Stronghold: Crusader II

 PC
User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 250 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 102 out of 250
  2. Mixed: 71 out of 250
  3. Negative: 77 out of 250
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  1. cercisyusuf
    Sep 8, 2023
    7
    they dont do new thinks we need more soldier types and more lord types so score is not so nice
  2. IamNader
    May 9, 2023
    6
    Love the first game and it is similar to the original, but unique enough to feel the difference - 6/10
  3. aecsuter
    Sep 5, 2022
    4
    My review is based on my experience playing today!
    I didn't find the campaign fun, it's very difficult to see things in the scenario even after playing for a while.
    For those who liked the game and for nostalgia ok, but buying to meet today I didn't think it was a good experience.
  4. elliedriver1996
    Jun 23, 2022
    2
    This game is a major disapointment. There is no benefit to destroying Ai's buildings, as they can literally cheat and materialize troops and supplies out of mid air. Enemies will go out of their way to attack you, sometimes literally working with another AI who isnt even
    on their team against you. By the way, you have to comb over the battlefield constanly because your troops are so    This game is a major disapointment. There is no benefit to destroying Ai's buildings, as they can literally cheat and materialize troops and supplies out of mid air. Enemies will go out of their way to attack you, sometimes literally working with another AI who isnt even
    on their team against you. By the way, you have to comb over the battlefield constanly because your troops are so incompetent on their own that you have to babysit them. Several times when i attacked an enemy lord, my troops stood around him in a circle
    doing nothing, attacking ony one at a time.
    Dozens of swordsmen should not take 3 minutes to kill an enemy lord. Everything about this game stinks. I mean the buildings are lackluster and bland, the voice acting sounds lazy, there is no fear factor bonus, maps are terrible and unbalanced (even the 'balanced' ones) and dont get me started on how costly everything is. A tiny hut for weapons is 50 wood but a two story wood cutters hut is 20 wood. A market is a whooping 200 wood. So make sure you buy that first or you will be screwed out of playing. There is also no tower mountable seige equipment. You have to instead over pay for a weird scaffolding tower with a catapult attached to it, which takes up valuable space that these maps simply dont give you. All and all, stick with the classic crusader. Maybe one day firefly studios will get the memo and stop loving the smell of their own farts and return back to what gave this series a following to begin with. If it aint broke, dont fix it. Please stop trying to re invent the wheel Firefly studios.    … Expand
  5. Merti
    Mar 21, 2022
    6
    They scored on the game ... Developed, return the stronghold to us, or, well, work with the 2-part
  6. Ashkanniazi
    Jan 21, 2021
    0
    big disappointment so bad its not a stronghold game
    Dont buy this game so many bug, crash and low fps in any case
    bad story, gameplay is ruined for bugs
  7. DarthVenom
    Feb 11, 2020
    3
    Still playing Stronghold Crusader 1 since it was relesed and love every sec. spent not 10000h, years on it. But this one doesnt deliver as the old one.. I believe they need to go back of making game to be simple. I dont care about graphics, I care about better AI, more units, upgrading, more freedom of building. I feel that Firefly is realy focusing more on graphics how it will look. JustStill playing Stronghold Crusader 1 since it was relesed and love every sec. spent not 10000h, years on it. But this one doesnt deliver as the old one.. I believe they need to go back of making game to be simple. I dont care about graphics, I care about better AI, more units, upgrading, more freedom of building. I feel that Firefly is realy focusing more on graphics how it will look. Just bring back how it was, you have game that sell it self. There is still more players on SC1 than SC2, and that tells something, it is not only nostalgia, it is great simple gameplay.… Expand
  8. CDannyZ
    Nov 23, 2019
    8
    Lets be honest, the first was much better. But this Is also Fun to play. The only thing i hate Is optimalization, Its horrible
  9. Mirannejad76
    Sep 4, 2018
    8
    most of the people like fist one but i think this version is better than first one.
  10. SmileisCharity
    Oct 20, 2017
    8
    Çok hoş oyun zaten hayranıydım crusader 1 den beri ama pc iyi olmasına rağmen bi türlü düzgün performansla oynayamadım arada küçük buglarda vardı ama yine aksiyonu çok hoş tavsiye ederim
  11. masterleaf
    Apr 7, 2017
    3
    Eu ainda não consigo entender como uma produtora pode destruir um game que tinha tudo para ser um clássico isolado na indústria.

