While the campaign really should have been the backbone of the game, it's actually fairly spineless. Played once and failed, you feel little urge to return. The limitations of soldiers make tactical thinking a dull pastime, while many of the scenarios are too difficult to ever be appealing. The sieges (particularly the historical sieges supplied for your entertainment) are diverting, but are also rather crude. This is Stronghold 2's great failing, ultimately.

Watching my settlement prosper through careful management of food supplies and trade, followed by thrifty use of gold to procure a gigantic, multi-tiered monstro-fortress, is actually a far more enjoyable experience than breaking out the boiling oil and polishing up the ballistae. Playing the peaceful strand of Stronghold 2 today suggests something that I'd not really considered: even without invading armies, running a castle is tough, challenging, perhaps even interesting.Īctually, when we really start to get stuck into the sack of home truths that we're currently in the process of spilling, I have to admit that I've taken far more pride in taming the simple yet recalcitrant economy than I have in winning any battles. But that was a younger and a more naive me.

Stronghold 2 maps