In practice, Warlords feel incredibly, well, playable. On paper, it's a solid concept: Warlords provide constant goals on the map and ways for players to achieve both dominating victories and incredible returns. Capturing a Warchief, either by attacking them or using Diplomatic Favor, can unlock powerful abilities for your clan. These powerful neutral units are scattered across the map with a few defenses placed here and there. The big draw with this new release, other than the brand new setting, is the introduction of warlords. Then he has to throw those damn warlords into the mix. ![]() Trying to take down an enemy's siege tower as it rumbles towards your dungeon is a harrowing experience. Unlike the rock-paper-scissors style of hard counters you see in many RTS games, Stronghold: Warlords rewards you for thinking like a commander, rather than someone playing a commander. It really feels good when you execute a perfect plan. ![]() These are the times when it's easy to see why the Stronghold series has always had a sequel. Probing your enemy's defense to find a weak area in their fortress can allow you to sneak a few troops over walls and unleash a surprise attack, clearing the way for your greatest strength to take over. Warlords still employs plenty of micromanaging elements that will help you get through the day, but strategizing and adapting on the fly is key. Of course, there are also plenty of ways to enter your enemies' strongholds – or manage them from afar. As you progress through later campaign levels, you'll gain access to new buildings and items in the tech tree, which will help you fend off stronger threats that come your way. There's an element of medieval town planning involved, with multiple types of walls, doors, and other creative ways to keep your enemies at bay and your populace happy. These citizens can be assigned to more production jobs or drafted into your army, adding to your strong defense and helping you defeat your enemies. As you build certain elements of your colony, such as houses, farms, and production centers, more and more citizens will flock to you. The core systems of Stronghold: Warlords aren't too difficult to figure out. Across multiple campaigns, you'll find a variety of missions that feature very basic historical contexts of their rise to power and stay in power. In the single-player part of the game, you play as many historical characters: Thuc Phan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and even Genghis Khan. This time around, the game features East Asian kingdoms. If I've described Stronghold: Warlords in the simplest way possible, it's this: a real-time strategy game with an emphasis on walls. Stronghold: Warlords Review – Build the Biggest Wall Stronghold: Warlords will certainly provide a fun new sandbox for fans of the "Castle Sim" series, but it suffers from a few weaknesses that demonstrate why the series has never been as mainstream a hit as others in the genre. Here, you'll still be able to balance your economy, protect your citizens with intricate walls and gates, and crush your enemies with all sorts of weapons and sneaky tactics. Warlords enhances many of the quality of life improvements that Firefly Studios added to Crusaders 2, and also transports the series from medieval Europe to East Asia. ![]() Stronghold: Warlords is the first entry in the series since Stronghold: Crusaders 2 released on PC in 2014. The Stronghold series doesn't quite have the same following as the big dogs of the RTS genre like StarCraft or Command & Conquer, but it certainly has its fair share of true believers.
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