Stronghold Kingdoms

 PC
User Score
4.7

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 98 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 98
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 98
  3. Negative: 50 out of 98

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  1. KroipyBill
    May 26, 2012
    10
    This is a very "patient oriented" MMO strategy game. Being placed in a group of other villages, being a complete noob, they help you with how you need to start out so you don't waste resources on things you may not quite need early game. It is very VERY slow paced, and as a result, it is a game you "manage" not play for hours on end. Despite this, I find it to be a nice change to my usualThis is a very "patient oriented" MMO strategy game. Being placed in a group of other villages, being a complete noob, they help you with how you need to start out so you don't waste resources on things you may not quite need early game. It is very VERY slow paced, and as a result, it is a game you "manage" not play for hours on end. Despite this, I find it to be a nice change to my usual gameplay. Not only that, it gives me something to do at work while I wait for processes to finish or other things. I can play it for maybe ten minutes, minimize it, come back an hour later and manage it a bit more as it manages in real time. When it comes to the content, there is SO much that can be done with the game. People who rate this game as destroy-your-enemy kind of game have never played this game in detail, and shouldn't even have bothered to breathe their presence into a text box affiliated with a review towards this game. I have played nearly 100 hours of this game, and I haven't destroyed one village. I have been trying to build up my state, which is involved with other players, and I've tried to defend my state from other factions that like to prey on lesser villages who may be new to the game. If that's something you like, then I suggest you give it a try. Besides....it's free to play.… Expand
  2. LordSolor
    Oct 17, 2012
    9
    You can tell it's a great game by the sheer number of guys crying on here about how bad it is after they have gotten their butts kicked! :) This is a nearly pure PvP game and it is by no means pay to win. To compare it to anything that Zynga makes would be foolish. Overall the game is very complex, but balanced. I have never seen anyone pay to win, but I have seen a lot of guys whoYou can tell it's a great game by the sheer number of guys crying on here about how bad it is after they have gotten their butts kicked! :) This is a nearly pure PvP game and it is by no means pay to win. To compare it to anything that Zynga makes would be foolish. Overall the game is very complex, but balanced. I have never seen anyone pay to win, but I have seen a lot of guys who thought they could wind up disappointed! Some of the interfaces are clunky and there's minor issues here and there but overall an awesome game.… Expand
  3. Raspiz
    Apr 21, 2012
    8
    Not a whole lot of informative reviews on here so here's my take:

    Stronghold Kingdoms is a free to play strategy MMO. The game is played on a map of the United Kingdom with each country divided into provinces, counties, and parishes. The player starts with a single tiny village and harvests resources, grows food, constructs buildings and keeps a satisfied populace in order to grow. Each    Not a whole lot of informative reviews on here so here's my take:

    Stronghold Kingdoms is a free to play strategy MMO. The game is played on a map of the United Kingdom with each country divided into provinces, counties, and parishes. The player starts with a single tiny village and harvests resources, grows food, constructs buildings and keeps a satisfied populace in order to grow. Each village also contains a keep which must be fortified and defended with troops, walls, and other obstacles such as moats or spiked pits. To advance the player must earn "honour" by accomplishing various deeds such as defeating enemy player and AI fortifications, collecting resources on the map, pleasing the peasants, and holding banquets. Honour is essentially the experience point system in the game, and with each new level comes the ability to research new technology to improve defenses, industry, farming, or education.

    Being an MMO, the world map is full of other players. Players send troops in to enemy villages to try and raze them, or strike alliances and work out trade partnerships. Player factions exist to let players join forces under a single banner and smite their enemies. Factions can join larger houses for an even bigger single force. Political ramifications take hold as players who may be located near each other in a parish may be part of opposing factions or houses, which can lead to interesting results. Each parish, county, province, and country has leaders elected from within their governing body. These leaders can build and reinforce each governing body to protect from invaders as well as give bonuses that affect all players within each area. Just like real life politics, leaders can be swept away with every election if they are doing a poor job. I personally approach the game from more of an economic standpoint, and have worked out alliances with other players to assist in defense, and have not put as much research and resources into defense. So there are plenty of options for how a player wants to advance in the game.

