Stronghold: Warlords — Steam Gift

Stronghold: Warlords — Firefly's castle RTS heads East

For two decades the Stronghold series built European castles and fed garrisons on bread and ale. Stronghold: Warlords (released March 9, 2021, developed and published by Firefly Studios) moves all of that to Asia: feudal Japan, imperial China, the Mongol steppe and the jungles of Vietnam. You still raise walls, place towers, balance the economy and keep your people fed and content — but the scenery, armies and tactics are now Eastern. We deliver it as a Steam Gift: you get the full version, and once you accept it, it stays on your account forever.

What warlords are and why they matter

The headline addition that gives the game its name is the warlord system. Independent AI commanders sit across the map with their own keeps. You can bring them to heel by force or diplomacy, upgrade them, and issue orders: one sends reinforcements, another bombards the enemy, a third boosts your economy or your troops' morale. They're essentially living nodes of power on the battlefield, and fighting over them often decides a match as much as storming your rival's main castle. It shifts the series' rhythm — you wage war not only with walls and catapults but with a network of allies.

Gunpowder, a series first

Warlords is the first Stronghold with gunpowder. Cannons, multi-barrel rocket launchers inspired by Chinese hwacha, and powder kegs let you blow open gates and shatter packed formations. Sieges are louder and deadlier: the stone walls that held forever in older entries can now genuinely be cracked by artillery. The series' foundation is intact, though — resource gathering, food and weapon production chains, taxes, the fear and joy of your population, and careful fortress layout.

Campaigns and modes

The game has five historical campaigns walking you through key moments of Eastern history: the unification of China under its first emperor, the rise of Genghis Khan and the Mongol horde, the campaigns of Tamerlane, and the conquest of Vietnam. Beyond the story there's a free-build mode with no military threat for players who just want to craft a perfect fortress-city, standalone siege maps, skirmish with free unit placement, and multiplayer for several players. This gift covers all of it — it's the full base game, not a cut-down version.

• 🏯 Five historical campaigns (China, Mongols, Tamerlane, Vietnam)
• ⚔️ Warlord system — subjugate and upgrade AI commanders
• 💥 Gunpowder: cannons, rockets, powder kegs
• 🏰 Classic Stronghold economy: food, weapons, taxes, popularity
• 🌐 Free-build, siege maps and multiplayer

Edition and what's included

You get the full Stronghold: Warlords game for Steam. All five campaigns, the modes and the base map set are already inside — no extra purchase is needed to play through. The separate story expansions and soundtrack that Firefly released alongside the game (as in the Special and Ultimate editions) are not part of this gift: this is the base game specifically, and it's enough to finish all the core content and play online.

How you receive the Steam Gift

This is a Steam gift, not a code-and-key. After the order, the FZR friend-bot gets in touch: it adds you on Steam (or you add it), sends Stronghold: Warlords as a gift, and once it's delivered the bot leaves your friends list. All you do is accept the gift — no codes to enter and no separate requests to confirm. Steam Guard isn't required to accept it. Important: your Steam account region must match the gift's region, and the game must not already be in your library — otherwise Steam won't let you accept it. Delivery usually takes a couple of minutes, and once accepted the game stays on your account permanently, like anything bought on Steam, with updates arriving automatically through the client.

Who it's for

Warlords suits players who enjoy thoughtful RTS sieges and base-building over twitchy micro. If you raised castles in older entries, this shares the same DNA with fresh mechanics and an Eastern setting. If you're new to castle strategy, it's a friendly entry point — the rules are taught through the campaigns. Check our neighbouring strategy titles too, such as Stronghold Definitive Edition and Stronghold Crusader Definitive Edition from the same Firefly studio, or the genre classic Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.

Quick answers

This is a Steam gift, not a key: the bot sends the game to your account and you accept it. It's the full game, not a DLC. Your account region must match the gift region, and the game can't already be in your library. The game targets Windows; on Steam Deck and Linux it runs through Proton, but that isn't an official developer platform. Once accepted, the fortress is waiting for its commander.

💚 Same game — another format

On the same topic we also have: Stronghold: Warlords as a Steam key.