Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2012
Stronghold 3 Gold
Developer Firefly Studios
Stronghold 3 is a 2011 real-time strategy video game developed by Firefly Studios and published by 7Sixty for Windows. The game is the seventh in the series after several spin-offs, including a remake, Stronghold: Crusader Extreme, and Stronghold Kingdoms. It is the sequel to Stronghold, released in 2001, and Stronghold 2 released in 2005. Unlike previous games in the series which were published by divisions of… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
164 reactions from 1 source (Steam reviews) · newest Oct 3, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
31
Rotten
51 positive · 113 negative
95% range 25–39%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 51 | 113 | 0 |
Steam's own rating
Mostly Negative
1,610 of 4,868 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 164 · most liked firstI love how they updated the game not to fix the bugs, crashes, etc, but to add an advert for Stronghold DE.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stronghold 3 Gold represents the pinnacle of cynical game publishing—a broken product repackaged as premium content. The "mostly negative" Steam reviews aren't just criticism; they're digital tombstones marking where player trust came to die. This isn't merely a bad game; it's a betrayal cast in code and marketed as an improvement. The Wolf may have cheated death in the narrative, but the franchise itself wasn't so fortunate.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pros: ✅ Trading cards and a points shop. Cons: ❌ Feels rushed and worse than previous installments in almost every aspect. ❌ Due to the color palette and overall look, it appears worse than Stronghold 2. ❌ Weak AI that can be easily exploited.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pick up this game on a dirt cheap offer you'll maybe get a few hours of game-play out of it before you lose interest. Seriously, what the hell Firefly? How do you produce magnificent gems like Stronghold 1 & 2 and royally botch the third so badly? Was your budget cut, are you merging with Ubisoft or EA? How do you strip so many features from the existing games and call it a squeal!? You had perfect results from Stronghold 2. Your castle felt alive. You could watch feasts & dances, Had a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Basically play first or second game, HD versions if possible. This one is not so great...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Years back when i came across very first Stronghold on my friends computer, i was hooked. Especially when we got Stronghold crusaders. Stronghold 2 had a rough start but eventually became a good game. But Stronghold 3, dear god in heaven was it rough. it was rough back then, and it still feels rough today, in the year of our lord 2026. But it was on sale (like very dirt cheap) so i had to get it, even if it was just for nostalgia. if you really love the series, and it's on sale, then by all…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →always loved the stronghold series my entire life, utterly heartbroken the devs put so little effort into this game. they did poorly with warlords too, i really hope they get their motivation again and make a better game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Should we blame the dev? Or the publisher? There's a dilemma. At least we all agree, Firefly was never the main villain in the fall of Stronghold 3. Is it a good game? Well it is. Is it bad? Well it also is. Summary Review: About Description Gᴀᴍᴇᴘʟᴀʏ 2011, you woke up, opening your Steam before Steam became mainstream. Mean you're old af. Hey, me in 2011 not even had a credit card yet. For me, I was opening pirate sites. We both surprised, huh? There's a SH3? If you are white, you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Thought the reviews might be exaggerated, but this is one of the worst games I've ever played
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I didn't even consider buying this terrible game until it had a very steep discount. I figured I'd try it out, and it is truly as bad as anyone may say. However, it may be fair to note that I stopped after the eighth or ninth mission as I had lost interest and was tired of how broken this game is. I'll start with the pros, partially because there seems to be far fewer of those. - The music is the same old amazing stuff as well as a new song that is most probably old style or something.The…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[ ] Graphics settings cannot be changed. They keep resetting in-game whenever I close the options menu [ ] Command groups don't work [ ] F5 and F8 don't save and/or load the game [ ] (In the first military campaign mission) Escape doesn't open the game menu, only a key icon at the top of the screen does [ ] No way to change keybinds in-game. I thought this game came out in 2012, how do you not have this by now? [ ] Campaign missions end very abruptly with an immediate "VICTORY" instead of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Complete garbage compared to the previous entries. It’s barely even playable — clunky, awkward, and ugly. Feels like the devs set out to make a textbook example of how not to make a game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I see why people got fed up with this version, crashing after loading into a saved game was the biggest annoyance for me. Last mission in blackstaff campaign with 2 save files couldn't load the +5 hours from the day before effectively wasting my time on my day off. Had to restart and save 5 multiple names inorder to be able to back track if it happened again and sure enough it did. Luckily 2 out of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 5 saves worked but was still significant progress behind. Just decided to sit through it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After playing Stronghold my entire life, i barely finished the into just to give up on this terrible game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just... just go play Stronghold 2.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No Custom game mode/Skirmish mode with ai bots. its all crappy single player story mode missions. not worth the price DO NOT BUY.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am a huge fan of Stronghold and played all titles, esspecially Crusader I which to me still stands out to be the best of them all. With the new Definitiv Edition of the first titles and having played the Demo Version of Crusader I Definitiv Edition recently (cant wait to get it in Summer) i want to bring light back to this title which in my opinion has gotten an unfair share of negative reviews and critics. I am aware of all the shortcomings (like the lack of Skirmish mode) and other things…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stronghold 4 is coming out! Please do not F this up like Stronghold 3! Stronghold 2 was great look back on that! 2 was imperfect at 1st but it is better than 3 by 10 fold!