Quick question before we start. What were you playing 25 years ago? Gothic? Black and White? GTA 3?
One of mine was Stronghold. And I have a confession: I was never really good at it.
The Stronghold 4 demo reminded me of that.
The demo is promising. The classic loop is intact, it looks and feels like Stronghold, and Firefly seems to be leaning back into what made the original great instead of chasing the missteps of its sequels. It humbled me, and I mean that as a compliment.
A tiny bit of history
Fun fact: There were actually two Strongholds. The very first came from Stormfront Studios back in the early 90s, a kingdom builder set in the Dungeons and Dragons universe.
The one most of us remember is the 2001 Firefly Studios game. You build a little stronghold, set up an economy, train soldiers, and fortify the place with walls, towers and traps to keep the bad guys out.
It was never quite as expansive as Age of Empires. It was more compact, and somehow that made it harder. That constant balancing act between needs, income and military always got me.
Where I always struggled
The core of Stronghold is simple to describe and brutal to master. Build a fortified castle. Then defend it.
My usual plan was a wall of archers on the high ground, picking off anything that came close. It looked great right up until the enemy broke through. And the moment they were inside, I usually realised I had forgotten one small detail: Training an actual army.
So eventually I started building walls in layers. Like an onion. A panicking, poorly defended onion.
What the demo gives you
Two missions, two flavours of gameplay, which is plenty for a demo.
The first teaches the economy basics. You keep gold, food and materials flowing while fending off small waves of raiders, so you can afford more soldiers.
The second gets sweatier. A small stronghold on a hill, enemies marching up the pass toward your gates. Sounds easy.
It was not. I failed. Miserably.
And here is my honest part: the demo explains its mechanics pretty well. I just did not listen. So every single failure is on me, not the game. I cannot even blame the devs for this one.
It feels right
The whole setup is there. Build the economy, raise the castle, fend off waves of soldiers, archers and siege machinery. Even the visuals echo the original, just with a modern engine, more detail and real depth to the buildings.
Weather effects are a nice touch too, messing with the arrow drop of your archers. The advisor character got on my nerves at some point, but that is a small price to pay.
From what I have read - and please do not quote me on this - the full game is meant to get a proper story campaign, a narrative prequel to the original Stronghold.
So, is Stronghold back?
This game makes me feel ancient, and I kind of love and hate that at the same time.
There is a nice bit of symmetry here. In 2001 Stronghold launched right alongside GTA 3. Now in 2026, Stronghold 4 arrives in the same year as GTA 6. Someone clearly wants the rematch of the century.
Mostly, I am just glad Firefly is still around, still making the kind of game that got a little lost over the last few years - simpler in its loop, not trying to drag you through an open world. Maybe, just maybe, we could even get a Space Colony 2 one day. A man can dream.
The demo is free, before the game heads into Early Access. Worth a look - and unlike me, maybe listen to the tutorial.