making decisions for your entire kingdom), and tactical (i.e. Your objective in LOTRII remains the same as it was in the first game: The king in mediaval England is dead, and it's up to you to fight the other nobles for the throne and succeed him.Īgain like the first game, you are put in charge of both the strategic level (i.e. This mediaval empire game improves on the already superb Lords of the Realm in numerous aspects, adding both complexity and replayability. One of the most underrated strategy games of all time, Impressions' Lords of the Realm II is in my opinion the best game designed by David Lester, prolific designer and founder of Impressions.

The graphics seem to have aged well and it would be worth trying out. Getting the bishop to say 'you damned fool' was pretty much the goal of every game for me.Īll in all, a wonderfully engaging game to play for its time. However, it is lots of fun to interact with the AI because each character is fully voice acted by talented and well directed actors. In fact, the other castle types are not even worth building.ĭiplomacy is not really there, being that the game is pretty much a free for all. There are only a handful of castles to build, which barely gives an advantage to the defender with the exception of the last castle, which has a moat that is incredibly effective. Defense is basically corner camping, and offense is bum rushing the opposing army. There is very little true tactics needed here. When two opposing armies meet, the game switches to the real time tactical map. There are a few more strategic elements that are likewise very well implemented that are somewhat complex without being ponderous. Furthermore, armies are recruited from the peasant population, which can severely limit your territory's production capacity or ability to raise another army. So you must balance growing food, smithing weapons, building castles, or gathering resources with which to build castles and smith weapons. Managing territories is unique in that every peasant is assigned a task. It is split into a turn-based strategic map and a tactical battle map. It was worth it, providing many many hours of play time. This was the first game i purchased with my own money.

Download steam lords of the realm 2