One of my favorite games from my chilhood. It never gets dull. If the quests given get too repetitive, you can always create your own freestyle game. The graphics of the HD version are MUCH improved and crisp compared to the original.

Majesty is a great game, and here's why: Basically, it feels like a fantasy RTS. It's game concept is not unique, but quite unusual: you control your units indirectly, by setting "quests" and rewards for the such quests. So if you want the enemy castle destroyed, you create some warriors and set a quest (with a tempting reward) to destroy the enemy castle. The graphics and control are great, as well as the interface, pretty intuitive game. You CAN'T

I can't say I'm the biggest fan of this but if you enjoy this sort of Iphoney game then you will probably like it. Watching your city grow is very satisfying but the game itself is damn hard and kind of unfair at times. Still, it's not bad.

This is one of THE best games ever made. It has originality, it has class, it has re-playability, it has a good story, good music, good everything. Buy it NOW!

A RTS with a unique twist: You can't control the units. Instead, you influence them by placing bounties on things. A lot of the strategy from the game comes form figuring out where you need to put those bounties the most, as well what buildings you choose to place in your kingdom, as some of them won't work with others: If you want dwarves in your kingdom, that means no elves or gnomes that missions. Add in a good number of missions to play through, along with the ability to make your own and you've got a great game if you want an RTS that's different from the rest.

You are the king. And its good to be king right? Well sometimes it can be a royal pain in ones rear. Monsters constantly roaming around, goblins trying to sack your caravans, weird ratmen popping up out of the sewers can be a real bother sometimes. So what to do? Hire heroes of course! Why soil your own hands when you can summon up someone else willing to go into danger and ultimately kill themselves for you and whatever reward you deem fit to give them, before they die and you take it all back in taxes.

Build hero halls to recruit them, build a armory or a market to equip them and set out bounties to explore your land for resources and put a price on the head of that nasty medusa giving you so much trouble.

Majesty is all about being king and running a kingdom. While new comers might hate the premise at first, those who stick with it will find a fun and rather warped sense of humor game that promises a fun romp through the countryside... or swamp... or desert... or the frozen wasteland where you're not sure why anyone would want to build a castle at.

Majest was a great game at it's time. Great unique gameplay, nice art style (the campaign map), great narrator. Now it comes back as HD - you can see, a lot more of the map at one time, and seeems to be working good with widescreen monitor. If you never played it before now is the time!

Very easy to get into. Obviously places the emphasis on city building over unit management since the player doesn't control the units directly. The quests are quite interesting and don't try to take themselves seriously. The sandbox mode offers a lot of customization

You are the king of a small fantasy kingdom. You choose what buildings to build in your capital to have it run well and protect itself. The world is filled with monsters and other fantasy obstacles and the main way to deal with them is to send heroes (think of RPG games heroes) to deal with them. For that you will need to give a reward and hopefully brave and good enough heroes will deal with the problem. You can also built structures to help your heroes, like better weapons etc, all for some money of course. A very good RTS game where you don't directly control the fighting units. Very good value for money.

Amazing game, I remember playing this when I was a kid and omg it's still just as fun.

Thanks GamersGate for making it possible for me to play it again!

Benjamin.

Display seem too small in present.

but it's still ok.

Majesty is a great combination of Fantasy RPG and RTS. You construct your kingdom and the people do as they please. You can, however, persuade your people to do your bidding by offering rewards in the form of Exploration flags and Reward flags. Place a large enough Exploration flag in some remote corner of the map, and everyone down to the builder gnomes will go after that flag to get the money. Place a Reward flag on a particularly annoying monster and the heroes of your kingdom will attempt to bring them down. All in all it's a very entertaining and enjoyable game. It's also old enough that it runs great on netbooks!

Majesty has an interesting spin on the typical build your kingdom and defeat the monsters fantasy games - you can't order your heroes to go anywhere or attack anything. Instead, you have to set up rewards that will entice them to do what you want. Once you get the hang of motivating them, it's fun and interesting, but it can get frustrating if your heroes keep getting themselves killed or prefer attacking less important targets. It's pretty replayable, as each quest has a random spawn and the heroes' actions add more variation to the gameplay.