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →rubbish game, plays like a parody of the 1st game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I finished all the missions. It was good, but it could be better with some fixes and upgrades. For night vision, I hope it can be auto-fired instead of me having to fire it manually again and again. Additionally, at night, even when I can clearly see the enemy troops, my army will never attack unless I have lit that area. That's a very stupid mechanic. It would be understandable if it were completely dark. But when the area is already bright and my troops still refuse to attack, it feels…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Severely abridged garbage. Can't find the singleplayer combat skirmish mode. Saved a game before making the big push and thought it was all good. Succeeded in my attack and moved on to the next mission. Wanted to restart but no restart mission button in menu. Went to load my save to do a make-shift restart and the load went to the very first time I saved the mission at the very beginning. Seems like they skipped more than a few steps on this one. Stronghold 2 will be the best one of the lot and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →sad its almost like they gave up on such an amazing series stronghold 3 is a big let down for the stronghold games
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It should be criminal how bad and unfinished this game is. Coop sales point was a complete joke, waste of money and a sad disgrace to the series. Thanks for remastering the games, but could you ACTUALLY make this game good and playable, especially coop? Thanks
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I enjoyed Stronghold 3 more than I expected. Building and defending castles feels really satisfying, and the gameplay is calm yet addictive. Some old flaws remain, but once you sink a few hours in, you get that classic Stronghold vibe again. Definitely play Stronghold 2 as well, that one is truly something special!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worst Stronghold game to date. No Skirmish vs AI. Lots of Bugs. Bad Build System for Walls. But i did like the Day and Night cycle.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is such a terrible game. Ive completed every single stronghold available and this is the one where i draw the line. The game is pretty much unplayable. Such a shame. Im almost embarrassed on behalf of the developers
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worst Stronghold make in the franchise, dead game, no skirmish, building limit too low, no bots in multiplayer or singleplayer that i could find, supposedly there is a map maker but i didnt see it in the menu maybe its in the game files but either way
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Where tf the skirmish?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stronghold 2 felt so alive, Can't believe this game is a successor of that masterpiece. I think it can still be saved, introduce the Kingmaker/ Custom Skirmish mode. Include some new buildings. Add some new characters, make people a bit more life like (just like Stronghold 2 ). But it seems developers have given up on this game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While i love the stronghold series, Stronghold 3 is an unfinished game which resembles more an alpha version in todays standards of releases. While there have been patches that fix up some of the most horendous bugs, the game still has issues with unit pathing getting stuck on bridges, gates, walls etc. which lead to very annoying and sometimes frustrating game breaking moments when playing the campaign and you need every unit. The game has so much potential. It is a shame that the game…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dont get this game even if its free, troops get stuck on nothing, game crashes, pathing is trash, putting archers on walls lessens their range, just a whole bunch of nonsense. Don't even bother with this one.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even after all these years, the game is still way too buggy and does not really offer anything special to compensate it. By far the worst Stronghold game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →just play any of the other Stronghold games. In my opinion Stronghold Crusader II is the best, but they really are all great besides this one. This game is just a little more broken the rest making it frustrating to play. The rest of the games also very in challenge, with the first being almost impossible to beat, and the rest getting easier, with legends being the easiest to beat. this game is horrible, it's just the worst in a long line of amazing games. If you're only going to buy one in the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This deserves to be in a much better standing than mostly negative, i don't understand the hate? The game is a 3d version of the original, just a different plot, modernised and good graphics, music has been changed a bit and a few good extra tracks thrown in, Its still a lot of fun. To be honest, wish i bought and played it sooner, its good. get it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →complete sh*t dont buy under any circumstances
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An absolute dumpster fire that never should have been made available for sale. I will never buy another filefly product because of it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game really wants to be a more traditional Stronghold game that acts as a Sequel to the first Stronghold game; the gameplay is sort of a compromise that lands between Crusader, the original Stronghold, and the more complex and econimcially expansive Stronghold 2; but as with any 3D stronghold game to-date, it's incredibly buggy and doesn't work nearly as well as the prettier isometric 2D stronghold games. I would say, even if you like Stronghold Legends, Stronghold 2, Strongold Crusader…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stronghold 3 is basically Stronghold 2 with upgraded graphics, free build where you can rotate buildings however you want and place them wherever you want, day and night cycles that change the whole battlefield of the game with the "fog of war" effect BUT downgraded perfomance that crashes the game alot, has tons of stupid restrictions and annoyances when building stuff cuz all the "hitboxes" of buildings are masive so you cant build tiny but have to spread out alot, annyoing random events that…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dark ages of Stronghold series...