A desert castle-builder with siege warfare
Stronghold Crusader HD is a real-time strategy game set during the Crusades, mixing economy management with castle sieges. You build and run a desert fortress: gather resources, raise buildings, and train troops, then defend your walls or march on the enemy. The package includes both Stronghold Crusader and Stronghold Crusader Extreme, with Extreme playing like the original plus additions such as a unit cap raised from 1000 to 10,000 troops, Tactical Powers like Arrow Volley, new buildings, and the Crusader Extreme skirmish trail. New units include the stealthy Assassin and the nimble Horse Archer, and new siege engines and castle defenses are available for your fortress.
Playing together
Online PvP lets you take other players on directly, building your own fortress and commanding your army against theirs in real time. The HD battlefield view zooms out so the whole map fits on one screen, which makes it easier to coordinate flanks, feign a retreat into a trap, or watch a siege play out across the field. Beyond PvP, there are over 100 unique skirmish missions and four historical campaigns covering the First, Second, and Third Crusades along with conflicts within the Crusader states, including Nicea, Heraclea, the siege of Antioch, Krak des Chevaliers, and the Siege of Jerusalem. You can play as Richard the Lionheart or as Saladin, Sultan of Syria, and the Crusader Trails from Stronghold Warchest and Stronghold Crusader Extreme are included.
Before you start
The game runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10 with added compatibility, and the HD update brings high-resolution graphics with support for new HD resolutions. Expect a mix of base building, resource management, and real-time tactics rather than pure combat, so a good economy matters as much as your troop count. The AI opponents are described as fiendish, and the skirmish missions grow more challenging as you go, so the later ones ask for solid fortress design and unit control.