Picked this up simply because I loved the original, and honestly what could top off a game you love better than more content? It's an awesome way to kill time as it doesn't require you to constantly hover over your kingdom. I've left mine run for hours just to see what trouble the people can get into. Overall a great game that just about anyone can get into!

Amazing game, I remember playing this when I was a kid and omg it's still just as fun.

Thanks GamersGate for making it possible for me to play it again!

Benjamin.

I have loved this game ever since I was a kid and now that I can go back and replay all of the epic missions that this game has to offer, I'm in love haha. The one thing I wasn't always a huge fan of was the lack of character control but at the same time it keeps the game interesting because you never know what your champions will go after or do next.

This classic RTS/RPG games is unique unlike any others, first off, it is not a RTS where you can control all your units, but instead every hero you hire has their own personality and moral. This leads to a very interesting gameplay because they might not do as commanded and run like a coward or get too brave and dive into a gang of monster. Repeatability is high because of the random response from heroes you hire and offers a humorous experience. Highly recommend this to those who prefer RTS+RPG with a twist.

This is one of the most creative games of all time. It truly places you in a leadership role and you have very little control over your heroes, but just enough to get the job done. Incredibly innovative gameplay principle. Instead of directing the characters the player only provides motivation for the citizens of his kingdom to do the right thing while also making sure that proper equipment for them is available for purchase. The graphics for the era are pretty good too.

In Majesty your goals are generaly the same, kill X or all of XX with a few, make X amount of gold in X amount of time senarios.

So it sound repetitive? Well there lies the suprise, there are nomaly several ways to get to your goal. The odd thing about the game is the lack of direct control of your units. They must often be convined to do what is needed, this is partialy achived by adding "reward flags". For example if you'd like to clear out more "fog of war" space in order to expand your kingdom you may pepper a part of the map with "exploration flags" which you can put a bounty on for your NPCs to collect if they are 1st to get to the flag. There are also "reward flags" that can be pinned on monsters & enemy buildings to inspire your characters to attack them. The NPCs will then take thier "loot" and use it for a vast array of options at thier disposal. Example, if a warrior kills a few monsters or some that have reward flags pinned to them they will take the gold they have built up and run to a blacksmith for better weapons or armor, they may take it to the local wizard guild & have thier equipment enchanted or simpley run to the market & buy something from there like a health potion or ring of protection.

The NPCs also gain exp & level up as they work or fight making them more proficient at the task.

Each character you summon comes from a guild (warrior, wizard, rogue just to name a few),

but there are lots of buildings to open up options to your NPCs like a market place, an inn, a library (where wizards can learn new spells) and many more. The subtle factors of the game are very well thought out by the developer.

The kingdom builing is great as there are plenty of buildings to construct & most all of them open new options to the NPCs and with upgrading the buildings more or better versions of options open to them as well as giving the building more HP. So the game ends up being a nice blend of building in order to abtain what you & your NPCs need along with helping to inspire the npcs to do what you need for them to do. The game ranges from very easy starting off to realy tuff twords the end of the game. All the vice acting is top notch, the story is well laid out & at times comical. This realy is a "must play" PC title. If you like RTS then you'll appreciate the unique & subtle factors involved with masterring the game. If you tend not to like RTS games then the RPG & Kindom building will keep you intrested. Add in the fact that the monster lairs are randomly placed helps keep replaying of the quest scenarios intresting. And the freestyle mode make the game close to endless as far as scenarios go with the option to set up the game about any way you'd like. The graphics for the game are well done & hold up very well for a game thats over 10 years old. The animation quality is good & all NPCs have true chracter, rather than being just robot like units as are in most RTS titles.

The reason i gave the game 4 stars rather than 5 is due to the age of the game there can be a few issues that are annoying, like the speed the screen scrolls is often way faster then it was originaly intended to be & for some there are occasional problems with the game randomly shutting down.(So save often) Other wise this is a easy 9-9.5 out of 10 game. its close to perfect.

The required specs for this game are very low & it should run on most if not all laptops & I'd be suprised if netbooks can't run it as well.

Yes i scribed out a wall of text but theres so much more to majesty than i posted. If your reading this review then you wanted info & i hope the info you wanted was found here.)