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SO.. THIS GAME I UNDERSTAND THE HATE. BUTTTT i believe it is mostly forced don't get me wrong its my least favorite game in the franchise. but it introduces a whole lot a new ideas i wish for them to keep in upcoming games my biggest problems with this one is the maps were too small. your overall freedom compared to other games is lacking and honestly at first the campaign was kinda upsetting but now im happy it ended the way it did. leaving room to finish the story of the wolf in a later…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I just want to jump in and tell anyone thinking about buying this trash to go buy something else. What a terrible joke. It's like they hate the world and expressed it through game play mechanics and boring design. I seriously hate this game and its developers. Seriously. Shamefully lame in a way that few other games are.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ruined the series.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →- a lot of reused assets from previous games (stronghold 1 and 2, crusader), reused voicelines, reused music, etc. - no skirmish mode, the game mirrors the list of campaigns of the og stronghold and stronghold 2, there's military and economic campaign, some sieges, 1 additional campaign, some free builds, that's it. - no speed selector, the game feels too slow at times, a lot of units move way too slowly. it takes forever to hire units, because the peasants will restock based on your…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is unfinished. It is playable but overall quality is just not there.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stronghold 3 is the worst stronghold. Playing it feels like playing some cheap knockoff, game feels raw. Archers range is messed up, commanding your troops is somehow painful compared to other stronghold games and the story is..., it just is. I bought it only to fill my stronghold collection.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →dont do it even on sale
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's an okay game, but I don't understand why the lighting in this game is soo bad it`s the worst I've ever seen. At night it's pitch dark — you can't see ♥♥♥♥, man. The only thing that improves the lighting is gamma adjustment, and when you turn it up, you can't see anything either because everything turns completely white. They really ♥♥♥♥♥♥ this game up.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an unfinished game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted this to be like SH2 so much and it let me down big time, no PVE game, the villagers didn't walk around doing random things like they used to, the story mode was meh. couldnt get pvp to work. I wanted a mix of legends story with SH2 game-play with the updated graphics of SH3
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried to get into it as I really enjoyed the previous ones but man they did a terrible job with this. Gates shut with no ability to open them up. Animation shows them open too. Can't tell what the estates are sending to you and sometimes they won't send anything because you've enclosed your keep with walls... little to no voices when compared to the previous games... archers on gates, walls or towers don't want to shoot at enemy archers on the ground so they get killed off. Absolutely abysmal
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You'd feel scammed even if they gave it to you for free
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The bugs in this game are so terrible, it's almost like they were intentional. I play with one save file, overwriting it as I progress, but at some point the overwriting just stopped, leaving the file stuck on an old version of itself. Eventually when I deleted this file, I made a new one with the same name and it still loaded the old version of the deleted file. The game is, of course, addicted to crashing and even opens a window giving me the "runtime error" message. Intentional "bugs" aside,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love stronghold games! but this one is rough.... very unpolished, poor controls/ mechanics, bugs. Just feels unfinished
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game still has many bugs (troops stuck in trees, building stone tower is impossible, etc.). This game is the worst Stronghold game ever. Why use the same story at the first game? Why use hand draw picture for the story? Not Recommended to buy this!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Update, still garbage. cant even VS AI in a multiplayer setting. not sure where all the positive updates are coming from theirs still tons of glitches. troops saying their on the wall when their beside the wall and unable to move them anywhere else. only way to fix the issue is to disband them back into the population then rehire them again but you loose treverse time. ultimatly if ou want a true stronghold experience i strongly Recommend Stronghold 2. This is the difference between complety…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →👍 Why I'm giving Stronghold 3 a thumbs up There are two main reasons. First, nostalgia. I played this game back in 2010 on my old PC after being incredibly hyped from playing Stronghold 2. Despite everything, those memories still mean something to me. Second, I bought this copy for only $1.50, which is basically free. At that price, I can easily recommend giving it a try. Now, would I have paid the $50 for this game at launch like i did back then, knowing what I know today?…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolute disapointment, they even managed to make the story bad. Its missing all the features that made the originals good. Play literally, any other stronghold game than this one.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Free build is fun and that's about it. Like every other review, it is nothing like the previous Stronghold types. And at this point in the year 2026, there are plenty of other medieval city builders (Manor Lords being the leader currently) that offer a much, much better experience than this ever could. Shame how the series turned out.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is (almost) funny how bad this is compared to previous Stronghold titles. Abandoning of the grid was probably the worst mistake among many. If you are a huge Stronghold fan like me, get it on 80 or 90% discount, just out of curiosity to confirm the horrible reviews you have read. If they would just do a proper poll among fans and listen to what prepple want, they could be printing money.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →played this before and it lacked everything they set it for just a 1 times play through then through away. this one could have easily been the best if they put all into it like in 2 and warlords combined. sad
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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