Majesty 2: the Fantasy Kingdom Sim developed by Ino-Co, is a real time strategy handing players control of an empire. The story follows you as the next in line to the throne, after your predecessor’s unfortunate demise after his attempts at glory. This leaves the realm of Ardania under attack by hordes of demons, beasts and other monsters. The players is guided through Ardania by his servent making humours remarks throughout each mission helping the player on their way to becoming the next king.
Players start with a large over world of locations giving them choice between which missions they undertake next. On entry a few houses and a town hall are left for the player to set up a settlement, they are also tasked with a side and main objective to complete in the mission. Each location offers a unique gimmick changing each level substantially. Level jump from an Evil Wizard releasing an explosion on the town hall base, while another puts you under attack of narcoleptic ogre: adding great Varity between each mission.
Majesty 2 show clear and good design in the gameplay. Players start by placing buildings with a stacking price allowing heroes to be churned out at a small cost. Given no direct control the player persuades their heroes to do quests in the form of flags with a bounty. Each class of hero has their own personality which will change the amount of gold needed for them to try the quest, this leads to frustration as it removes precision in attacks. This is partially avoided by each type of hero being specialised for certain quests with warriors jumping onto any defence or rangers dashing to any explore quest. Players gain income from the size of their settlement. The added size follows monster spawns, creating a constant fight in the settlement with constant risk from placing that next building. A dilemma of the quest system is the small selection of flags causing complications in missions, with uncontrollable units attacking or moving against the player’s wishes only amplified by the lack of a choice in difficulty.
The gameplay and design sticks up proud, sadly the presentation feels standard at best. The graphics are average when viewed closely with a cartoonish and bright coloured appearance. The graphics feel much more polished when viewed from a distance. Through the game the dialogue keeps to the side of comical rather than serious realising the occasional amusing line.
The game feels great and really sets itself apart from other sims: small choices like the stacking price when building and monsters spawning add an extra layer of strategy in the game, making player think before they build. Throughout the game I felt disappointed that the game never became a parody of role playing or strategy games: leaving the quest system with so much untapped potential for good dialogue and comedy.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
