I played Castle Strike back in 2004. By the way, just take a look at the games that came out that year, almost every title was a hit. But in my opinion, Castle Strike never got the recognition it deserved. I still remember the atmosphere that completely immersed me in the game. It felt like real medieval times, no fantasy, just pure historical warfare. Well, there were a few mystical elements, but they were minimal.
The soundtrack was absolutely stunning. Sometimes, I would launch the game just to listen to a few tracks. The game’s mechanics were well thought out you had to build a unit, then separately create a horse, and manually mount the soldier onto it. for each siege weapon, people must be manually assigned. Units could walk or run, and the camera was fully rotatable, allowing for 360-degree views and zooming in and out. Some might say, "So what?" But back then, not many games had this feature. Even Warcraft III had limited camera movement. The only other game that comes to mind with similar mechanics is Rome: Total War, where you could rotate and zoom the camera freely. But that's about it, I can't recall any other games like it.
I played Castle Strike for hours, even late into the night. At school, I would constantly think about strategies to beat the missions. The moment I got home, I’d jump straight to my PC. I don’t remember exactly what time of year it was—either summer or autumn. But I do remember that it was during school break. In a few days, I was supposed to leave for my grandma’s village, where there was no computer. So I had to rush through the game, playing it non-stop for entire days. When I finally arrived at my grandma’s for a couple of weeks, the game’s amazing music kept playing in my head… I still have the game disc somewhere. But unfortunately, you can't buy the game online, there's simply no legal way to purchase it. Please help bring Castle Strike to GOG! That would be an incredible gift for me.