Every Stronghold game, ranked
All 2 Stronghold games we hold, spanning 2002 to 2023: 2 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 21,939 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Stronghold: Crusader (GamingPickz Score 7.6), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For the money: Stronghold: Definitive Edition gives the most score per dollar right now.
The Stronghold games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 2 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
2 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 2 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
2 best Stronghold games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
Stronghold: Crusader
Best for: Playing through with a friend online
7.6GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceStronghold: Crusader at a glance Released 2002 Studio Firefly Studios Player sentiment 92% positive of 11,593 Critics No aggregate Price $11.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 7 GB Accessibility 6 declared features Raw 92% shrinks to 91.7 on 11,593 reviews, giving 7.6. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Small install at 7 GB.
- 2
Stronghold: Definitive Edition
Best for: Playing with other people
7.5GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceStronghold: Definitive Edition at a glance Released 2023 Studio Firefly Studios Player sentiment 87% positive of 10,346 Critics 80/100 Price $4.49 Steam Deck playable Install size 4 GB Accessibility 5 declared features Raw 87% shrinks to 86.9 on 10,346 reviews, then blends with the 80 critic aggregate, giving 7.5.
What the data supports- Small install at 4 GB.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Stronghold game we can score is Stronghold: Crusader at 7.6. The lowest is Stronghold: Definitive Edition at 7.5, a 0.1-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Stronghold: Definitive Edition at $4.49. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Stronghold: Definitive Edition, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Stronghold entries on Steam:
- Playable: Stronghold: Crusader, Stronghold: Definitive Edition
Platforms across the series
Where the 2 Stronghold games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 2 of 2 |
The Stronghold series, game by game
Every Stronghold game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2002
Gird your loins and sharpen your steel! Besiege 20 unique enemy lords and battle friends online, in this expanded remaster of the classic 'castle sim'. Relive history with new units, opponents, visuals, audio, campaigns, skirmish trails, co-op and larger maps. (Steam)
Characters
The game contains several different characters that all appear as AI-controlled lords in the Skirmish mode, available to be selected as allies or enemies. One unique aspect of the game is that the characters have individual binks (small short videos) by which they communicate with the player, asking for goods or help if allied with them or, if they are the players' enemy, taunting them when attacking or expressing worry when under siege. These videos… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Stronghold: Crusader The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic . Sales As Stronghold was a commercial success in the German market, local commentators suggested before Crusader s release that it would become a hit as well. The game opened as September's fifth-best-selling full-price computer game, according to Media Control . (Wikipedia)
- 2023
Greetings sire! Your stronghold awaits you. Build a castle economy, besiege unforgettable villains and return to the 'castle sim' that started it all. Experience this classic RTS with upgraded visuals, modernised gameplay, Steam multiplayer and a new campaign. (Steam)
Plot
The game opens with a small backstory; the King, who is abroad invading an unnamed Barbarian homeland, was taken prisoner abroad. In his absence, the kingdom has been invaded and divided by four tyrants: Duc de Puce (known as The Rat), Duc Beauregard (The Snake), Duc Truffe (The Pig), and Duc Volpe (The Wolf). Various nobles loyal to the King and country try to end the fighting, but they are ambushed and killed. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Sales Stronghold was a commercial success, with global sales of 1. 5 million units by 2004. It received a "Silver" signification from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) for at least 100,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom. (Wikipedia)
Stronghold, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Stronghold vs other series
How Stronghold stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Stronghold vs Sid Meier's Civilization, Stronghold vs Dragon Age, Stronghold vs Anno, Stronghold vs Sniper Elite, Stronghold vs Sniper Ghost Warrior, Stronghold vs Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Stronghold vs Tropico, Stronghold vs Age of History, Stronghold vs America's Army, Stronghold vs Beholder, Stronghold vs Brothers in Arms, Stronghold vs Call to Arms, Stronghold vs Day of Defeat, Stronghold vs Divinity, Stronghold vs Door Kickers, Stronghold vs Dungeons, Stronghold vs eFootball PES, Stronghold vs ENDLESS Space, Stronghold vs Euro Truck Simulator, Stronghold vs Europa Universalis, Stronghold vs Forza Horizon, Stronghold vs Frostpunk, Stronghold vs Hearts of Iron, Stronghold vs Heaven Island, Stronghold vs Insurgency, Stronghold vs Jurassic World Evolution, Stronghold vs Kingdom, Stronghold vs Men of War, Stronghold vs Might & Magic, Stronghold vs Overcooked, Stronghold vs Pathfinder, Stronghold vs Payday, Stronghold vs Poker Night, Stronghold vs Project CARS, Stronghold vs Red Orchestra, Stronghold vs Slime Rancher, Stronghold vs Sniper, Stronghold vs Soda Dungeon, Stronghold vs Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold vs Transport Fever, Stronghold vs Universe Sandbox, Stronghold vs Victoria, Stronghold vs Wasteland
Common questions
How many Stronghold games are there?
We hold 2 Stronghold games in the catalogue, released between 2002 and 2023. 2 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Stronghold game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Stronghold: Crusader rates highest at 7.6. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Stronghold games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2002 to 2023. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.