    O game é um retrato da incompetência, IA extremamente burra e cheater, campanha single player feito de qualquer jeito, menus confusos e com péssimo desing. O que mais decepciona é que aparentemente você vai ter a mesma experiência do antigo CS1 mas é só a    Eu ainda não consigo entender como uma produtora pode destruir um game que tinha tudo para ser um clássico isolado na indústria.

    O game é um retrato da incompetência, IA extremamente burra e cheater, campanha single player feito de qualquer jeito, menus confusos e com péssimo desing.

    O que mais decepciona é que aparentemente você vai ter a mesma experiência do antigo CS1 mas é só a IA começar a trabalhar que você percebe q ela é Cheater e que não importa qual estratégia vc vai tomar ela vai usar de tudo para te exterminar. A única maneira de vencer é única, usar estratégias nada divertidas de Famar e comprar mercenários.

    O jogo se torna maçante e vc n pode criar seu castelo, produzir armas e utilizar soldados diversificados, não, você será obrigado seguir aquela receita, farmar X comprar mercenários e atacar.

    Péssimo.    … Expand
  12. Fhm
    Nov 22, 2016
    0
    This game is totally **** i hope nobody buys it because, the arabian units are underpowered while the crusader units are overpowered. in real life arabs were Invincible. I rated 0/10

    - Stronghold 2 fanboy
  13. Triggrd
    Dec 14, 2015
    5
    Its like they had really good ideas at first and were really motivated to redeem themselves from what stronghold 3 had become and at some point just decided to become crack addicts releasing the game without the most basic polish to get more money to buy crack.
    It isn't as bad as it was back when it came out but it still feels like a crippled child who is wearing a stronghold1-fanshirt.    Its like they had really good ideas at first and were really motivated to redeem themselves from what stronghold 3 had become and at some point just decided to become crack addicts releasing the game without the most basic polish to get more money to buy crack.
    It isn't as bad as it was back when it came out but it still feels like a crippled child who is wearing a stronghold1-fanshirt. For example the whole video/dialogue thingy is actually a thousand times worst than in their FIRST game OVER 10 YEARS AGO.
    |
    BUT!
    |
    You will still find some fun in the difficulty and the whole castle building (enough for 5 solid points) but it'll just piss you off that you bought something that is worse than its over 10 years old predecessor and what will piss you off even more is the fact that sometimes you can almost feel what some of the developers were trying to do with this game but just **** up real bad    … Expand
  14. anggadaz
    Oct 27, 2015
    6
    This is strategy game that can build city/castle and army. The previous game is better than this. The game is too heavy (its glitch) for my pc, i dont know why. The game is has not many improve from previous. The graphic is boring.
  15. Dokkodo
    Jan 17, 2015
    1
    The game does nothing to improve on it's predecessors. It adds nothing new, it still has awful AI and a lack of basic RTS controls, and graphically it looks like garbage.

    It's still fun to build castles and such, but there is no reason for this game to exist as anything it does is already accomplished by the previous Stronghold games. It would be one thing if they improved any aspect of    The game does nothing to improve on it's predecessors. It adds nothing new, it still has awful AI and a lack of basic RTS controls, and graphically it looks like garbage.