At less than $5.00 this game is an absolute bargain!!!

Thanks & have a great Day/Night

Have always loved this game. Glad to see it and Majesty 2 on here. Great combo of town building, quest, and reward. Only draw back no story really. But still one of the best played concepts and games based on the town building idea.

I gotta say, this game was a lot more than I expected. The game play is easy to follow and fun to use, with the best part being that you don't have to control each character individually. The game almost runs itself so that you can work on buildings, rewards, your quest, taxes, etc. I also would like to add that the price point is perfect, you can't find a better game at this price and it will replay really well due to the fact that you make completely different choices every time you play. All in all I'd say that this game deserves the four star rating I gave it.

Easily the most impressive expansion for a game I have played in the last 5 years. This has to be up there with Brood War for Starcraft 2 when it came out. Great job Microprose!

dang im so happy i was able to find this game and download it for cheap, i was trying to play it a while back but come to find out i lost it 7 years ago lol, great game keeps me entertained. how i missed the good o days

love this game as a child and i still do this is a classic take over game where you must protect your kingdom from a varity of monsters. the game gets progresivly harder with a lot of stuff to upgrade find and do best stredegy game ive played and majesty 2 is even better :)

I'm personally a big fan of this game... works mostly (except crashes occasionally) on my Windows 7 computer. Mouse control can be erratic but you get used to it. In terms of gameplay, I'm a huge fan of not being able to control heroes. Although it may seem annoying at first, it makes Majesty really unique and interesting.

As addictive as ever, Majesty essentially puts you in charge of a kingdom under perpetual siege from monstrous creatures and needs a lot of heroes to survive. Who do you want to hire for help ? Paladins in shining armor or brutish Warriors of Discord ? Sun-worshipping mace-wielding women or Moon-worshipping speedsters ? Decadent Elves or ingenious Dwarves ? These choices will haunt you again and again as you face relentless attacks from hordes of goblins, ratmen, undead, dragons, gorgons and sometimes all of them at the same time ! Throw in a built-in random map generator and you've got a recipe for countless hours of kingdom-building fun that is still almost unmatched elsewhere - the sequel got better graphics but less personality and easier choices.

One of the best medieval fantasy sim games! Graphics and gameplay are so interesting that even the Sequel can't come close to it! And especially for this amount of money, its a MUST!

I played this game when it just came out and at that time it was just super. I though I'd play it again after playing Majesty 2 and to my regret I have to say that the time has passed for this game. First, it will not run for some newer graphics cards and when I installed it on one of my older computers it was just not as good as I remembered. Controls are not as easy, the screen is too small, AI is not too smart... Would no recommend it to play after playing Majesty 2.

I remember wanting this game when it came out years ago but missing the window for purchasing it in stores. Over the years I've seen it mentioned quite a few times as one of the last great pre-3D RTS games, and that there's nothing else quite like it. Having finally played it I would have to agree (though it actually shares some gameplay conceits with Evil Genius). It is a little frustrating at first to not have direct control over much other than building, hiring, and establishing "incentives" for exploration and combat, but I'm having a lot of fun with the game, and I only paid $3 for it.

The graphics and sound are passable (by contemporary standards; I'm sure at the time they were quite good) and the writing/voice acting is surprisingly good, from the blatant Sean Connery impression during the mission intro's to the things your heroes say when they die. The tax collector in particular made me laugh out loud; there's just something hilarious about the utterly flamboyant delivery of a line as simple as "Taaakth collectorrr!!!"

Majesty is a very fun RTS game, with some interesting concepts. The inability to directly control your units, while it could be viewed as a negative, provides interesting gameplay that is a nice break from the usual RTS formula. Comes with plenty of replay value in the many scenarios and differing strategy, well worth the price.

It is a nice game.

I like the style, the background, the overall idea.

The only problem is the frustration the AI might cause.

Since you can only influence but not control your heroes prepare for losing quite a few heroes due to their own incompetence.

Great game! If you like starcraft you will probably like this too. It's a basic strategy game with a twist. You can't control your units. They do what they want. You can entice them and the more loyal ones will help you on their own. It basically gives a strange yet satisfying challenge.

