Firefly Studios has released yet another DLC pack for their castle-building RTS game, Stronghold Crusader 2. This new DLC pack is titled The Templar and the Duke. The Templar and the Duke DLC pack follows the same form as the rest of the packs for Stronghold Crusader 2, containing 2 new AI opponents, a new single player missions strand, new castles, new shields, and new achievements. While, at first glance, The Templar and the Duke looks exactly the same as the rest, The Templar and the Duke is my favorite so far due to the extreme differences between the two new characters.
The New Challengers
The first new challenger is the Templar. The Templar is the fanatical knight, bent on wiping out the Muslims from the Holy Land. Once a knight in King Richard’s army, the Templar has been promoted due to his brutality in handling the enemies of the Holy Land. The Templar sees himself as the harbinger of justice from God and represents the unwavering conviction that the Crusaders had for their mission and the lengths that they will go to achieve success.
On the other hand, the Duke represents the complete opposite of the spectrum from the Templar. Having traveled from France, the Duke is here to share in the glory if the Crusades succeed, but has an escape plan ready to go in case they do not. Leading a life of pampering and seclusion from the real world, the Duke has been able to build up a lordly appearance but is incapable of leading in the battlefield. The Duke appears confident to others, but is truly riddled with self-doubt and has only joined the Third Crusade because he feels he has something to prove.
The Templar is the classic rts opponent of the two new characters. The Templar’s castle is of a rigid and structured design, built to withstand the heaviest of sieges. The Duke is the unpredictable opponent, whose castle will have no apparent rhyme or reason to its design. It was how different each of these characters built their castles is why I liked this dlc the most so far. I had a real feel for how different these two opponents really where and the differences in their designs made the dlc a strong one to recommend.
Final Thoughts
Firefly Studios is releasing new content for Stronghold Crusader 2 at a good pace, with this being the third dlc pack since the game’s release last September. Each dlc pack extends the single player game by one mission strand, and introduces two new characters. The Templar and the Duke is my favorite dlc pack to date from Firefly Studios, because of how different these two characters feel from each other. The Templar is the dedicated fanatical knight bent on the ultimate conquering of the Holy Lands, while the Duke is in it only for the glory if it all goes right, and will run at the first hint of failure. Their castle designs represent this difference as well, and you will need two completely different sets of skills to defeat either the Templar or the Duke. The dlc pack costs $6, which has been the standard price for everything that has come out. I feel that the price point is extremely fair for what you get, and fans of Stronghold Crusader 2 should definitely pick up this pack. If you haven’t yet picked up Stronghold Crusader 2, you now have quite a lot of content to get through for a modest price.
[easyreview title=”Stronghold Crusader 2 – The Templar and the Duke DLC Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]