    It's still fun to build castles and such, but there is no reason for this game to exist as anything it does is already accomplished by the previous Stronghold games. It would be one thing if they improved any aspect of the game or even expanded on them...but there's nothing. It is nothing but a way to bilk fans of the franchise out of their money.    … Expand
  16. BatmanBuster
    Jan 4, 2015
    6
    The game play comes from an era when programmers had tons of ideas but only few grams of tools. Nowadays things had changed. Unfortunately not for the good of players as programmers now have tons of tools but only grams of new ideas.
  17. FizCap
    Dec 27, 2014
    1
    Game is **** garbage I can't even change the AI difficulty I get my ass kicked every match and than I have the announcer asy you are in last place I'm not impressed than you have your ai allies say you have doomed us I don't want to **** hear that **** im new i'm going back to the first crusaders where I don't suck, if I do good in the first one but bad on the second one than the game is garbage
  18. heime2003
    Nov 16, 2014
    4
    the series has lost its direction and dev try to get money from fans without any significant improvements
    in fact, the game plays worse than original crusader and graphic got only a little better
    unless u are hard core stronghold players u will get lost since start of the game. no detailed tutorial, easy to look at interface and background story that give u meaning why u have to fight    the series has lost its direction and dev try to get money from fans without any significant improvements
    in fact, the game plays worse than original crusader and graphic got only a little better
    unless u are hard core stronghold players u will get lost since start of the game. no detailed tutorial, easy to look at interface and background story that give u meaning why u have to fight through missions in campaigne
    considering its price tag( $49.99), i felt cheated by dev
    pros:
    - it can give stronghold fans updated version of SH:C
    - the missions are not a piece of cake and often need actual strategic play to complete
    cons:
    - too pricy vs actual quality of game
    - graphic is not at where 2014 games should be
    - not friendly to newbie to the series    … Expand
  19. Violett
    Nov 8, 2014
    3
    Bleh, this is the same game as it was in 2005. Cmon guys, its 2014 already, open your window and look outside. No plot, no lore, and, man, those characters looks like terrible FREAKS! If it was a joke I didn't get it.
  20. Flaps
    Oct 26, 2014
    5
    I used to play the first Stronghold a long time ago, and it was great at the time.
    Actually I don't see any great improvement in the second chapter, beside graphics.
    Game-play got slightly worse, few really hard mission without any real good fun.
    Old for these years
  21. Achilleslastand
    Oct 19, 2014
    8
    I have over 100 hours of gameplay so far in single as well as multiplayer. While I don't think it is a great game it is a very good game and does what it means to do well.
    The graphics while not cutting edge are more then adequate for the genre. If you are interested in a castle sim/medieval warfare game then this is your best bet.
  22. Battlestar
    Oct 17, 2014
    3
    Firefly never realised that success of Stronghold and Stronghold Crusader was depend on great graphic.
    Small but complex world with entertaining action (and many flaws like AI).
    SHC2 looks poor in this sense: colors, environment, buildings, everything is even worse than long years old ancestors. Environment - trees, grass, buildings, walls has great look in old stronghold and crusader.    Firefly never realised that success of Stronghold and Stronghold Crusader was depend on great graphic.
    Small but complex world with entertaining action (and many flaws like AI).
    SHC2 looks poor in this sense: colors, environment, buildings, everything is even worse than long years old ancestors. Environment - trees, grass, buildings, walls has great look in old stronghold and crusader.
    One or two good designers are missing in team.
    Gameplay is not bad, AI is just OK, but game is boring and looking like world after ebola and AIDS in somewhere in poor 3rd world country. I have all editions of SC (original, Warchest, extreme, Steam) but SHC2 didn't win my heart.    … Expand
  23. TomPD
    Oct 14, 2014
    5
    I loved the first stronghold crusader, but I do not love the second. It is as many people have said, pretty much the same as the last game, yet this one is worse.

    There are some cool new military units and more tiered options based on the weapons you produce (maces are needed for both macemen and templar knights). Some of the things I loved from the old game are missing like engineers    I loved the first stronghold crusader, but I do not love the second. It is as many people have said, pretty much the same as the last game, yet this one is worse.

    There are some cool new military units and more tiered options based on the weapons you produce (maces are needed for both macemen and templar knights). Some of the things I loved from the old game are missing like engineers and the ability to dig moats. You can put up pallisades but nobody has the wood production for that.

    The game is so much tougher now and quite buggy. The old game made it real clear how to start an early and cheap food economy (apples) and transition to late game (bread). Everything is way more expensive. Wood cutters cost 20 wood now instead of 3 and everything else seems to be at least 50. It wouldn't be as much of an issue if the wood income was also higher, but it is no faster than the old game. Bottom line, you spend all your early gold in this game on basic resources. The economy is just not set up right.

    Gold is hard to come by until you start mass producing stone or something. The market has a nice auto buy/sell feature though.

    The game engine is slow and creates a lot of lag especially as the number of players go up. Many of the animations are buggy. The people can easily get stuck or trapped when setting up new walls and creating tight knit castles which are necessary in the little space you are given.

