5th Cell’s fast-paced strategy game Castlehold launches on Steam

5th Cell has launched its latest game, Castlehold, on Steam Early Access.

Castelhold is a free-to-play strategy game. While many strategy titles feature long matches on huge maps, Castlehold has faster-paced battles. It has you playing characters with cards that you can then send out on a hexagon map to take over castles and fight the enemy.

It’s a bit like Hearthstone meets Advance Wars. Speaking of the latter, you also pick a general that gives you deck access to a special ability. You could also see it as a being a bit similar to other player-vs.-player games like Clash Royale, although this is a turn-based experience.

I played an alpha version of Castlehold with the developers last month, and I had fun with its bite-sized strategic battles. Since each match is only so long, a single defeat isn’t too upsetting. And the deck-building aspect should open the way for plenty of tinkering.

5th Cell is best known for the Scribblenauts franchise, which has players solving puzzles by typing in the names of objects and having them appear in the game. Castlehold is not as creative as that, but it could become a satisfying and addicting strategy experience.