Game gives castle lovers a double-edged sword is the subtitle of an in-depth Stronghold preview on Computer Games Online, looking ahead to the isometric castle building sim/strategy game under construction at Firefly Studios. The article introduces the company, describes the game's premise, goes into great detail about its gameplay, single- and multi-player features, isometric engine and more, and is underlined with quotes from the developers and illustrated with 21 new screenshots. Here is an excerpt:

The core to success in Stronghold lies in your popularity as lord of the castle. The higher your popularity, the more people will come to the castle, and the larger your castle's population, the more its potential for prosperity, allowing you to reach both combat and non-combat goals. If your popularity lowers significantly, people will leave the castle, abandoning their jobs, and finding work someplace else.

Popularity is "scored" as an average of various statistics such as food supply, tax rate, accessibility to religion, crowding, and more. Bradbury illustrates, "How well are you feeding your people? Are you starving them on very little food or giving them extra rations? How many food types are you feeding them? Are you feeding the people just wheat, or apples and cheese as well? How high is the tax rate? Is there disease in the castle? Have you built enough churches or given out free ale lately?" All of these are considerations in keeping your people happy. You can also add perks such as scenic gardens and nifty maypoles. If you wish to play a cruel lord and gain loyalty through a broad implementation of torture devices, you'll be able to keep the population on your side out of fear. In shades of Black & White, the people will hate you, but worship you just the same.