Stronghold is a series of real-time strategy video games created and owned by British developer Firefly Studios.
Set in medieval times, players take on the role of a lord or lady who must build and defend their castle, as well as conquer their enemies.
The second main title Stronghold 2 (2005) was released on an ambitious yet lackluster and buggy 3D engine, followed by numerous patches to fix the bugs, culminating in Stronghold 2 Deluxe which was a fully stable and patched version released six month after the main title.
The third main title Stronghold 3 (2011) was released by a new parent company based on a new game engine.
The game is set in medieval England and follows the story of a young lord who must unite the country after the death of the king.
Upon its release, many players were outraged by the game's frequent crashes, lag (even while playing offline on a computer with exceptional hardware), and overall buggy nature.
Firefly Studios paid much attention to the gaming community's complaints, and promised fixes in later patches.
Patch 1.3.1, released on October 28, 2005, brought a "Conquest Trail" to the game, similar to that of Stronghold: Crusader.
[1] Stronghold 3 is a 2011 real-time strategy game, featuring more realistic shadows, landscapes, units, buildings, day/night cycle, and weather, based on a new 3D game engine, allowing the player to construct walls and buildings at non-parallel angles.
Stronghold: Warlords is a new title set in ancient China, based on a highly improved engine, in terms of coloring, style, unit details and building architecture.
Compared to previous titles, the game places a much heavier weight on aesthetics and cosmetics, as well as their positive or negative effect on the population, which reflects in the gameplay.
The game was revealed during E3 2019 and was originally planned to be released on September 29, 2020,[3][4] but it was delayed to January 26, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
[8] On 24 June 2022, Firefly Studios announced the development of a new Stronghold title based on Unreal Engine 5.