Stronghold Crusader 2002

Released: July 2002
Genres: Real Time Strategy (RTS) · Simulator · Strategy
Platform: PC
Developer: Firefly Studios
Publisher: Take-Two Interactive
More info: Wikipedia IGDB

Where to buy

On sale: $1.99 $9.99 -80% as Stronghold Crusader HD on GOG The lowest price we've seen on GOG since September 2026 More deals on GOG, and in Strategy
Digital: GOG Fanatical GMG Steam
In a collection: The Stronghold Collection

Steam
Physical: Search on Amazon

Affiliate links: GOG, Fanatical, Green Man Gaming, ININ Games and Amazon

Is it still worth playing?

Firefly Studios' 2002 real time strategy game for Windows, the sequel to Stronghold, set in the Middle East during the Crusades. It adds a skirmish mode with AI opponents beside the Crusader Trail, 50 linked missions covering the First and Third Crusades and battles such as Nicaea, Antioch, Krak des Chevaliers and Jerusalem, in which AI lords speak in short video clips. Farms can be built only on oasis grass, so players compete for limited farmland, and resources are iron ore, stone and oil. You make an army either by producing weapons and paying gold to turn peasants into soldiers or by hiring Arabian units at the mercenary post. With farmland limited by the desert map, economy and position still decide strategy today.