Stronghold: A Hero's Fate

Wow, i loved the idea of the game. Starting a little town, choosing what to do and how to do it was very fun. I have planed orginally just one playthrough, before going back to other games, but this is one, as soon as i was done, i went back for more.. a few times. Good game, i like it a lot.

Although the time skips weren’t great, I still found it to be an excellent read.

I just finished a complete run-through of the game and I have to say- I really enjoyed it!

There were a few issues along the way, but nothing that would make the game unplayable in my opinion. The time skips in the second half felt rushed and broke up what was originally a very flowing and immersive setting. I also had a technical issue where the character I was romancing was suddenly replaced by someone who had approached us (it resolved after one choice click). And although I originally had planned to pursue the mining route, after chapter 2 I stopped getting options to address mining at all. Some choices and options seemed to vanish into thin air- never to be mentioned or offered again.

Despite these minor issues, game play was enjoyable. In the vast array of choices and options I think there was only one or two times where I couldn't find a choice I agreed with. There were numerous times where I was torn between two very good options! This opens the door to multiple plays and I will certainly try the game again with a different approach.

While I have played many choice-based games, was my first game in this particular style and I really enjoyed it. I feel like this experience is a wonderful blend of creative reading and modern technology- you get the best of both worlds! I'll definitely be looking into other games by this company.

Sixteen hours in and I still didn't realize some of the things I could build for my town. This game is bold and sweet, with moments that are frustrating and others that are genuinely touching. It's not focused so much on relationships as it is on the world around you, but it's fun to play and a little bit of a power trip. SimCity doesn't let you build catapults, y'know?

The first half of this game is excellent, but then the time-skips get larger and larger, while the significance of your decisions seem to go down. I'd give it a neutral if that were an option, but instead it's slightly too mundane to recommend.

After a lengthy exercise in pacing and lengthier deliberation, I've come to the conclusion that I can't with good conscious recommend this to others as its faults in my eyes were too irritatingly glaring for me to call this a read worth the money. Let me start off by saying that Stronghold: A Hero's Fate isn't a horrible addition to the CoG roster, in fact it had the potential to be one of the greats. However this potential is lost in a sea of selective inclusion, political promotion and the poor execution of sound ideas.

The premise is you're a who happens to get kidnapped by a monster and by miraculous or mundane means manages to put down your oppressor which entitles you to your own plot of land to build the foundations for your own Barony ect. While I am in love with the Idea of raising my settlement with my friends from dust into a mighty Barony that enemies would think twice to trifle with, I feel that the way in which the initial land was granted looked more like an all too convenient deus ex machina to register as an achievement. I feel more time should've been put into the narrative lead up of such a grand prize.

My next issue is with the way religion is forced upon the Player. You have a wide inclusive list of gender representation and pre-history family parental makeups, but when it comes to deciding whether you worship the gods or not the author is quick to jump in and slap down any notion of Atheism. I chose I have no shrine to any of the gods in my home and the next line was the author blatantly telling me that while I have no shrine, I still believe in the gods. No choice of "Even tho you have no Shrine, do you still believe in the three", the author just straight up dictates to you, the player, with no room for argument, in a choice game what your personal religious preferences are. This selective inclusiveness made my brow furrow. Would that same dictation be appropriate with genders, romantic preferences and parentage in game? No of course not, so why there? I could see if being pious was central to the plot, but through my extensive playthroughs I've seen that the gods are little more than glorified decorations that grant mundane favors for mundane situations with no real consequences except a relationship bar hit if your stats for the situation aren't up to par to deal with it without intervention. I went through my first playthrough without attempting to curry favor with the gods or asking favors and still came out the end a legendary Hero with a Statue dedicated in my Honor. No reason whatsoever to step on Agency except to project in that regard.

My next issue is the romance mechanic. While it is possible to marry 2 people at once, you are heavily restricted in who those two people can be. For Instance My straight Character wanted two wives which would be Mallosian and Ari. However for some very odd design reason, you can only marry another predetermined person that has been trying to court your first beau. In the case of Ari this was my childhood friend Ebbin, another man. Obviously the terms of this agreement didn't appeal to me so I told Ebbin to go kick rocks as quickly as possible. In another playthrough I made a woman and romanced Ebbin to see if anything would change and it seems Ebbin, the npc, can have 2 wives but the player, the lord of the land must share their woman with another man. Excepting if they are a woman/man, they can have 2 husbands with Cronos and Kingfisher. While if Mallosian is the one courted, they have to marry her and her alone even tho she marries another woman if uncourted. See there's that selective inclusiveness again. It's a great Idea, but very poorly executed. And furthermore, even if you do marry 2 people, spouse 1 is always seen tending to spouse 2 while you're little more than a third wheel. This is especially glaring when it comes to family which brings me to my next complaint.

