Stronghold 3

Lore & Background

Set ten years after the original Stronghold, the story follows the boy as the wolf, who cheated death and became twisted during his recovery in the east, seeks revenge. The wolf gathers an alliance of the sons of the rat and the pig, along with the jackal from the east, conquers the country, and kills the king. The boy escapes with the king's sister, Lady Catherine, and after recruiting an alliance of northern lords, defeats the rats, pigs, and jackal in a series of battles. The wolf ultimately lures the boy to his old fortress, captures him, and takes revenge despite losing the war. The economic campaign follows the military campaign, focusing on rebuilding an abbey destroyed during the war.

The game features two single-player campaigns: a story-driven military campaign and a sim-based economic campaign, both fully narrated with black-and-white graphic novel interludes. A castle siege mode allows players to 'change history' by choosing to attack or defend historical castles. The engine uses Havok physics for realistic crumbling of buildings and walls, a new weather system, and advanced lighting. Buildings are more dynamic, with housing capacity and appearance changing based on distance from the keep, and castle construction is no longer grid-based. A fog-of-war mechanic for night gameplay limits visibility to the immediate vicinity of the castle, with torch-holding peasants and fire-based devices used to explore. Diseased cows, pigs, sheep, and a sack of diseased badgers (chosen via a Facebook competition) can be launched from trebuchets.

Reader's Guide

Stronghold 3 received generally unfavorable reviews on Metacritic, with most criticism directed at the large number of bugs present at launch. Reviewers nearly unanimously felt the game was unfinished, though many noted potential for improvement through patches. Some reviewers considered it a decent RTS with fixable hiccups, while others attributed problems to design choices unlikely to be patched. The game lacked a kingmaker or skirmish mode at release, and despite fan demand, a skirmish mode was never added. Firefly Studios later added features such as new units, difficulty levels, King of the Hill and Capture the Flag multiplayer modes, new maps, historical sieges, Free Build maps with invasion triggers, adjustable game speed, and extra-large maps. The game was re-released as Stronghold 3: Gold on 25 May 2012, incorporating these additions, which were also delivered to existing owners via Steam for free. Its legacy is that of a flawed but patched entry that failed to meet fan expectations for a skirmish mode.

Did You Know?

• The game shipped without a kingmaker or skirmish mode, and a skirmish mode was never added despite fan demand.
• A Facebook competition allowed fans to vote on the final animal ammunition type for trebuchets, resulting in a sack of diseased badgers.
• The game was delayed multiple times, with a final release date of 25 October 2011 after going gold on 6 October.
• Stronghold 3: Gold was released on 25 May 2012 and included new features delivered for free to existing Steam owners.