Stronghold: Crusader Extreme

Click the "Install Game" button to initiate the free file download and get compact download launcher. Locate the executable file in your local folder and begin the launcher to install your desired game.
a game by FireFly Studios Ltd.
Platform: PC (2008)
Editor Rating: 8.5/10, based on 2 reviews
User Rating: 8.7/10 - 29 votes
Rate this game:
See also: Best RTS Games
Stronghold: Crusader Extreme
Stronghold: Crusader Extreme
Stronghold: Crusader Extreme

Stronghold: Crusader Extreme is a strategy game played in real-time, meaning that the game progresses in “real-time” as opposed to other strategy games that are played in turn. It was released by Firefly Studios in 2008 as a re-release of Stronghold: Crusader, which was released in 2002.

Plot

The game offers both single-player and online multiplayer, but requires a PC to play. Stronghold: Crusader Extreme is similar to all the other Stronghold installments, along with Sid Meier’s Civilization VI and Starcraft 2 - Wings Of Liberty. The game takes place during the 11th and 12th century. It recreates the Crusades, a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims over control of the Holy Land. The wars ended in a peace treaty, with both religions being deemed acceptable in the Land of Jerusalem.

Gameplay

Stronghold: Crusader Extreme includes the same missions and adversaries as in Stronghold: Crusader, but with new mechanics and added content, such as a new Skirmish Trail with 20 new missions. The goal is to build strong and mighty castles, while also drafting a strong army to expand your empire through military conquests. You start the game as the Medieval King of a castle and the surrounding land. The main goal is to strategically build a town that is economically efficient and provides food, weapons, and other commodities for the people. The plot is so simple and easy to follow, yet still effective, thus providing an enjoyable game.

New Content

Two new game mechanics were introduced to the rerelease; outposts and a power bar. Outposts are buildings that are placed in different skirmish maps. Either Arab or European units spawn from these outposts and used in battle. However, these outposts cannot be rebuilt. Therefore, the player needs to make sure to conserve these buildings, while also trying to destroy the opponent’s outposts. The power bar is a gauge which provides special abilities once filled up. Such powers include launching rocks and arrows, healing troops, launching attack units, and even obtaining gold. Using these strong abilities uses up power from the meter.

Rate

Stronghold: Crusader Extreme was released as an extended version of Stronghold: Crusader. Since Stronghold: Crusader was so successful, its remake was expected to follow suit. The rerelease had all the same content as the original release, with even more added content and better mechanics, thus creating an even more desirable game. However, even though Stronghold: Crusader Extreme was a fun game, Stronghold: Crusader was released six years prior to the rerelease. This made it seem very strange for Stronghold: Crusader Extreme to be released as opposed to a whole new game.

While Stronghold: Crusader was such a fantastic and successful game, Stronghold: Crusader Extreme seemed too be meant for hardcore Stronghold gamers. Not only was it much more pricey than its original release, but the new content added was deemed too difficult for new players.

8

Additionally, there was a great lack of updates. Overall, while the game was very fun, its release six years after the original was very odd, especially with its difficulty and lack of updates.

Pros:

  • New mechanics

Cons:

  • Difficulty
  • Lack of Updates

Download Stronghold: Crusader Extreme

PC

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Game Reviews

Hold On a minute, haven't we been here before? Yes, it's slowly coming back to me. In 2002 Firefly's Stronghold Crusader was heralded as one of the finest RTS castle-building games in the business. Now we have Stronghold Crusader Extreme, the same game again, only with an ultra-hardcore campaign and some extreme skirmish levels thrown in for good measure. Who said innovation was dead?

Let's start with the graphics engine, which has clearly been left untouched since the game's original release. As a result, units once considered charming and charismatic can now be dismissed as blurred, twitching splodges on a monitor. However, while Old Father Time may not have been kind to the game's appearance, his withering effects haven't been quite as debilitating to Stronghold Crusader's gameplay, which still possesses some beauty.

Build Them Up

If you've never played a Stronghold game, the premise is simple. Build a castle, a community and a big army, then set out to knock down your enemies' fortresses while safeguarding your own. A deep, yet intuitive, settlement management system ensures that building up your fortress, economy and troop numbers is simplicity squared. Farms, hunting lodges and wells must be constructed to feed your citizens, while stone, wood and ore must be mined and stockpiled before expansion can commence.

The array of fortifications that you can tack onto your castle is solid if hardly spectacular, with walls, towers, gates, defensive weapon emplacements and lookout posts comprising the majority of options.

Knock'em Down

Speaking of virtually impossible, let's nove swiftly onto the new Extreme nissions, which, if nothing else, at least ive up to their billing.

Rarely have I come across a set of RTS missions as mercilessly unforgiving is these. Missions start sedately enough is you begin to build up your settlement, but within minutes, you're attacked by nassed enemy forces that often wipe pu out in the blink of an eye.

Unless you're the kind of person who joes to bed clutching their Stronghold lack catalogue in moist adoration, you'll robably find yourself completely and itterly overwhelmed by these battles and tempted to strap the DVD onto a irework out of sheer frustration.

Sure, here's fun to be had here, but if pu don't consider yourself to be in the top 10 percent of Stronghold players on the planet, chances are you'll find little or no enjoyment from the new Extreme content. And while the original game may still provide some entertainment, it's simply too dated to ever truly feel like money well spent.

Snapshots and Media

PC Screenshots

See Also

Viewing games 1 to 7