Planet Stronghold is a visual novel

Visual novel

A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...

, sci-fi

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 role-playing game

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...

 with a turn-based combat system for the Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, Mac OS X

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

 and Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 platforms. The game was developed and published by Winter Wolves

Riva Celso

Celso Riva is an Italian independent video game designer of several critically acclaimed games, including The Goalkeeper, Universal Boxing Manager, Magic Stones, the Heileen series, and Bionic Heart....

 and was released on February 28, 2011.

Gameplay

The game offers a mix of classic visual novel gameplay, with dialogues and many choices to make, with RPG

RPG

RPG may refer to:* Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon* Role-playing game, in which players act out the roles of characters in a narrative game** Role-playing video game, a type of computer or video game-Organisations:...

-style battles. The player has the ability to choose the gender of the protagonist. For every gender there are three optional romance endings, for a total of 6 different romance endings.

Reception

The game received a score of 78/100 on Gamertell, with reviewer Jenni Lada writing "Planet Stronghold isn't for everyone. It's a good game, but it's also quite challenging. This may dissuade beginners or typical visual novel players, who may not be accustomed to level-grinding characters, seeking out extra battles and carefully managing character equipment to keep everyone at their best."

Mac Games gave 4 of 5 stars and wrote: "The anime artwork is exquisite as always with great alien drawings. The instructions are clear and stats detailed."

GameZebo gave 3,5 of 5 stars and wrote: "If Planet Stronghold has a weakness, it’s that the story and characters in and of themselves aren’t especially interesting. The game isn’t poorly written or even poorly translated, it’s just a bit generic given the type of anime sci-fi fare that’s clearly influenced it. That doesn’t matter quite so much when the game is simply fun to play for its own sake, which it is."

External links

• Official website
• Planet Stronghold at Winter Wolves
  Riva Celso
  Celso Riva is an Italian independent video game designer of several critically acclaimed games, including The Goalkeeper, Universal Boxing Manager, Magic Stones, the Heileen series, and Bionic Heart....