I've missed all the demos so far for Stronghold Warlords, the upcoming instalment in Firefly Studios' long-running castle-building-and-bashing series, despite being a big fan of the original games. But seeing as Warlords is being featured at Ye Olde PAX X EGX, and I had my hands on the new demo (which is out right now!), I figured now was the time to get stuck in.

Well, I'm glad I tried it. And I'm glad I waited, too. It seems Warlords has been through a lot of changes over the course of its development, but what's there now is very solid indeed. And while it has been delayed from its original launch date this month to January 26, 2021, I'm happy that Firefly are taking their time. Although I've only played the single campaign-ish scenario included in the demo, it gave me a solid hit of the satisfaction I associate with the original Stronghold. Plus, more importantly, it manages to genuinely innovate on the formula. Here's how.