Gameplay is innovative and great fun
You can either choose between the "Military Campaign" or the "Economic Campaign". In the military campaign, most of the missions are you defending your castle from oncoming assaults. This is the most entertaining part of the game. In order for you to defend your castle, you have to assign citizens to do work. Examples are cutting wood, mining stone, etc. While doing this you still have to create and army which will defend your people.
There is a series of tabs on the bottom of the screen, each of which shows you different types of structures you can build. There's a farm tab, a food-production tab, a weapons-building tab, and so forth. Then there is a castle tab that lets you build walls. To build towers, you need to go to the castle tab and then click on the tower button, which opens the tower screen.
Certain missions in the military campaign require you to attack an enemy castle. These missions are the most difficult and require the best strategies. There is a diverse amount of military units ranging from the Crossbowman to the Engineer in which you can attack the enemy castle with.
Storyline is nice and attractive: Your father who used to be the King over the land has been killed, and four characteristic opponents reign over each corner. The Lords you are pit against are; The Rat, The Snake, The Pig, and The Wolf. Each character has their own castle style, their own strategies, and their own backstory. You start off simply getting an economy going, and after that you start taking over the lands (You can't pick which you choose to storm though).
In the economic campaign you basically have a goal that you have to acquire in a unlimited amount of time and you don't have to worry about attacks from any enemies. Example: Make 200 barrels of ale.The game has few economic missions that become repetitive after one has played a couple of these. Graphically the game is beautiful. Graphics are not 3D and high-end but 2D RTS Gaming hasn't looked better. The detail in the castle buildings and the characters are especially good. The game has many details during gameplay that sometimes I find myself being distracted by the beautiful scenery. Animation isn't the best, but forgetting that (which you will) is in line with the game itself.
The sound is very complementary to the graphics. If you have a good sound system you can feel the catapults hit the castle (granted that's if you have the bass up).
Overall I highly recommend this game to any RTS fans.