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Game
Game2014
Stronghold Crusader 2
Developer Firefly Studios
Stronghold Crusader II is a 2014 real-time strategy video game developed and published by Firefly Studios for Windows. A spin-off of the Stronghold series, it is the sequel to their 2002 title Stronghold: Crusader. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
160 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Oct 7, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
62
Fresh
98 positive · 59 negative
95% range 55–70%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 98 | 59 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
3 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
13,142 of 18,143 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 160 · most liked firstA follow-up to one of the favourite strategy game franchises of my youth, that is why it pains me to give a negative review. However, I have the suspicion the AI cheats. Horribly. The whole thing where you gradually whittle down the enemy their economy so their unit production collapses? Completely gone. The AI spawns armies even if you destroy their barracks, they spawn food even though you occupied their farms, they just keep on going even if you have everything but their walls. It feels…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →music bad ui bad graphics bad gameplay ok i guess, but the other points are so aggravatingly bad that i would rather play any of the 2D remasters.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stronghold Crusader 2 is a popular isometric action game. Compared to the old Rise of Nations (2003) this game is more designed around castles with a larger game world. This game needs more memory which suggest a 64-bit version would go far. I played this on my Lenovo P52 with Quadro P1000 graphics. This game is undemanding for graphics but an i7 is best for rendering large numbers of characters, The 8800 GT is also rather easy to beat.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i've found out too late... - That this game is so unplayable both on multiplayer, and single player, don't fall for it like me and my friends did, saying a game like this is "released" as a product, should be illegal, i'm pretty sure it must be illegal somewhere. I've now read the forums, and the discussions, this is indeed, what people call an "adds corpse" it's an abandoned unfinished project, with adds about other products of the company that launched it, it receives no updates, no fixes,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stronghold Crusader 2 is a nice game. I’ve tried to understand and learn this game so many times, but honestly, I just never could. 😂 The game has a lot of depth, and I can see why people love it, but for me it was always difficult to understand what I was supposed to do and how everything worked together. Maybe one day I’ll finally figure it out… but until then, I’m just going to accept that Stronghold Crusader 2 has defeated me. 😂
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Developers that don't provide a UI scale should be banned from working on software. With a 4k screen, it is absolutely horrid trying to read the text. I did not make it that far into the game because it was so uncomfortable. If you live in the dark ages and still run 1080, go for it. Otherwise, skip everything that can't bother adding proper UI scaling.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Definitely much weaker than its predecessor. The atmosphere feels bland, the story is forgettable, and the unit limit takes away a lot of the fun. On top of that, the AI feels poorly designed and frustrating to deal with. Sadly, I can’t really recommend this one.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →pozzed censorship happy studio. do not support if you value the industry
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →⭐ Stronghold Crusader 2 – A Modern Siege Sandbox That Still Hits All the Right Notes After spending well over a hundred hours with Stronghold Crusader 2, I’ve realised something: this is one of those games that quietly grows on you. It doesn’t try to impress you instantly with flashy cinematics or overwhelming complexity. Instead, it hands you a desert, a castle wall, a handful of peasants, and a relentless enemy barreling toward your gates—then it says, “Good luck.” And honestly? That’s…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lost a lot of soul from the first game... whether it was laziness, lack of talent, or a team that just didnt really gaf. I felt disappointed in my time here. --- “Crusader 2 is a triumphant evolution of the game that they've held dear for the last twelve years.” 8/10 – GameWatcher --- -The only evolution here is graphical, why is that a triumph? --- “Unique, fast-paced castle-building action the way it was meant to be.” 8/10 – Hooked Gamers--- - It was meant to be better than the first...…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just leaving this here as a reminder to never reinstall this again. This feels like a fan version of Stronghold Crusader. I think the choice to go 3D with this one was really not at the right time, seems like the engine is very basic and it lacks the depth of Crusader 1 Also I might add this game's economy is slow it's really boring and there is no setting to increase the game speed. This feels like the devs tried to make a sequel and gave up halfway. Looking forward to the new one coming…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I got a RTX 4080 Super and 96 Gb of RAM Intel I9. The game still crashes. Why does this need a building limit? Everything is expensive and dead slow. The AI is just ridicolous with cheating and is extremely unbalanced. This is worse then Stronghold 3. It is almost just a reskin of that game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →**A Review of *Stronghold Crusader 2*** *By Arthur Schopenhauer* The original was a painting: warm, hand-wrought, each camel and crossbowman rendered with the patient sincerity of the miniaturist. The desert glowed. The castles, though crude in geometry, possessed *weight*. One sieged, and the siege felt ancient. The successor is a plastic replica. The 3D graphics, offered as improvement, are in fact subtraction. The painted warmth has been exchanged for clinical specularity. The units, now…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly Overall game is very good its just developerr did put as much effort in this game like in crusader 1 they could have made this game much better bad optimizations fulls of bugs soundtrack start playing in wrong time resyncing issue crashing issue still i enjoy playing it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unga dunga make 300 slave, unga dunga make 20 trebuchet, unga dunga make castle fall down.