    Ultimately, I would rather plan the first Stronghold Crusader or Stronghold 2. I think both are more fun.    … Expand
  24. Gargoyle1965
    Oct 12, 2014
    10
    No they are not reinventing the wheel, yes they are bringing back a classic from the dead.
    Congratulations on making me a very happy man in my limited spare time.
    The AI is tough but then I'm not very good. I will keep this for years as I can now retire my original copy, thank you firefly from a true fan of the castle building and siege genre.
  25. Illy45
    Oct 11, 2014
    8
    I am going to be as honest as possible here but this game is simply an exact replica to Stronghold Crusaders back in the day. I do love it however! Even though nothing was really added and, it may even feel, features had been taken away; for some reason this does not really bother me because I still enjoy playing the game. I guess my best advice if you were to buy this game was to considerI am going to be as honest as possible here but this game is simply an exact replica to Stronghold Crusaders back in the day. I do love it however! Even though nothing was really added and, it may even feel, features had been taken away; for some reason this does not really bother me because I still enjoy playing the game. I guess my best advice if you were to buy this game was to consider it a modern-day version of Stronghold Crusaders (or a game add-on if you will) and not a sequel for it does not meet the qualifications of a complete sequel. Stronghold Crusaders II is still highly addictive and always wants you coming back for another battle!… Expand
  26. jeroensteam6
    Oct 10, 2014
    10
    Installed it yesterday around 5 PM and played multiplayer until 1 AM =D
    I simply loved it.
    Yes it had a small bug for me when turning buildings because it did not recognize my mouse wheel, but changing my mouse solved this problem. Also Firefly is patching quickly.
    For anyone who liked the original Crusader and wants to try this as a good online multiplayer, this is your chance!
  27. Shadow34
    Oct 4, 2014
    5
    I wasn't expecting Stronghold Crusader II to be absolutely new game, i didn't expect it to change whole game system and redo everything but... There is NOTHING new in this release. Its almost the same game as HD version of old Crusader with better graphics. If u want to play same game again buy it... But if you want changes, any changes don't. It even contains icons from old Strongholds.
  28. Derringer
    Sep 30, 2014
    1
    This is an excelent example of how to ruin a nice game. I'm glad i didnt pay the $50 that it costs.
    Its more like an expansion of the first one, but badly done. its not a sequel, Definetly.Also has more bugs, fewer buildings, and some units were horrible modified. For example, Do you remember the ballista tower? Well, now it costs the triple (300 gold and 100 wood, also any building its    This is an excelent example of how to ruin a nice game. I'm glad i didnt pay the $50 that it costs.
    Its more like an expansion of the first one, but badly done. its not a sequel, Definetly.Also has more bugs, fewer buildings, and some units were horrible modified. For example, Do you remember the ballista tower? Well, now it costs the triple (300 gold and 100 wood, also any building its more expensive than before) with half damage, and soooo slow on firing. Like one shot every 10 seconds i think., and instead of putting the ballista in a Square or Round Tower like the Stronhold Crusader 1, you have to bought it with a kind of wood tower (like those skinny ones on Age of Empires II, but without any protection) and is so f**** weak. Two enemy archers can destroy it. (and even any infantary, because they just have to destroy a wood tower not a stone one. You cant adjust the speed of the game either. The campaign is the same that the old game, The graphics are better than the SC1 but this is a giant steal of money. I would'nt pay more than 5 bucks for this. There are even cheaper games that are better than this one.    … Expand
  29. Sawt00th
    Sep 30, 2014
    4
    A real opportunity to atone for Stronghold 3 and build upon the better name of Crusader. Going from TW:R2 to this is like going from Lego to Duplo. The actual building of the fortifications is still as lacklustre as previous. Un-engaging, hardly siege warfare. Just a re-hash of an old game. Re-skinned. Mechanics improved (wouldn't be hard). meh.
  30. scavenger1
    Sep 29, 2014
    10
    Great! Better than crusader 1. It has some bugs, but gameplay is still brilliant and worth money spent for it!

    Graphics aren't as good as in other 2014's productions, but It's stronghold series, graphics is not important!
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Awards & Rankings

73
#73 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
30
#30 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
65

Mixed or average reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 30
  3. Negative: 3 out of 30
  1. CD-Action
    Dec 13, 2014
    40
    When I read that Crusader is slowly becoming the game the developers wanted it to be, I can’t hold back laughter. What are they going to do in Crusader III? Strip the visuals of distinctiveness even more? Simplify the economy further? Remove some more units? [Dec 2014, p.81]
  2. Games.cz
    Dec 3, 2014
    60
    Blast from the past when real-time strategies used to dominate the world. The creators took the concept of the first part almost completely and besides the updated visuals there is no extra value added to differentiate the sequel from the original.
    Read full review
  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 25, 2014
    46
    When it comes to the fight the game remains as clueless as before. An attack resembles a mob hit on the madhouse watchman's post: confused fighters run toward the target and drop dead on the way. All three formations are designed to provide a semblance of order, but after right click on the enemy such order immediately thrown into chaos. And, just as before, two dozen archers on the wall solve most of the issues of defense. The visual part of the game just aggravates the impression that ... Oops, there is no impression actually. Nobody creates games in this way anymore. [Nov 2014, p.99]
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