Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition Review

Lots of real-time strategy games have done castle defenses and sieges, but few have committed to a full-blown ‘castle sim’ angle as well as the Stronghold series. Though most entries past the original and Crusader struggled to captivate critics and players, Firefly Studios – now owned by Devolver Digital – has managed to keep that spark alive for many years. Now, Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition arrives 13 years after its HD re-release and less than two after the original game’s remastered refresh.

Originally released in 2002, Stronghold Crusader moved the action to the Middle East during the Crusades and added a much-celebrated skirmish mode vs. AI opponents on top of the traditional campaign. The change of scenery also led to major changes in the central gameplay loop, such as farms that can only be built on the healthy soil of oases, which makes fights over the limited resources of maps tenser. This also means carefully placing such buildings and maximizing the use of limited grids is key to maintaining the populace well fed.

Crusader is ‘more Stronghold in a different setting’ otherwise; there’s no need to deny that. It was a good, old-fashioned sequel. That said, as a direct follow-up to the original, it packed a number of improvements that secured it a glowing reputation for more than 20 years now. After a number of misfires while trying to expand the series, we weren’t surprised by Firefly Studios’ push to make their two undeniable wins in the RTS space even better and future-proofed.

After spending some time with this Definitive Edition, I found it hard not to walk away impressed by both the resources and care put into this remaster, but also by how well its core loop holds up after all these years. As proven by the recent Age of Empires DEs at Xbox Game Studios, most RTS classics just need the right amount of tweaks and smart improvements to feel relevant once again.

The magical thing about Stronghold (and the better riffs on its formula we’ve seen since its birth) is how you’re able to eventually automate everything. Whereas many sim RTS games include lots of micromanagement, Stronghold is always about the larger picture. The urban planning elements from Caesar and Pharaoh aren’t a thing here, but the bulk of the game is about putting down buildings in the right places to letting NPCs do their thing. Unemployed peasants automatically grab jobs wherever available and resources start to flow. That’s an oversimplification of the process though; as just maintaining a balance is tricky. But you get the idea. Put in enough work and focus on having impenetrable defenses and you’ll end up with a fortified village that runs itself.

So, instead of spending too much time managing what everyone is doing, you’re mostly dictating what shape your castle and its surroundings will take, preparing troops for the impending battles, and looking after the people’s needs with optimized grid layouts. In Crusader, as stated before, the deserts and oases are at the center of the town-building strategy in each different map. This meant that, despite my extensive experience with the original, I often had to ‘redo’ entire sections of my strongholds because I could’ve built five bakeries instead of four if I’d played with the available space a bit better, for example.

There’s a pleasant rhythm to Stronghold Crusader in its quiet moments, and when you’re playing through the (mostly fictionalized) historical campaigns and ‘trail’ scenarios, it often feels like a real-time puzzle. The conditions and limitations often change, and, many times, enemy armies aren’t the main obstacle. Nonetheless, and no matter your faction of choice, the fate of your stronghold is always decided by your military units and how they’re used. Enemy AI lords can still make some baffling choices though. Check out the awesome sandbox mode if you just want to build a fantastic-looking castle without any external pressure. (This is a personal favorite of mine considering how gorgeous Crusader’s DE looks.)

Unlike in other RTS, weapons and equipment for the warriors need to be created before they can be trained, which ties into the game’s entire ‘flow of resources’ system. Even if you automate the mining of iron and blacksmiths are doing their thing, you’ll need an armory to store weapons and enough gold (via taxes or trading) before you can train a new army. This also affects your popularity and so on, so you can see how it all comes together despite its surface-level simplicity. Thankfully, it’s easy to keep track of how you’re doing and switching between different building types and info breakdowns, as even at its most complex, Stronghold Crusader is never overwhelming. There’s room for extra UI improvements that could make some interactions faster and more natural though.

Across its many modes – including campaigns, trails, skirmish maps, custom scenarios, and online with leaderboards – Stronghold Crusader’s strengths are always at the front. This game still is easy to recommend to anyone, whether they’re newcomers or lapsed veterans. It’s just delightfully uncomplicated but also demanding in a way that feels fair as you dial up the difficulty and explore the harsher missions and trails. Jump into the timed ‘Sands of Time’ trails if you’re looking for an especially pushing experience or venture into all-new battles with the co-op trail. On top of everything, the new Bedouin warriors are units worth using and mastering, as they’re surprisingly flexible and enable alternative strategies that weren’t present in the previous iterations of Crusader.

The upgraded visuals and audio, which includes new recordings, aren’t overdone either. Perhaps an outsourced remaster (I’m looking at you, Blizzard) would’ve altered the art direction in ways that felt excessive, but Firefly Studios’ approach to refreshing the 3D models across the board is just perfect to accommodate the much higher resolutions we use nowadays without betraying the original vision behind the game’s presentation. I’m also happy to confirm the performance is silky smooth, with no weird stutters cropping up while scrolling/panning. (Somehow, this was an issue in some of the HD remasters of the old AoE titles.)

The icing on the cake are the extensive post-launch content plans (free and paid) which have been revealed. When coupled with full Steam Workshop support, the in-game map editor, and the deep online multiplayer, it’s hard to imagine the series’ super passionate community not embracing Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition for years to come.

Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition launches on July 15, 2025, on Steam (no word yet on a GOG release) with a price tag of $19,99 (regular price).