For a while, the results of the Stronghold 4 demo survey were publicly available.
Since June 23, you’ve been able to try out a demo forStronghold 4on Steam. This version of the game features two playable missions: one economic and one military. Above all, though, the demo gives you a taste of what’s to come. This is especially important for Stronghold, as the series hasn’t only produced hits.
However, the demo also includes a feedback option in the main menu. This will redirect you to a survey that the developers can access.Apparently, though, something went wrong.As one user discovered, the survey results were visible to everyone for a while:
Public Demo feedback form is open to view : r/stronghold
People like the demo
Of course, the survey also asks how people liked the early access version. So here we get an initial sense of whether the community is satisfied with the new game or not. Based on the survey results at the time of this post, it’s clear:The vast majority of survey participants think the demo is a success!
It could be rated on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 meant terrible and 10 meant excellent. Most people gave it a 7 or an 8, so overall, about 50 percent thought the demo was very good. But there were also some who gave it a 9 or a 10, which is outstanding. Overall, about 83 percent of participants gave a positive rating—that is, more than 5 points.
Stronghold 4 also performs solidly when it comes to the individual gameplay features. The majority rated almost all elements as good, and some even as excellent. The only slight criticism was regarding the readability of the user interface.
All in all, this is a good signthat Stronghold might be delivering a completely new game for the first time in a long while—one that the majority of the community is satisfied with. That said, Stronghold 4 almost feels like a remake of the first game—so there’s not much in the way of real innovation here.
And yet, there’s also quite a bit of valid criticism of the demo on social media. This includes complaints such as:
- People keep pointing out issues with the animations. For example, catapults often slide diagonally across the map, and it often seems strange that they roll faster than some people can run.
- Archers focus too much on individual targets. As a result, an entire squad fires a hail of arrows at a single person, which ultimately wastes ammunition.
- The AI acts rather recklessly, repeatedly attacking the same corners of the castle or allowing itself to be easily lured away from its main target.
- Buildings are often described as too small. Even a wheat farm feels downright cramped. Overall, there’s criticism of the look and feel of Stronghold 4.
- Overall, there are still many bugs in the demo. In our playthrough, for example, spearmen were able to walk through a closed gate to attack enemies outside.
Given all the criticisms mentioned, it’s actually quite surprising how many people gave the game a very good rating in the survey.
More Surprises
The survey consisted of significantly more questions than are shown in the post. So the user didn’t capture all the results. However, some of them are rather uninteresting, such as the participants’ ages or what other games they’ve played.
But there’s more to learn from the leaked results that seems both exciting and surprising! For example, Stronghold fans are apparentlybarely interested in competitive multiplayer at all. Yet multiplayer has always been a part of Stronghold and was even the main focus in Crusader. According to the survey, however, fans enjoy co-op more than battles against other people.
Also interesting is the question about future sequels. Here, we’re already getting a glimpse of what Firefly is thinking regarding the series’ future. If the fans have their way, Stronghold 4 will be followed by:
- Stronghold 5
- Stronghold Crusader 2
- Stronghold Legends 2
It’s a big surprise, especially, that Stronghold Legends 2 ranks so high. The fantasy spin-off of the series received a rather mixed reception, even though there are some fans who think highly of it.
Incidentally, Firefly also asked in the survey about other IPs their fans are interested in. These included The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and Star Wars. So the studio may also be considering a licensed product. In any case, Stronghold 4 has to be released first—it’s set to enter Early Access in 2026.