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No, I'm not recommending this game, get Stronghold DE / Stronghold Crusader DE instead. I can't explain how awful the multiplayer is, even against AI
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The AI in this game is completely broken. AI cheating in resources & troops, 3 minutes into a skirmish. The ♥♥♥♥??!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →GET THIS WHEN ITS ON SALE!!! Another great game to the series!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is pretty good for those who like to play strategy games set in the Middle Ages. Part 2 has advanced a lot in terms of graphics and construction mechanics, but there are a lot of BUTs.... Firstly, the campaigns that are supposed to teach you teach you how to rotate the camera and how to click on soldiers with the mouse and that's it. In the military campaigns where they were supposed to teach you tactics and strategy tricks, they give you a losing situation and tell you to go ahead and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stronghold Crusader 2 is a faithful iteration of the franchise that strips away some of the extra and often distracting features present in its predecessor and other titles in the series to provide a faster and more immediate rush to the real action. Lacking many of the space gobbling build items like "Good" and "Bad" things (*sniff* no gibbets, breaking wheels or pillories) Crusader 2 launches you rapidly into the flaming, screeching mayhem of seige warfare. Whether that's an improvement is a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just completed it and all the expansion packs, i cannot complete some of the levels on 'normal', only on easy. A fun game, good to play with my daughter...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →solid game, good for casual time playing
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stronghold crusader 2 is one of the best RTS games. It is fun and has quality graphics and game mechanics. I would rate it 8.5/10.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lovely castle builder. I remember my father playing the previous stronghold games when I was a kid. I come back to this series all the time..... but.... this is not a great release... This game is clunky and odd. Do yourself a favour and try the Crusader 1 instead.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think the game has optimization problems, also a big downgrade from previous game, I would say just play the first game again instead of playing this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →great sim for solo or PVE/PVP. wished more would play it and they would keep making newer versions
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played last in 2014, was a piece of sh*t, played today in 2026, still a piece of sh*t
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The enemy can be difficult but each skirmish is a mini puzzle. Def can get lost in the castle building and resource system. I'm enjoying it!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Original Stronghold Crusader was the best, a lot of things are removed in this game, it's still a good game, but it feels like a cheap copy of original Crusader 6/10.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Why does everything looks worse then Stronghold Crusader 1?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is the only one I have played for nearly 10 years continuously (on multiple accounts). Of course, I had some breaks, but not really big ones, and I can say that this will never die and it is good even now. Also, if you are looking at the other Stronghold games, keep in mind that this one is special and it is different from the other ones. It is more fast-paced and does not have that boring micro-management like in Manor Lords, for example. Of course, you can still spend a lot of time…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oldie but still good
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A sad excuse of a sequel compared to the original. Not only does Stronghold Crusader 2 are unable to introduce anything significantly new except from crappy unoptimized 3D visuals, it actually went on and degrade the already complete and refined mechanics of its predecessor. Anything positive that you can find inside this slop is already an average feature in the original. IF it were to be a single entry and NOT a sequel to another, it would've been an OKAY game in general. But there is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Units keep walking back and forth in the same spot for no reason. The pathfinding is buggy and makes the AI look brain-dead. Hard to enjoy the game when your army won't move properly.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Missions are so hard that they are not even fun
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yes. This was why single player skirmish sucked compared to the campaigns, and the game had a relatively short replayability. But it's been two decades and game AIs are way more advanced now. Even something as half-decent as the Stronghold Crusader 2 AI would suffice to make it really good.
