This is clearly my favourite part of the Stronghold-series.
There are some people here on Steam who say that the first parts (which I enjoyed too) were so much better - even their graphics. But I think they must either play with their eyes closed or have some extraordinarily nostalgic feelings towards those older games. In the early games, building walls takes ages, parts of the battlefield are not visible on the screen, infantry is able to cut down walls as if they were made of cake, controlling certain types of units is very complicated and affords a lot of micro-management, multiplayer games can only be played in insecure networks, the graphics are just as you would expect them from a game of that time ... And on the other hand, Stronghold Crusader II is a mature multiplayer-game with wonderful graphics.

The "Crusader"-games were always meant to be serious real-time-strategy-games for multiplayer-gaming, with a focus on building and besieging strongholds, while other parts of the series follow slightly different concepts. In "Stronghold Crusader II", you don't lose much time to trivialities. Building a stronghold is super-easy and done by a few clicks. Building up a strong economy is very important and affords multi-tasking, but taking care of it doesn't take too much time as well. At the marketplace, which is probably the most important building of all, it's possible to define limits up to which goods should be bought or sold automatically. So even thogh there is more to do than just fighting, there is always enough time to focus on the battlefield.

There are three different buildings where units can be recruited: One for ordinary units (which afford weapons and gold), one for mercenaries (which are only payed with gold) and one for machines (for which you only have to spend gold too). These buildings provide many different types of units with different strengths and weaknesses, and they can be recruited very quickly at any time (as long as you've got enough weapons and/or gold), so tactics can be changed quickly and easily.

The graphics are simply amazing. You can see towers shake and bricks and soldiers fall off walls when they are hit, which makes the game appear very alive.

All in all, there is no reason not to recommend this game. It's an original, one of its kind, well-produced, full of action and fun and still cheap (the DLCs aren't needed in multiplayer-games). See you there!

This is clearly my favourite part of the Stronghold-series. There are some people here on Steam who say that the first parts (which I enjoyed too) were so much better - even their graphics. But I think they must either play with their eyes closed or have some extraordinarily nostalgic feelings towards those older games. In the early games, building walls takes ages, parts of the battlefield are not visible on the screen, infantry is able to cut down walls as if they were made of cake, controlling certain types of units is very complicated and affords a lot of micro-management, multiplayer games can only be played in insecure networks, the graphics are just as you would expect them from a game of that time ... And on the other hand, Stronghold Crusader II is a mature multiplayer-game with wonderful graphics. The "Crusader"-games were always meant to be serious real-time-strategy-games for multiplayer-gaming, with a focus on building and besieging strongholds, while other parts of the series follow slightly different concepts. In "Stronghold Crusader II", you don't lose much time to trivialities. Building a stronghold is super-easy and done by a few clicks. Building up a strong economy is very important and affords multi-tasking, but taking care of it doesn't take too much time as well. At the marketplace, which is probably the most important building of all, it's possible to define limits up to which goods should be bought or sold automatically. So even thogh there is more to do than just fighting, there is always enough time to focus on the battlefield. There are three different buildings where units can be recruited: One for ordinary units (which afford weapons and gold), one for mercenaries (which are only payed with gold) and one for machines (for which you only have to spend gold too). These buildings provide many different types of units with different strengths and weaknesses, and they can be recruited very quickly at any time (as long as you've got enough weapons and/or gold), so tactics can be changed quickly and easily. The graphics are simply amazing. You can see towers shake and bricks and soldiers fall off walls when they are hit, which makes the game appear very alive. All in all, there is no reason not to recommend this game. It's an original, one of its kind, well-produced, full of action and fun and still cheap (the DLCs aren't needed in multiplayer-games). See you there!