Info about Stronghold Crusader 2: Official game description: Ultimate Edition ================ **The Ultimate Edition includes:** ---------------------------------- * **Stronghold Crusader 2: Special Edition** – Includes digital art book, soundtrack and a copy of Stronghold Crusader HD. * **Stronghold Crusader 2** – One extra copy to gift to a friend! * **Four DLC Packs** – Do battle with The Pig, The Jackal, The Templar and more across 30 single player missions. * **Bonus Mini-Campaigns** – ‘Delivering Justice’ and ‘Freedom Fighters’. * **New Shields** – Take the fight online with 10 unique coat of arms designs. Special Edition =============== **The Special Edition includes:** --------------------------------- * **Digital Soundtrack Composed by Robert L. Euvino** * **'The Art of Stronghold Crusader 2' Digital Art Book** * **Stronghold Crusader HD: Full game on Steam** Special Edition Customers ------------------------- To access your digital art book and soundtrack please install the game, navigate to the game folder and open up a folder titled ‘Special Edition’. By default this is located at: C > Program Files > Steam > steamapps > common > Stronghold Crusader 2 > Special Edition About the Game ============== **Stronghold Crusader 2** is the long awaited sequel to Stronghold: Crusader, the original 'castle sim'. After 12 years Stronghold returns to the deserts of the Middle East circa 1189, with a new 3D engine and realistic castle destruction powered by Havok Physics. Crusader 2 will recapture the original game’s addictive, fast-paced gameplay and authentic castle simulation. True to its roots this new Stronghold will define old school real time strategy, combining RTS and city builder gameplay. Playing as a brutal Crusader Knight or Arabic freedom fighter, you must use a deadly array of troops and destructive siege equipment to decide the fate of the holy lands. Lead your forces into battle as either Richard the Lionheart or the Sultan of Syria in two historic single-player campaigns, with dynamic events such as tornados and locust swarms. Become the greatest Lord by managing your desert economy and seizing control of vital oases. To dominate the battlefield you will need to command more than 25 unique unit types, mastering their special abilities. Raise morale with the Sergeant at Arms, charge in with the Sassanid Knight, use Archers to launch an arrow volley or scale castle walls with the deadly Assassin. Once your skills have been perfected put them to the test in skirmish mode or take the battle online with up to 8 human and AI players (with a maximum of 4 humans). Create teams, choose different AI opponents and design your own map in the ultimate skirmish or multiplayer game! Features -------- * **Build the Ultimate Castle** - Design mighty strongholds and fill them with fiendish traps to crush your enemies! * **Skirmish Mode** - Lay siege to your enemies in fast-paced custom skirmish matches against the AI. * **8 Player Multiplayer** (with a maximum of 4 humans) - Mix and match human and AI players, maps and game modes to set up your ideal multiplayer game. * **Battle a Wide Range of AI Lords** \- Classic AI characters return alongside new blood, each with distinct personalities, castles and play styles. * **Challenge the Crusader Trail** - Test your mettle across a range of increasingly tough skirmish campaigns. * **Co-op Play** - Share control over castle building, troop control and resource management in Co-op Mode. * **Castle Sandbox** - Dive into the Map Editor or Free Build mode and construct the ultimate castle without fear of attack. Release date: Sep 22, 2014 Categories: Real-time Strategy, City Builder, Castle Construction, Skirmish Mode, Cooperative Multiplayer, Multiplayer, Base Building, Strategy Feature scans: - MTX: score 90; verdict: Predatory Monetization; summary: The game has significant issues related to its monetization strategy, particularly with the perception of Day-1 DLC and overpriced content. Many users feel that essential content is cut from the main game and sold separately as DLC, which is a predatory practice. Additionally, the game and its DLCs are considered overpriced, leading to dissatisfaction among players. - Steam Deck: score 80; verdict: Needs Significant Improvement; summary: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant issues with performance, including frequent crashes and lagging, which severely impact the gameplay experience. Additionally, the interface is often described as cluttered and non-intuitive, further detracting from the user experience. AI behavior and gameplay mechanics are also criticized for being predictable and illogical, adding to the frustration. These issues collectively contribute to a less enjoyable gaming experience. - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: No data - Playtime Metrics: No data - Time-to-fun: No data - Player Archetypes: No data Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category. Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews. What players like: - Improved graphics and music (weight 0.12): Players appreciate the enhanced graphics and the continued quality of the music in the game. This suggests that the visual and auditory elements have been well-received. - Game is acceptable (weight 0.04): Some reviewers find the game to be entirely acceptable on its own. This indicates a general satisfaction with the game's overall quality. Common complaints: - Poor graphics and UI (weight 0.95): The graphics and UI are considered worse than the original game. The 3D graphics are disappointing, and the interface is rough and not as good as the first game. - Multiplayer and technical issues (weight 0.93): There are significant multiplayer issues and technical problems. The game does not launch for many users, and there are issues with window management on dual monitors. - Gameplay and mechanics issues (weight 0.89): The gameplay feels unsatisfactory and lacks features. There are issues with unit behavior, poor economy mechanics, and illogical scenario strategies. - Lack of features and bugs (weight 0.88): The game lacks key features present in the original and suffers from numerous bugs. Players report frequent crashes, poor AI behavior, and missing elements like the map editor and overhead view. - Missing and poor content (weight 0.84): The game lacks content and features compared to the original. Players report missing elements like moats, mercenaries, and unique castles, and the new content is considered rough and inferior. - Poor optimization and performance (weight 0.82): The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to performance issues. Players report that the game is unplayable on high-end hardware and has frequent crashes. - Poor design choices (weight 0.12): The game has several poor design choices, including poorly designed cavalry models, a building cap, and awful castle building mechanics. Default characters are sold as DLC, which is seen as a negative. - Illogical gameplay elements (weight 0.09): The game includes illogical gameplay elements, such as nonsensical strategies required for scenarios and illogical weather conditions. The king needs to be put at the front to fight, which is seen as a strange design choice. Gameplay feedback: - Expanded content from predecessor (weight 0.31): The game has significantly expanded its content compared to Stronghold 2, including new mechanisms, dual ending campaigns, and enhanced castle management with rich elements. - Missing features from original (weight 0.3): Several features from the original game are missing, such as construction options and unique gameplay elements, which has disappointed some players. - Lack of medieval life elements (weight 0.12): The game does not include certain medieval life elements such as weather conditions, slave driver units, and a building cap, which some players find disappointing. - Limited control over gates (weight 0.07): Players have noted that they do not have control over gates, which limits strategic options and gameplay depth. - Peasants lack interaction (weight 0.07): Peasants in the game do not speak, which reduces the immersion and interaction within the game world. - Introduction of healer unit (weight 0.04): A new healer unit has been introduced, adding a new dimension to gameplay and strategy. Performance notes: - Optimization and Performance (weight 0.26): The game has bad optimization, making it unplayable even on high-end hardware. Despite this, it uses significantly fewer system resources than expected. - Game Crashes and Launch Issues (weight 0.23): The game frequently crashes, especially on startup, and often fails to launch altogether. This includes problems with the map editor software getting stuck and general installation issues. Recommendations: - Prefer Stronghold Crusader (weight 0.13): Players recommend choosing Stronghold Crusader or its Definitive Edition over this game, suggesting it may not meet expectations for fans of strategy games. - Not worth the price (weight 0.08): Many players feel the game is not worth even a small amount of money and plan to remove it from their libraries. Other player notes: No miscpoints Emotions: - Disappointment (weight 0.52): Players feel disappointed due to the game's lack of key features, numerous bugs, and poor comparison to its predecessors like Stronghold Crusader. The graphics and gameplay mechanics are seen as inferior, and the game feels incomplete and unsatisfactory. - Frustration (weight 0.27): Frustration stems from performance issues, game crashes, and problems with launching the game. Additionally, poor game mechanics, AI behavior, and interface issues contribute to the frustration. - Anger (weight 0.12): Players express anger due to installation issues, frequent crashes, and the perception that the developers put little effort into the game. The poor graphics and system problems further exacerbate this emotion. - Nostalgia (weight 0.06): Nostalgia is evoked by memories of playing the original game with family members, such as grandparents or nephews. Players reminisce about the enjoyable experiences they had with the earlier versions of the game. - Sadness (weight 0.03): Sadness arises from the game being unplayable despite its appealing graphics and gameplay. Players are saddened by the inability to enjoy the game as they had hoped.}