As some may know, I have been seen bashing this game a fair bit on this forums, but in all honesty, it isn’t as bad as we think! I genuinely enjoyed this game for quite a while, I was extremely involved in the community and I think that this was a good way to expand the franchise in a way that is familiar to the mobile market. Here is what I’ve noticed through the years, from the eyes of a veteran.
What people forget about CS is that it is designed for mobile with its mobile friendly UI and gesture based system that worked pretty good on PC too. It was safe, it wasn’t really a leap with new technology, but nevertheless it was enjoyable. I managed to get some of my friends to play this game also (we all owned surface 2’s at the time) and we all had a blast playing with each other.
Speaking of the multiplayer, PVP was a core part of the game. It was swift, enjoyable and I always understood where I went wrong. There was never a “AGGGHHHHH THATS NOT FAIR THEY ARE HACKING” moment in my entire playtime. The game made you understand where you went wrong, but also praised and rewarded players who won. And winning in CS is awesome. There’s nothing like obliterating some unsuspecting players base, only to find your base obliterated the next morning when you woke up because that guy used revenge on you. The cooperative multiplayer was lacking to say the least, only being able to chat, give units and build wonders. It would have been awesome to train against your friends, test their castles, and even play team matches against others. But I digress.
Now, it hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows for castle siege. I did get bored with the game a couple of times, and its only now that I have booted up my surface that I realised that castle siege is coming to a close. Not to mention the disassociation from the Age of Empires franchise as a whole, it didn’t have a very good reputation in the community. People really didn’t like it, mainly because it really just is Clash of Clans with a realistic medieval coat of paint on top. While I don’t hate Castle Siege, it isn’t my favourite. But I certainly prefer this over CoC, mainly because of my love for AoE and the medieval theme hitting my soft spot.
I’m not sure what Microsoft will do with Age of Empires on mobile now. Castle Siege was the best Microsoft game they had on mobile, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see something like a mobile-friendly RTS with the Age of Empires name to appear in the coming years for mobile. They should go with something that the community knows and likes, the classic Age of Empires feel. This is where Castle Siege went wrong. It wore the Age name like a way to draw in dedicated fans and deceive them, and that’s why it had a negative impact on the community. It certainly deceived me, I’ll tell ya that. This is all speculation, however. As much as I’d love to work at Microsoft on the Age of Empires team, I don’t unfortunately!
Your time has come, Castle Siege. It’s time to bid farewell, and thank you for letting me absolutely destroy that one guys base who I had no business being in.
I could go on and on about how CS was awesome, but i’ll leave it here.