Get with the Program Nodwick All Games Release Dates Developers, freelance press and our staff voted on what we thought were the best games of all time. Madigan Ye ole' booth models for Stronghold at E3, 2001. Ah, life in the old castle. Bakers take grain to the mill to grind it to wheat, hunters haul back venison from the surrounding countryside, and archers shoot flaming arrows into ditches full of tar, instantly turning invading troops into a swarm of screaming candles.
Life is good.
So we decided to make one. The game plays like a cross between real time strategy games like Age of Empires and empire building games like Rollercoaster Tycoon or Tropico. You build a castle, choosing carefully from many possible locations on each map, then fortify and develop it to protect yourself against invading forces. The building phase involves constructing your castle in any number of ways, often building multiple walls in concentric circles from your main stronghold. Within these rings you build a micro economy with many different types of buildings and townspeople.