After choosing my Hero's portrait, assigning him a clever name (see above) and applying the usual skills and stat points, the browser window redirected me to the main castle webpage, a portal to an onslaught of numbers, tabs that revealed sub-menus when clicked, and a chatlog littered with pictures of emotionally spastic cartoon cats. The crushing sense of confusion grabbed my otherwise knowledgeable and confident gaming prowess and tossed it down a deep dark ravine.

My patience began to plummet, fast.

Resisting defeat, I asked our editor-in-chief, Brendon, for some guidance. He explained how the tabs on the left represented the various actions I could make as a player, and that if I constructed anything it would be built in real-time.

Doing what I normally do in strategy games, I immediately began focusing on constructing more silver mines to increase gold production per hour, and ramparts and arrow towers to protect my kingdom in case a budding usurper came a-knockin'.

My patience administered the air brakes and stopped mid-air, Wile-E-Coyote-style.

Investigating the other options available, I found out how to expedite the building of additional materials, train units, and create defensive and offensive formations using a simple grid. There's even a hero system where special characters can gather lumber (used for constructing buildings), automatically train to increase experience points, search for food and various objects, and go on a player-assisted adventure.

The last option plays out like a very basic turn-based RPG where the hero of your choice (more than one can be recruited, depending on the level of the "Hero Congregation" building) enters into a battle with a non-playable character. More wins equals more experience points which can be then used to upgrade your character.

For me, an admitted newcomer to this style of "gameplay," the aforementioned "adventuring" holds no interest. It's too basic and too boring, even with the added level of impact an advanced hero has on my army (hero's vitality multiplied by five equals how many units you can bring into battle). I preferred to instead to have Poogas, Sarah, Hicks, and Navarro train overnight. In the morning I'd give them more duties for the afternoon and continue on my merry way. This simple process served as the blueprint for my continued involvement in Holy Castle.

Even still, I continually log into my account periodically throughout the day to scout other players' castles, adjust offensive and defensive formations, and just to check how things are doing. Even after I'm done with this review, I'll continue playing. The game excels in its accessible simplicity and I don't need to clear my schedule, but I can't see anyone playing it for extended periods of time.

Review Kyle Stallock
August 5, 2009