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The curtains have closed on the final episode of The Hot Seat for the year, offering a deep reflection on a truly transformative period for the strategy game industry.
Marco Minoli navigated the shift in the media landscape, celebrated major launches, and welcomed two key guests: Sophie James from Firefly Studios to discuss the highly successful Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition, Imre Bartha, Game Designer on Sudden Strike 5 at Kite Games to dive into the challenges of balancing history with engaging gameplay.
Sophie James, Producer at Firefly Studios, offered an inside look into modernizing a classic with Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition. The team built on the framework of Stronghold Definitive Edition, saving significant development time, but confirmed their primary focus was always the massive existing fanbase. While the 2001 graphics code was fully rewritten for the Unity engine, the original behavior code was intentionally preserved to maintain the game's distinctive "jank" and character.
Imre Bartha, Developer of Sudden Strike 5, focused on the careful design needed to balance historical authenticity with engaging strategy. He reported how the team selects historical events and geographical data, then makes "creative" adjustments to ensure balanced gameplay. A classic example is sometimes adding a second bridge to prevent the AI from being defeated immediately if the player destroys the historical choke point. To appeal to a wider audience, Sudden Strike 5 shifted away from the linear, marker-based missions of Sudden Strike 4 toward a more sandbox experience. This encourages players to discover opportunities as they explore
The Tabletop Corner celebrated the diverse modern landscape of wargaming, featuring discussions on:
Konflikt '47: A recent release sharing core rules with Bolt Action but set in a different world with altered armies and weapons.
Checkpoint Charlie: The successor to the classic Team Yankee from Battlefront.
Magic: The Gathering: The segment also touched on the new Universes Beyond series (Fallout, Final Fantasy, Marvel) and confirmed the compatibility of all different ranges.
The Hot Seat Episode 5 was a great way to end 2025. If you missed it live, you can watch the full episode on our official channels.
Mark your calendars: The Hot Seat will return with a new episode on Wednesday, January 28th, with great guests: Patrick Streppel, in charge of the latest Star Trek: Voyager game, and Ian Fischer, developer and designer of Paradox’s upcoming grand strategy game, Millennia.
Before the next episode, be sure to tune in for our Slitherine Next Event on December 9th at 6 PM CET, live on Twitch and YouTube. We promise big announcements, roadmaps, and new game reveals for 2026 and beyond.
