Stronghold 3
2011 · Firefly Studios
Has it aged?Why ↓
Stronghold 3 is a medieval castle-building strategy game where you oversee a lord's village, feed peasants and raise troops to defend it. Turning wheat into flour into bread gives your settlement purpose; waiting for enough stone to surround it with walls makes the promised castle feel like a reward withheld.
Set 10 years after the original, Stronghold 3: Gold follows the vengeful story of The Wolf in the third installment of the award-winning castle building series. The Wolf has cheated death become even more bitter and twisted. Build castles, rally your troops and save medieval England!
The publisher’s description, from its Steam store page.
What it looks like
the trailer, then the store's own shots
The verdict
Skip it unless organising food production is enough to carry a castle game for you. In the 2011 release, the economic campaign offers the strongest reason to persist: getting farms, mills and bakeries working together. But repetitive settlements, cramped building space and unreliable troop selection undermine the reward of defending what you've built. The village demands patience that the battles don't repay.
Play it if
You enjoy arranging farms, mills and bakeries until bread production runs smoothly, and would happily spend more time feeding peasants than commanding crossbowmen. Getting a village functioning is itself your reward, rather than preparation for a spectacular siege.
Skip it if
You need room to design sprawling fortifications, battles that reward tactical control, or frequent decisions between construction projects. Small maps, thin combat and long waits for resources would each be a reason to stop.
Common questions
- Does the economic campaign let me avoid fighting?
- No. The economic campaign also includes combat, so choosing it doesn't mean you can ignore troops and concentrate exclusively on food production.
- Why does running out of food stall my village?
- Hungry peasants become unhappy, which slows the arrival of new peasants. A food shortage therefore obstructs the workforce you need to get production moving again.
- Can I use Free Build to make the castle I want?
- The 2011 release's Free Build mode has a limited selection of small maps. Treat it as space for a modest fortified settlement, not an unrestricted castle-design sandbox.
What everyone else said
we link, we don't reprintHas it aged?
How does it hold up today? Based on recent reviews, how opinions have changed since launch, player activity and updates.
% positive each month, last 4 years.
Reviews via Steam ↗Peak: 321 in Jul 2012.
Player counts via SteamCharts ↗As well liked as at launch.
No update in the last year.