And now is when we start to get scared about what the future hold for all of us die-hard Stronghold fans...
So far I'm seeing SH2/3 style graphics, perhaps with a slight Age of Empires twist. I imagine they are still refining the textures, since as-is they look somewhat cartoon-like, plus fire looks absolutely awful. As of this moment, I personally do not particularly like the graphics, (particularly for the units; buildings need to be "dulled" a bit, however the style looks acceptable) however since this is still fairly early in development it is possible they will be improved before release.
From the screenshots it would seem they've made the reversion to a grid-based system. I'm slightly concerned with these new units they're talking about, particularly the ones with special abilities. The original Stronghold games managed to balance the units far better than any successive game (not perfectly, however) and abilities could completely ruin whatever improvements they've made if done improperly. So far there isn't much else to be seen in the way of gameplay, and since they haven't shown us an European units there's no way to tell if spearmen still throw their spears. (please, please tell me they've scrapped this awful idea)
Overall I'm seeing what I expected, and not what I was hoping for. Obviously they still have a lot of time to make this game considerably more appealing to us die-hard SHC fans, which I sincerely hope they do. Right now Firefly really needs to take their time on Crusader 2 and make this one properly, otherwise I fear that this will be the last we will see of Stronghold for a very, very long time.
"Judge not,
Lest ye be Judged"
-Jesus, Matthew 7:1, Luke 6:37