyssss. I remember playing Crusader a lot when I was but a wee lad in school. My IT classes were basically Stronghold Crusader classes. 😂

The game actually allows for many strategies. You can be an aggressive little $#!& burning down your opponent's buildings and farmers. You can build close to your castle and make it so you are an impenetrable turtle - and anything in-between. The game is flexible in that way.

Also, the different maps of course play a factor. 😁 All in all, every match gives you different obstacles to overcome, and that's all you require from a good multiplayer game.

The best stronghold game? Yay? Nay? I think so. 😁

The first Stronghold game outsold GTA 3 in Europe. So the franchise already had a strong start. This one just took it to the next level. it's a shame that firefly never really managed to reach the rights that this game brought. A real shame. I'm always looking forward to the new Stronghold game. Always being disappointed in the process. 😭

But, for a moment, let's pretend this was the last Stronghold game. And we went out on the highest of notes. 🎶

And of course I highly recommend trying this game out. If you have any passing interest in simulation games then give this a try. The RTS components are small and inconsiderate. There is fun to be had for most types of gamers here. It's also a good game in general, so can't go wrong. 😘

Shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙

I'm not doing a Stronghold 2 article, nor any of the new ones. I was never a fan of Stronghold 2, and the newer ones are just... I don't like making hate pieces let's just say. 😂

Hope you guys enjoyed another blast from the past! As always, I have no clue where we'll be next but I hope you join me!

Thanks for reading, and I hope at least one person fired up their old copy of this amazing game.

👊 Follow me on my HIVE blog 👊

Have a great day and stay safe! 🙌

Return from Stronghold Crusader 📽 Through the Lens to Јоцко's Web3 Blog