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Asophix

Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition Demo Discussion

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Current status: UNAVAILABLE  (v1.02 access on Steam, 1.6 GB size)

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Greetings Lords and Ladies,

Firefly Studios has revealed their plans to release Stronghold Crusader as a definitive edition on July 15th, 2025.

Much like Stronghold 1, this "re-release" aims to provide an experience close to that of the original game, with redone graphics and added content on top. SHC:DE promises to add the following:

  • 4 new AI characters,
  • 8 new Bedouin mercenary units,
  • Sands of Time skirmish trails with global leaderboards,
  • a cooperative skirmish trail to battle alone or with a friend against the computer in a series of missions.

In the demo, you can select from two preset missions:

  • a Sands of Time scenario with limited tech, pitting you against two Nomad and one Sentinel lords. Leaderboard is online for the single mission.
  • a custom war mission, where you have to hold out against invasions of Bedouin raiders.

It is strictly underlined that contents are liable to change in a later version, and the demo does not represent the final product.

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Demo updates (chronology):

  • January 20, 2025: Version 1.0 available - initial release.
  • February 4, 2025: Availability for 1.0 ended.
  • February 24, 2025
    • Version 1.01 available:
      • stockpile / armoury interface good can navigate to the market
      • Russian localization added
      • various interface and bugfixes
    • Patch 1.02 available:
      • Spanish & Italian localization added
      • wall targeting improved (most apparent when attacking walls from certain directions)
      • various bugfixes
  • March 4, 2025: Availability for 1.02 ended.

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Addendum

Browsing the in-game help and options, there are additional details not available in first glance. The following summary outlines these for you, giving a better picture of what we can expect.

Automarket

A well-known feature from other Stronghold titles and SH1:DE, the market can be set to automatically trade goods below or beyond a certain threshold.

Bedouin Mercenaries

They are hired in the Bedouin Stockade, in a similar way to the Arabian mercenaries. They need only gold and a free peasant for each recruitment.

The following troops are addressed:

  • Skirmisher: a light-armored ranged unit, who throws javelins from long range, but with low attack frequency.
  • Eunuch: slow and bulky area attacker, who cleaves through enemy ranks with double sabres.
  • Sapper: a fast siege specialist. Carrying a shovel, he can 'eat through castle walls in no time', as well as reveals pitch ditches and is very resistant to fire.
  • Demolisher: a light siege specialist. He carries a tower shield, which can absorb projectiles until broken. He can also remove pitch ditches and killing pits, as well as destroy structures easily with his sledgehammer.
  • Healer: a combat medic, who can slowly heal one allied unit at a time. They largely resemble their Crusader 2 counterpart.
  • Heavy Camel: a heavy and expensive all-round unit carrying an archer and a fighter. It behaves similar to the Horse Archer, but it can't fire on the move.
  • Camel Lancer: a very light variant of the Knight, riding down its target with a lance.
  • Ambusher: a guerilla variant of the Fire Thrower, these guys can become stealthed like the Assassin, when not in close proximity of enemy troops. They hurl fire pots at an area or an automatic target.
Edited by Asophix

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I think they did a great job with Stronghold: Definitive Edition. I am excited to see what they do with Crusader DE and hope it turns out to have a similar quality.

Edited by Isaiah

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For what it's worth, I played the demo a little bit and so far it resembles SH1: DE. It's early to tell anything but I could see myself buying it on release.

There is the weirdly fluid movement coupled with low animation frame rates and the graphics may take quite a bit to get used to due to the contrast, otherwise the game plays well. It feels much easier to see where a building's footprint goes and projectiles are more pronounced too.

The Skirmisher has a weirdly long range with its spears (the same as an archer!) and the demo enemies love to spam them, so it could feel hard to defend against them. Portable shields can't go on towers in the new game either! 😄

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Hey guys, I just yesterday saw the video by Firefly about Stronghold Crusader Definitive Edition. I love it!



What you haven't mentioned yet, it should also bring the following:
- 800x800 maps!
- co-op multiplayer!

I just love both of those! I think this is finally a new Firefly game I'm going to buy right when it's released. I've already downloaded the demo.

I've played it for less than an hour, but it's very enjoyable. You can only play a classical campaign where you need to rebuild a castle, and I don't know what more in other missions, and another campaign similar to Crusader trail, but with about five missions. So it might also be comparable to the old Crusader States campaign.

I like how they refreshed the graphics and everything, I'm so excited about it. I will certainly write more about my impressions.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to try those larger maps and co-op, those might not be available in the demo, but I have yet to see that. I haven't played all the missions yet. I hope Firefly will keep their promise about those two.

They even said there will be a co-op campaign in the final game.

Oh man, I've been wishing for those larger maps ever since Crusader HD!

Sent from my Motorola Edge 50 Fusion using Tapatalk

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Glad you like the demo! 🙂

  It is really shaping up to be a serviceable game after all those 'missteps' Firefly didn't get just right enough. The alpha is also looking advanced enough that there are no apparent bugs. Surely there are annoyances like not being able to access the trade panel right away (it must be done by clicking on the scale, then on the good type), or children being in the way of placement, but these can be easily fixed if need be.

  On 28/01/2025 at 10:55, EaglePrince said:

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to try those larger maps and co-op, those might not be available in the demo, but I have yet to see that. I haven't played all the missions yet. I hope Firefly will keep their promise about those two.emoji4.png

Read more  

Coop is coming up, as well as there are additional skirmish missions beyond the first one. Maybe the coop trail doesn't deserve the type of bells and whistles, granted you can set up a custom skirmish room with the same presets. However, if we get some coop missions like the scripted Crusader States' missions (e.g. Mission 2 Snake getting a huge bunch of Arabs attacking very early on), I may even salute the devs. 😄

It definitely looks to pack more replayability than full titles as of late.

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I agree! It bugs me so much that I can't access the market by pressing the M hotkey. It just moved the camera to the marketplace, but I have to click at the market manually to buy or sell stuff.

Also, like you said, the co-op campaign doesn't seem like much to make. Still, I like the idea of it. That will motivate players to try co-op, as they will at least wish to unlock those achievements in the game.

Sent from my Motorola Edge 50 Fusion using Tapatalk

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Tried to play the first Sands of Time mislim yesterday evening. I didn't get to finish it, and then I noticed we cannot save game progress in the demo version. I need to keep that in mind next time!

Sent from my Motorola Edge 50 Fusion using Tapatalk

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I also gave a go for the 'Hard' skirmish mission and finished it in one sitting.

Firefly designed the map in a really clever way: you get a naturally defensible position, but horrible economic prospects and the tech limitation also forces you to play the slow game, unless you are creative 😄 The enemies can also get on your nerves pretty fast with the sheer number of shock troops sent at you.

  On 29/01/2025 at 13:37, EaglePrince said:

I didn't get to finish it, and then I noticed we cannot save game progress in the demo version. I need to keep that in mind next time! emoji1.png

Read more  

There is only one mission available for the trail so don't fret if you missed anything! You can build an almost foolproof defense if you manage to build the iron and weapons industry.

Some tips for the boring strategy:

  Reveal hidden contents

Also, some information about the two enemies you face:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

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@ EaglePrince  It's your time to shine now, the Demo is re-enabled! Saving and loading is still not available though, so prepare accordingly.

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