Now let me start off by saying here that I never chose the adoption option as Man/Woman I wanted a scion born of my blood to carry on the legacy I built. My issue with this is each and every time it was 100% a girl. Now I don't have an issue with having a female heir, in fact it was quite a refreshing take on things my first 3 playthroughs. However here is where our Issue comes into play-- It seems the only way to have a male heir born of your blood is for your daughter to choose to become a man on her naming day (a day where she chooses her adult name). Now while the author has the right to build their world as they please, I as the player and consumer have the right to voice my opinion on how I feel about the content. For me the the bloodline heir felt like a very shoehorned noninclusive, disrespectful and inappropriate underlying agenda. When the child was born, there should've been a choice when you are naming it whether you had a son or daughter and on its naming day there should be a choice whether they choose to be identified as man or woman. I don't think it appropriate that the author make that choice for the reader in what is supposed to be the readers tale. Also your second choice for heir, the shoehorned protege is always female with no room for argument from the player. I'm not too vexed about that because I'm not going to choose a protege to succeed me anyway when I have a child, but yeah definitely some glaring statements better left unsaid that detract from the entertainment element of the game going on there.

My last complaint is with the way my personal family with my partner was portrayed in game. There was none. After my spouse had my child or I had a child in a love triangle, the other person/people had zero interaction with the child unless they were teaching her a lifelong profession in which they gave the same lines whether they were the parent or not as if the child was a good apprentice. It was as if I was a single parent teaching my child the ways of the world all alone and what was supposed to be my spouse was little more than a delivery device. I mean there is a throwaway line right after the birth that your spouse is a caring mother or father, but thats the extent of that. The rest of the time you're always alone with the child, molding them to take your place or find their own way. I didn't like that, felt very disconnecting. It is a great idea, but very poorly executed. Should look at the Great Tournament 2 and Lords of Aswick to see how to do the family thing right.

But yeah that's the extent of my complaints on why I can not personally recommend this particular game as an enjoyable read.

While I have no problem with the "Play as male, female, or non-binary, gay or straight." line in the description, which is a recurring theme in the choice of game series, to each their own. Afterall you don't have to choose any of these options for your character.
In this game in particular this "Inclusiveness" feels forced to the point where one of the characters is an androgene and one of the possible love interests turns into the token lesbian couple. The reason why this bothers me so much is because in all the other CoG I've played this is handled with a lot more subtlety, rather than this on the nose display of how liberal we all are. If this is something you might struggle to read past, be warned.

Otherwise this is a perfectly enjoyable game with a ton of options for a customised playthrough, which are usually quite hard to find these days. Even if most of these options are just window dressing with no real impact on the progression of the game.

I've only done one playthrough so far, but it's been fun. The game focuses on building up your town, which is a nice change of pace from many other games. Like other Choice Of games, there's a good amount of choice in terms of how you want to handle situations that the game throws at you. I don't think it's quite as flexible as, say, Choice of Magics, but it's still one of the better Choice Of games. The story is a bit thin, but there are a few characters in key positions in your town who get a decent amount of character development. The game is a bit short, but since it's also not expensive I think it's worth it.

5,5/10
Entertaining, could be better. Ending feels rushed. The epilogue doesn't really give any closure about your town future, your friends and yourself, it feels like most choices did not matter in the end.

A decent game by the authors of the Eagle's Heir, Stronghold falls short of being great. I feel like there are many ideas that are interesting, but not quite fleshed out; I wish there was more variation in paths, perhaps a bit like Silverworld, another game by the publisher. There are a few errors; if one picks certain names, the game sometimes ignores one's choice of gender, for whatever reason, and, of course, there's the occasional missing comma or some such, as in almost every text game.

It is definitely decent, and does have good replayability, but it falls short of being great. I recommend it, but it's a game I recommend picking up while it is still on sale.

This is a extremely paper thin story, not only is there little or no depth to anything. You make like 1 decision then jump 7 years and make 1 one, continue until your old and tired. Most if not all choices you make are so completely meaningless. It taunts in game that you cant make everyone happy yet it was extremely easy making everyone happy.

A well written, enjoyable story. It feels similiar to Choice of Magic, albeit with less magical and more administrative/city building choices.

Terrible story boring and annoying characters worthless choices and terrible romances options like really who wants to get in some romance were you share the girl god damn terrible that's some cuckery.