Stronghold Crusader 2, the next entry in the long-running castle-building series, will release through Steam, and boxed copies of the game will require the digital service to run as well. Developer Firefly Studios announced this DRM today.
Stronghold Crusader 2 will be released in Spring 2014, almost upon us now. Marketing manager Nick Tannahill explained the developer’s decision to use Steam for everything. He said:
As an independent developer our resources are limited. For the majority of the Crusader 2 project we have had two full-time programmers and two artists working on the game. That said we still want Crusader 2 to have all the cool and convenient features players expect from a modern RTS and a true sequel to the original Stronghold Crusader.
We can handle much of the game just fine on our own, so the game’s skirmish mode, AI, single-player campaigns and other core gameplay systems such as co-op have been tailor made by Firefly. However secondary features like achievements, game invites and gameplay stats will be powered through Steam, where the majority of our players come from.
Steam will have numerous features that Stronghold Crusader 2 will utilize, most notably: Achievements, voice chat, cloud saves, Workshop support, invites, stats, and trading cards.
Those who prefer to have a physical copy of their games will rejoice to hear Stronghold Crusader 2 will launch at retail. The game will, however, require the use of Steam and an account.
