Stronghold: Crusader is a castle-building strategy game that takes place during the Crusades, as the name implies. The game supports multiplayer with other people online, but the game’s main attraction comes in the form of several “Campaigns.” These campaigns allow you to control the Crusader forces from Europe, or to fight off the Christians with Saladin’s army. Aside from different units and other aesthetics, the core gameplay remains the same for either faction: you build up a castle while maintaining an income, rationing food, and defeating the opposing warriors.
As stated, each side has unique units to fight with. The Crusaders have very powerful Knights, which are mounted soldiers wearing what typically comes to mind: long white robes over mail, with the famous great helm. Swordsmen are similarly clad soldiers, but on foot rather than horseback. On the other side of the coin, Arabian Swordsmen serve as the main melee unit for the Middle Eastern forces. They wield a curved scimitar and use a round shield for defense. Typically, the European units are more powerful, but at the cost of a slower movement speed.
Stronghold features some historical figures in the game as well, typically as leaders of armies. The Sultan, Saladin, has already been mentioned, but the leader of Crusader forces is King Richard “the Lionheart.” Given this nickname due to his skill as a leader and warrior, Richard was in command during the Third Crusade.
The game overall has historical inspirations, and the campaigns tell different short stories about the Crusades (1st Crusade and 3rd Crusade for the Knights, and the 2nd Crusade for the Middle Eastern forces; the final campaign depicts infighting among the Europeans). The units each side fights with, as well as the leaders featured, are accurate as well, and so the game serves well as a look at the surface of the initial Crusades.
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