Introduction

Developed by: Cyberlore
Published by: Hasbro/Microprose
Majesty official page: http://www.cyberlore.com/Majesty/index.htm

So What is it?

When Microprose announced Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, we were intrigued. Majesty was supposed to be a 3-way hybrid, being part SimCity, part RPG and part WarCraft. How was developer Cyberlore going to pull this off? That's what we were thinking, so we had Microprose send us a copy.

World Map

Nice home!

The first thing that struck us is the rather impressive manual included - a feature which has been lacking in recent games. The manual is clear and descriptive, explaining the majority of features, options and commands with the least amount of hassle. It also contains a few "in character" pages, to help set the atmosphere as well as giving a bit of background information on the setting. At the back of the manual there is a reference card with all your key bindings on it. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be an option to re-bind keys within the game.

Overview

Majesty is set in the land of Ardania. Ardania is the typical fantasy realm - full of monsters, undead, evil sorcerers and the peasants that are terrorized by them. Of course, where there's evil, there will be heroes and adventurers trying to set things right, get a fortune or take the power that the evil has and wield it themselves. It's up to you to guide these adventurers, using them for your own purposes - namely, saving the day. They might get the glory, but it is you who will end up undisupted ruler of Ardania!

It's all about the merchandise

They're not Army Rangers

You, the player, are set as a sovereign of Ardania. Not all of it is under your control -much of the land is overrun with creatures of all possible malicious demeanors. It is up to you to embark on quests and gain full control of your lands. These aren't the standard variety quests you might see in Fallout, Baldur's Gate or Diablo, since this isn't an RPG. Yet Cyberlore also didn't refer to them as missions, campaigns or battles. Given the style of play present in Majesty, we agree that the latter three names might be misleading, but so is quest. There is just no single word that can quite describe a Majesty "quest".