Stronghold Legends: Steam Edition (PC) Review

Without exaggeration, Stronghold Legends is nothing but a series of bad game design choices, so, let the count begin! First of all, this throws the historical accuracy of the series out of the oriel, and instead takes its inspiration from mythology, with characters like King Arthur, Vlad the Impaler (in his non-historical, "Blah" version, of course), and so on. While not an actual problem per se, it sort of destroys the "heart" of the franchise, and turns it into a generic fantasy RTS.

The second issue with this is that this departs from the "sim" aspect the series was known for. Stronghold started as game that was mainly focused in dealing with the creation of a castle that would serve as an economic powerhouse, and then fiddle with almost everything concerning the life around this fortress. Castle building in Legends feels like any typical RTS: build some structures, and then, off to the battle you go!

The problem? The actual battle portion of the game is far from an exciting, or at least, well-functioning one. Normal units need an awful amount of babysitting, and even then, they tend to react in the silliest manner possible… not to mention that selecting them is a real hassle. As for the more "special" units, heroes move like slugs and are not as effective as one would expect, and the big honchos like dragons, giants, and so on, tend to go down way too easy for their insane cost.

Generally, this isn't a well-thought product. More evidence about that? Peasants in the keep will work or not work at a whim. The population can be happy, and yet, some won't move their behinds and work on constructed facilities. Furthermore, the "alerts" are broken beyond belief, with frequent messages about the castle being invaded by enemy troops being a lie, something that makes players panic, and moves their attention from the battlefield to the base without any reason.

The dungeons & dragons turn that this has made doesn't help either. Yes, it's possible to create dragons, werewolves, vampires, and many more - so? Does it really make things interesting in any way? Not really. All these fantasy elements exist here just for the sake of existing, with units feeling the same no matter the faction selected. The final nail on the coffin of this "remaster?" Crashes to the desktop, glitches, bugs, and, on top of it all, the same lacklustre visuals as before.