unlabelledView post →Stronghold Crusader 2 delivers a fun and engaging blend of castle-building and real-time strategy that captures the charm of the classic series. The gameplay is fast-paced, the skirmishes are satisfying, and the variety of units keeps battles interesting. Whether you’re defending your fortress or leading an all-out assault, the game offers a rewarding and nostalgic experience for strategy fans.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this is so interesting خواطره ها داریم با این گیم ...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you know about Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold 2, Stronghold Legends and played them before... You will be disappointed about this one.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Overall, it’s a great game — just a real classic. It’s a bit of a shame that some missions can be finished either very quickly or take an extremely long time, depending on how you approach them. The final mission is just insanely hard, and after more than 270 hours in the game, I still can’t beat it, no matter how hard I try. The only way to finish it seems to be by using certain bugs or glitches in the game, which really shouldn’t be the case. I bought all the DLC and i dont regret.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →AI has unlimited resources and will attack with giant armies again and again and again. I really tried to give this game a chance, but it is just too poorly made.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very satisfying to watch castle walls to fall apart. Its a bit annoying how AI is visibly cheating. For examle, AI can build even when you are walking inside of his castle and you cant do the same thing because "You are too close to the enemy" :D but it is still a good game worth playing
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its just another crusader in series as separate game to milk you.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →stop sending me emails.. i no care abolt your mew games and stuff.. you are annoying!! :(
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game, no gay
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun strategy game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Slow and boring compared to the first installation.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i love stronghold crusader.. but what they tried here.. idk...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game feels off somehow. It's not good. The characters are clunky, the AI has massive problems when it comes to basically anything and the pathfinding is catastrophic. It's not worthy of being a successor to the original Stronghold Crusader, sadly. I'd recommend Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →All the reviews are just comparing it to stronghold crusader 1, but not everyone have been playing the stronghold series 20+ years. Personally I tried stronghold 1 DE and while I do agree that it is a good game, and that I too wished they had some of those features in this game too, I found stronghold crusader 1 a bit too "old" for my liking. This game looks better graphically and if you actually know how to adapt to a different stronghold game, then you will most likely end up loving it. Long…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great strategy game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the game is good bummer that you only get to have 4 humans in a single lobby (max lobby is 8 it kicks anyone after the 4th person that tires to enter the lobby)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SHC 2 is weak. Feels more like a cashgrab phone game than an actual RTS title. You will have much better time playing the OG SHC. Save yourself time and money.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very well crafted stratergy game. Need to improve however on the fighiting part.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its not good as 1 but its still good, simple mid evil rts
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →IT TOOK MY ASS 5 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ YEARS TO FINISH THIS GAME ON AND OFF GOD ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SAVE ME THAT LAST SKIRMISH IS A ♥♥♥♥♥ THING IS IM A SADISTIC BASTARD WHEN I PLAY THIS AND I LIKE TO ♥♥♥♥ MY AI RIVAL UP SO BAD THEY DONT EVEN WANNA PLAY WITH ME ANYMORE THEY JUST SIT THERE AND GIVE UP SCREW THE WOLF BTW SCREW THAT GUY SO DAMN HARD 10\10 WOULD SLAY NE'ER-DO-WELLS AGAIN was having 60 trebuchets and 100 knights on the last mission overkill asking for a friend
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good strategy game with elements of city-building and castle management. Develop your economy, build various castle towers and medieval military structures such as catapults, and mine and craft various resources. You need to carefully plan your defense and attack strategies. I recommend this game to fans of medieval strategy games.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stronghold Crusader 2 is a spectacular evolution of the real-time strategy genre. It merges classic base-building with intense, cover-based tactical combat. You lead factions across a war-torn alternative Europe. Every single battle requires high-speed macro management and precise micro positioning.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good as a RTS, nice as a stronghold game Bad points: AI in skirmish modes are rigged. They have unlimited resources appearing from nowhere, I sieged an AI for 30 minutes, tested all possibilities to starve it to death, but it just kept producing buildings and troops as usual.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am a fan of the Crusader series , great game , got it on sale and don't regret it .
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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