    This game follows the "pay to win" model to generate money for the game company, Firefly. I'm usually not a fan of this type of revenue model, but after playing for a few days I didn't mind plunking down a few bucks to get a little boost in the game and to help keep the game going financially. Pricing is reasonably priced if a person plans on spending a lot of time in the game, and are discounted when purchased in larger quantities. The player purchases "Firefly Crowns" with real money which can then be traded for premium tokens or packs of cards. The premium tokens last for a week or month at a time depending on which one is purchased, and give players various extra abilities not available to free players such as moving buildings around, auto trading when logged out, and being able to queue building and research. The cards come in packs of 5 and can be bought from several specialized "sets" such as industry, defense, etc., or can come randomly from the entire set of cards. Each card is one time use and give bonuses such as increased productivity within the village, strengthened walls for the keep, and speeding up research. Some cards are instant rewards such as a large amount of a resource added to the player's stockpile, or time based such as increased wood harvesting for 12 hours. The cards add an extra layer of strategy and must be played wisely to get the most out of them. Although this is a form of play to win, I find the cards fun to use and make things interesting. Free players also receive free cards periodically to try to entice them to buy.

    One complaint many will have is the game is slow. Like many free games, there are restrictions on how fast players can advance which can get frustrating when it takes several hours to build a building or do research. Various technologies can be researched to decrease the time to do certain actions, but this is definitely a game that has to be played over time.

    Overall I've enjoyed this game quite a bit and as there aren't many games out there that offer a 4X (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) game experience in the company of other players, I found it to be a unique experience seeing battles between players as they fight for control of regions. As the player progresses the ability to purchase additional villages opens up which adds even more to the game as the player expands their territory, meets new players, and faces new challenges on the different village map types which have different resources available to each. Fans of the Stronghold series, or 4X games like Civilization, Age of Empires, or other strategy/manager games will find quite a bit to enjoy here for free, and more if they choose to pay. I would also say the quality is fairly high and deep for a free to play game. There is easily months of enjoyment to be had here.    … Expand
  4. Highlanderonly1
    May 10, 2012
    9
    Stronghold Kingdoms is an over all great free-to-play Strategy MMO. The game is a hybrid of a traditional tower defense games and a modern RTS. While the graphics might be a bit behind the times, the gameplay is engaging and full of the right amount of challenge. This title does a great job of appealing to both the casual and hardcore gamer market by mixing the elements of economics,Stronghold Kingdoms is an over all great free-to-play Strategy MMO. The game is a hybrid of a traditional tower defense games and a modern RTS. While the graphics might be a bit behind the times, the gameplay is engaging and full of the right amount of challenge. This title does a great job of appealing to both the casual and hardcore gamer market by mixing the elements of economics, politics, and war. I would highly suggest giving this game a try. It's free so what do you have to lose?… Expand
  5. Ltghawk
    Nov 10, 2012
    10
    I love this game, since Alpha4 I have been watching this game progress into a fantastic medieval strategy game. I've watched it come into its own becoming well balanced for the experienced players while leaving lots of room for beginners to start out and learn the game. I would reccomend that beginners team up with an experiened player as well as to read the wiki page for info on how to doI love this game, since Alpha4 I have been watching this game progress into a fantastic medieval strategy game. I've watched it come into its own becoming well balanced for the experienced players while leaving lots of room for beginners to start out and learn the game. I would reccomend that beginners team up with an experiened player as well as to read the wiki page for info on how to do things. But in general this game is awesome and addicting, i find myself going into the game 2 and 3 and sometimes 4 times a day just to chat and watch how things are going. It's growth has been phenomial since it joined the steam universe, now having 6 english speaking worlds and several other worlds for french, german, and russian speakers. now all they need to do is add one fr spanish speakers to make it perfect.… Expand
  6. Warfororks
    Mar 2, 2013
    10
    Stronghold Kingdoms puts a great emphasis on strategy and diplomacy. As a multiplayer game, you meet many types of players. You can join up with a faction, conquer the world with your friends and actually have fun doing it. If you are not a good player, you can start a rebellion against the ruling classes, spy for another lord, farm and play as a merchant character, or change stewardshipsStronghold Kingdoms puts a great emphasis on strategy and diplomacy. As a multiplayer game, you meet many types of players. You can join up with a faction, conquer the world with your friends and actually have fun doing it. If you are not a good player, you can start a rebellion against the ruling classes, spy for another lord, farm and play as a merchant character, or change stewardships with your monks. Stronghold Kingdoms has hit the bullseye on Medieval times. Each year brings more updates and the future is bright. Lastly, the game has multiple worlds and multiple languages. There is also a rumor of a map of Europe to be released in 2013.… Expand
  7. havas01
    Mar 22, 2013
    8
    Great strategy and on line game... big map and deep detail. If you love mmo you must try this game.
  8. jonosarah
    Mar 26, 2013
    9
    I can't explain why, but this seems to be my most played game. The game is all about patience, being smart with resources and technology and focusing on what's important first. After you've built the first couple of buildings you have to be extremely patient. I play a few times a day, doing different things to make sure my castle is the best it can be for the parish I'm in. I hardly knowI can't explain why, but this seems to be my most played game. The game is all about patience, being smart with resources and technology and focusing on what's important first. After you've built the first couple of buildings you have to be extremely patient. I play a few times a day, doing different things to make sure my castle is the best it can be for the parish I'm in. I hardly know anyone but I could do, I got into a faction by asking around. They help you and you can help them. The good things about this game is that it's pretty much a free version of stronghold. While you can't do as much as the games, it is an amazing version of it. While it may seem daunting at first, it takes some time to learn how to be the most efficient, but it pays off.

