It can be fun if janky at times and I want to recommend because it's a pretty unique game, but the community is obnoxious to the point I can't recommend this to friends.

I'm not talking about the folks spamming music or terrible accents - that's part of the game and part of what can make it fun. The problem is really the recurring racism and edgelord proximity chat spam that pops up every other round, even after blocking a fair amount of people. The more I play holdfast the more I feel the title is dealing with the same "nazi bar" problem that plagues milshooter and paradox titles. Anvil needs to take reporting seriously and address or ban repeat offenders like other games have.

I'm going to say it - this is the closest we've gotten so far to a (good) 3D stronghold game. It looks simple and has no reason to be as good as it is; it's a fantastic mix of siege warfare and economic management that really makes you think about your castle and gives helms deep vibes.

For bonus points, there's a surprising amount of detail. Units holding shields take less damage from the front. Towers have stairs in them where fighting can occur. Killing siege equipment is difficult, but you can kill the enemies manning it instead. And it's a unique theme that works pretty well and has a cool day/night cycle. Playing on the hardest setting is legitimately difficult but not in a "the AI cheats" kind of way.

I'm not a big Early Access fan but it's improved significantly since I first played the demo and bought it, and it feels very finished in its current state.

Really wanted to like Stellaris, but it's turned into the typical buggy Paradox DLC mill. I even bought a few because I was excited for the game, but no luck. It feels like there's no vision or roadmap for the game and it's just a constant flavor of the month churn of power creeping DLC.

A worthy successor to Red Orchestra 2. A few wobbles but overall great experience and well worth price.

Love: settings, balancing, and some of the mechanics around points are really cool. Destroy vs capture is a nice tradeoff.

Nitpicks: guns seem a little too accurate. I'm not great at shooters but seem to land a ton of hits and headshots. Wish more people in each game.

Just doesn't have the same magic of Red Orchestra 2, and the community isn't great. Really wanted to like it.

Fun game, has a surprising amount of depth.

The true successor to Banished, with a ton of features and depth added on top. It looks really nice as well. Would absolutely recommend.