Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim is a computer game in the RTS genre, set in a fictional fantasy world called Ardania. The game was developed by 1C: Ino-Co. Its release took place in the autumn of 2009. Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim is a reimagining of The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, a project developed and released by Cyberlore Studios back in 2000.
The game is based on the well-known GEM3 engine, which has been used to create all Majesty games since the second installment. The graphics are quite nice, making the gameplay in Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim genuinely enjoyable. However, this is not the main merit of Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim. The project falls into a rare category of strategy games nowadays, which implies that the player does not always have the freedom to decide the fate of their subjects. To put it simply, the concept of indirect control of units is employed in The Fantasy Kingdom Sim. This means that you cannot just right-click on the map and send a unit there.
For example, to instruct scouts to explore nearby territories, you need to set special flags in the areas you wish to clear of the "fog of war." In the 2000 version of The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, curious scouts would automatically run in different directions immediately after the necessary buildings were constructed. Nevertheless, there have been some changes in dynamics in Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim – the game has become much faster, and the role of the gamer as the ruler of a fictional state has somewhat increased. In the reincarnation of The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, you can no longer just build a few buildings and walk away from the computer for several hours – this may lead to unfortunate results. Yes, warriors and heroes can still independently resist attacks from various creatures (which appear to assault the settlement from all directions), but player control must be present.
While in the first part of Majesty you could go to sleep and wake up to find minimal changes on the tactical map, in Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim this trick will no longer work – the village could be completely destroyed, and heroes could scatter all over the game world. Naturally, this deviation from the canons of Majesty did not please the traditionally-minded players, but this is the tribute to the times – slow and cumbersome games cannot attract an audience of modern formats.