Today, FireFly Studios showed off a fresh look at how the remaster for its hit RTS city builder, Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition, will look in the graphics department.
According to the developers, Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition will significantly upgrade the look and feel of the 2001 version while staying true to what made fans fall in love with the original. To help recapture and modernize that love, they will use the source artwork, music, returning voice talent, and veteran developers for the remaster.
One of the biggest improvements is in the form of character designs. Thanks to the improvements in 3D technology, characters will now be fully rendered and voiced, letting you experience the likeness of characters like Richard I’s rampaging anger or Philip II’s eccentric cries in their full glory.
Alongside an upgrade to returning lords, units are being drawn out frame-by-frame. Not only will this make battles look far more realistic, but it will also make the detail of each character, down to how the items move and are sorted on a camel, feel super precise.
Environments-wise, everything from the foliage to the landscape will also be 3D. When commenting on the difference between buildings, FireFly Studios Lead Artist Niall Benzie emphasized that they want to stick as close to the original designs as possible while working in 3D, not wanting to make “changes for change’s sake.”
Just because 3D is more prevalent in Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition doesn’t mean 2D art won’t still have its place, especially regarding the UI. Most of the menus are panel-based, eliminating some of the wasteful screens that would appear in between gameplay while maintaining the essence of the original.
Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition will be released exclusively for PC via Steam on July 15, 2025. You can add it to your wishlist now, and there is also a short demo you can try out in anticipation of its release later this year.