I really like the first Majesty game, it seems to be close to perfect. A great strategy game with fun RPG elements.

Majesty 2 was a disappointment however, the different scenario's last far too long, and far too much upgrades make the game not at all as transparant as the first.

Majesty is a very unique sim/rts hybrid that does a good job of making the player feel like a king of a standard dungeons and dragons style fantasy setting where the government is reliant on independent heroes to accomplish its objectives. The writing and sense of humor are better than most games and the creators did an excellent job of giving each type of hero a well defined personality. It is also one of the more challenging games on the market, particularly the expert missions from the expansion. The random map generator is highly customizable and gives the game a level of replayability that few games possess. If the idea of running a fantasy kingdom government is at appealing to you I strongly recommend buying this game.

Majesty provides a neat twist on the classic 'build buildings, create units' strategy standard of yesteryear. With the units themselves outside of your control, your entire perspective changes - in a very enjoyable dynamic fashion.

The game itself certainly shows its age, but it is a fun romp that will likely provide many hours of entertainment.

A fantastic game that is still the most unique RTS experience available on PC. The game has near infinite replayibility due to its freeform mode.

The graphics do show their age but really, you can't find a better value for the money on gamersgate.

A classic in the truest sense of the word.

This is one of my favourite games to keep coming back to time and time again. It is really fun in multiplayer too.

The individual missions are fun and the manual settings let you adjust the monster levels and amounts.

Sometimes it gets a little frusterating if you play on expert and your town is layed to ruins in 2 minutes, but overall, this is a very unique strategy game!

One of the best RTS games I've played. Normally I wouldn't even look at an E game, but it's so well done that doesn't even matter. A lot of reviewers here complain about the difficulty, but personally I've only found a few levels that were truly difficult, most of them time-limit quests (which I'm terrible at.) Overall a VERY good game, worth a lot more than the price tag.

A very unique game with a very unique concept. While not a fan of the expanded features myself, the original alone is well worth the money. It's a great game that gets one thinking outside of the box, and breaks the normalcy of games today. Once you get the hang of it though it can become kind of repetitive, but if you play majesty that much you're probably already in love with the game.

Also your adviser has an awesome voice, kind of Sean Connery.

I played a lot of sim/rts/rpg games. This is the 1st game that I was able to finish over the weekend. I finished it quickly not because it was easy but because it was interesting, fun and exciting. Just what games are supposed to be :)

Now that there is Majesty II. I hope its as fun as the original. For now, I re-playing Majesty while saving for Majesty II.

This is one of the most creative games of all time. It truly places you in a leadership role and you have very little control over your heroes, but just enough to get the job done. The graphics for the era are alright, but I have never put 'eye candy' over quality and this game delivers! I've played the demo for the second installment and its just as good, but since you get this free with a pre-order I would say pick it up now and get two high quality games for under $50.00!

Incredibly innovative gameplay principle. Instead of directing the characters the palyer only provides motivation for the citizens of his kingdom to do the right thing while also making sure that proper equipment for them is available for purchase.

Great voice acting too.

Looking forward to the 2nd installment of the game this year.

This game is a classic of the RTS genre - with an unusual twist. I have had many hours of fun - and frustration! - watching my heros wander around, to and fro, sometimes doing your bidding, and sometimes doing nothing but sit in a pub and drink!

I recommend this game wholeheartedly - and suggest you look out for the sequal which paradox are releasing in a few months.

I love Majesty. It's a beautifully designed game, it's fun to play, beginners will have no difficulty beating the easy scenarios in a short time, and experienced players can have a really difficult time beating the master-level scenarios. The fact that units have genuine (and different) personalities makes this game completely unlike any RTS before or since. (I'm delighted to see plans for a Majesty 2 - long overdue!) If you're interested in a quirky twist to RTS, and you like to see units that improve over time (but want the freedom to be allowed to let them die if that's your playstyle), then you'll enjoy Majesty. (I've found that on modern operating systems, it can help to use Escape to get past opening movies, but once running, it's pretty stable. Go to options and turn on autosave just in case, it does crash occasionally.)

