When comparing Axiom Verge vs Stronghold Crusader HD, the Slant community recommends Stronghold Crusader HD for most people. In the question“What are the best singleplayer games on Steam?” Stronghold Crusader HD is ranked 45th while Axiom Verge is ranked 94th. The most important reason people chose Stronghold Crusader HD is:
Easy to learn mechanics of economy, castle building and army production. Does not overwhelm players with choices.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great soundtrack
Pro Retro feel with a modern spin
Provides a good change of pace to what many modern titles offer. Axiom Verge is a well crafted combination of the original Metroid 2D platformer style, with unique game mechanics that make it refreshing.
Pro Somewhat complex story
While maybe not necessarily mind-blowing, it does have some interesting twists that one usually is more likely to find in movies rather than games. Also multiple endings.
Pro Tons of power ups to collect
In addition to having lots of things to find, the power ups give you diverse abilities that allow you to interact with the world in new unique ways.
Pro Beautiful art and environments
Pro Great for RTS beginners
Easy to learn mechanics of economy, castle building and army production.
Does not overwhelm players with choices.
Pro Deep yet intuitive interface
Many options are available in the game along with good tutorials that introduce the player to these. While not all options are necessary the inclusion of them is welcome for those that would like to take advantage of them.
Pro Unique Gameplay
A unique blend of real-time battles and castle-sim, which the Stronghold series is famous for
Cons
Con Poor weapon design
There are a ton of weapons, but most of them lack purpose. You end up sticking with just a few.
Con Not modern enough
It's intentionally retro style makes the world monotonous and dead compared to modern Metroidvania's.
Con Soundtrack can feel repetitive
While the soundtrack has some great electronic music, it can start feeling repetitive over long play sessions, especially when you find yourself just wandering around, looking for items or the next destination.
Con Too short
And no reason to replay.
Con Lacks polish in some areas
Things like buttons on the bottom of the screen that are not intuitively placed as well as notifications that can not be filtered to the more important. This can detract from the gameplay as it is immersion breaking to have to rifle through inconvenient button placement as well as notifications looking for what you need at the time.
Con Multiplayer is a hassle
A third-party connection app like Tunngle, Hamachi, GameRanger is needed to play the non-steam version of the game and therefore multiplayer games are mostly unresponsive and error-prone