    The only thing I don't like is that the peasants are very afraid of the AI castles and they can be really hard to stop as they are a lot more advanced for the newer players. I can't comment on the pay to win because I personally haven't used it and neither have my friends (but we seem to be doing okay on it)    … Expand
  9. Arberhoti
    Dec 26, 2013
    10
    Only noobs say its hard to defend and everyone attacks. Its true that some kids like to attack all time but u can defend as well Im rly having fun in this game Its not hard to farm just spend well your cards, finish quests, spend your research points with your own strategy and your done You can grow very fast even without crowns just need some experience
  10. Triasadi
    Jul 12, 2013
    8
    Stronghold Kingdoms has a very addictive and fun gameplay. The help and support always respond whenever there is a problem. I don't think that Stronghold Kingdoms is a pay-to-win game at all. This game tests our efficiency, strategy, and timing. One of the best free-to-play games I've ever played. Though there is also some technical problems sometimes. Overall, Stronghold Kingdoms is aStronghold Kingdoms has a very addictive and fun gameplay. The help and support always respond whenever there is a problem. I don't think that Stronghold Kingdoms is a pay-to-win game at all. This game tests our efficiency, strategy, and timing. One of the best free-to-play games I've ever played. Though there is also some technical problems sometimes. Overall, Stronghold Kingdoms is a great game and certainly deserves all the honor.… Expand
  11. WATCHAMACOLITE
    Jul 27, 2013
    10
    First thing: This is a slow game. If you dont like slow games, dont play slow games. I dont go onto the GTA forums and yell at them that its a sandbox game, because its a sandbox game!

    This game is immensely fun. It takes place in real-time, so its more of a management game than a play for hours game. You can pay, like all F2P games, but its not a Pay To Win theme. It involves growing    First thing: This is a slow game. If you dont like slow games, dont play slow games. I dont go onto the GTA forums and yell at them that its a sandbox game, because its a sandbox game!

    This game is immensely fun. It takes place in real-time, so its more of a management game than a play for hours game. You can pay, like all F2P games, but its not a Pay To Win theme. It involves growing food, village popularity, AI battles, and much more.    … Expand
  12. RedLemonyElf
    Sep 8, 2014
    10
    Stronghold Kingdoms is an absolutely brilliant game and I would recommend it to any strategic game players. It's free to play which is fantastic although some payable things are quite OP.

    RedLemonyElf

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Hooked Gamers
    Feb 5, 2013
    77
    Stronghold Kingdoms does deserve the honour of being the world’s first castle building MMO and it does -despite its presentation- do it well. The game’s depth and scope go beyond that of the regular Stronghold games and is guaranteed to keep your mind firmly lodged into medieval times for a long, long time.
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  2. GameWatcher
    Jul 18, 2012
    85
    There are a whole lot of things I want to try over the next few months playing Stronghold Kingdoms, and it's gotten its teeth into me such that I'm ploughing a little time into it at least three times a day and not feeling cheated for any of the money I've spent. For a free-to-play title at the very least, that has to be mission accomplished.
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  3. Multiplayer.it
    Jun 29, 2012
    68
    Stronghold Kingdoms is a deep medieval management game that offers a huge tech tree and an interesting online formula. Oddly the engine is old and the game starts very slowly, especially for those who are not going to open their wallet. But it deserves a try if you got patience and prefer management over real time strategy.
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