I played this game as a demo about 5 years ago. and due to at that time not owning a credit card/couldnt find it boxed. there was no way for me to purchase it. I finally found it online and well, its been 5 years and i didn't even re-play the demo.

when you get it (and you should) play a few quests in the origional first. Find it addictive and so much fun even for an older game THEN give the expansion a shot. More quests, characters, buildings and baddies!

Its one of those games where you find yourself thinking: "Darn that Adolfous The Swift, you ALWAYS run when you see Trolls." Your heroes have vices and some can seem to be cowards no matter how high that bounty is. While others just walk up to that Yeti all on their lonesome and poke it with their dagger... Usually ending in a *splat*.

Anyone who likes strategy but could never really get into the Sim genre should definetly give this a try. And of course, all those who like the sim way of life.

5/5

Years ago I had a physical copy of the game without the expansion pack. It is basically a Fantasy RPG\RTS mixture with an inverted version of Dungeon Keeper with free-thinking people and the side of heroes under your command.

It is nothing complicated, and basically completely system friendly,a replayable, easy to use game.

Only the last levels were obviously untested, but beatable with cheating or extreme gaming (devoting to completing it for days and micromanaging to madness)

Anyways, it is worth the money. I am downloading as I write this!

This is a fun game.

The 'units' in this game are the heros that emerge from guilds that you build. You do not control them but you can influence them by offering rewards for certain quests (either explore or attack)

Your time will be spend building, watching over your heros and casting spells.

The game is a little easy but it is a lot of fun and for the price I got my money's worth.

The multiplayer mode crashes the game for me but I'm not concerned with that. The freeform mode allows you to customise a game to your preferences and will keep me coming back for the odd game.

In a genre where obnoxious micromanagement and horrible player unit AI dampen my gaming enthusiasm to a dangerous level, Majesty makes so many strides in the right direction, and it's a blast to play, fascinating to watch your units go about. Sad, then, that it still degenerates into "click faster than the other guy!", the same way basically every management-style RTS does.

Playing through the beginner scenarios was great fun, and I had such high hopes, but once I got past the "intro level" quests, it became frustratingly difficult to the point where I'm not sure if I'll even bother playing the game anymore.

If you don't have trouble with the difficulty level of other RTS games, you probably won't here either, at least not until the "expert" scenarios. I do have trouble, have ever since Warcraft, and, unfortunately, I do here, too. I had hopes this would be different. And it is, in so many ways, but, in the end, not different enough.

I'm stick of frantically scrolling around, clicking, only to lose in the end and have to try again. That's just not fun to me. And some scenarios here are so hard, I find it impossible to even begin. As I don't want to have to use cheat codes, I've had enough.

Such great ideas, too. Such a shame.

Just a quick response to Banquest review. I agree with what he says and it is a great game and does really need a sequel as this type of gameplay is new and addictive and should really be pursued, I had a great time with this game :D

A twist on the standard RTS of the day with non controllable units. They can be tempted to do things by using reward flags but other than that they do their own thing.

Your job is to build their guilds and various other buildings so they can purchase armour, healing potions and various other questing essentials. They then go off and hunt and explore the land.

Apart from setting reward flags you can also cast any spell that any of your guys has the ability to cast. It costs money to do so but can be fun helping out someone who is getting in more trouble than they can handle with a quick heal or lightning strike. You end up caring for the little guys, especially as they level up.. so it's nice to be able to help them out!

Units range from Fighters, Dwarves, Healers, Paladins, Gnomes, Wizards, Priestesses and a host of other weird and wonderful folk who you can watch going up in level, buying equipment and generally living an adventurers life.

A wonderful game. Completely replayable with it's Freeform mode where you can pick vast maps and choose all sorts of options for respawning lairs, types of monsters to be encountered and starting buildings.

It's much more addictive than you'd think with it's free thinking inhabitants. There's often little time to stop and follow the adventurers but when you do you'll notice lovely little touches where little quest parties form with, say, healers, fighters and wizards all wandering together and helping each other out.

It's a game crying out for a sequel. I can only imagine how great this game would be with 3d graphics, but alas no sequel has been forthcoming so far. Luckily this original version (with expansion pack) is still great and really like nothing else I've ever played. A true classic and has the added benefit of being able to run on low specs computers and laptops.