The
Majesty series consists of two games by
Cyberlore, titled
Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Simulation, and
Majesty: The Northern Expansion, released in 2000 and 2001. The Majesty series features strategic-development gameplay in which the player constructs and expands a kingdom by defeating enemy monsters using heroes. Unlike traditional real-time strategy, units in Majesty are entirely antonymous, operating on a mind of their own without control from the player. Different heroes have notably different personalities and abilities which the player must make use in order to complete a series of quests. The player therefore influences the game through its macroscopic elements such as placement of buildings, usage of sovereign spells and overall economic management, while the individual details are all played out automatically. This original approach to strategy games is one of the defining features of the series.
After the Northern Expansion, the series came to a stop with no more games released. A sequel
Majesty Legends was planned to be released but development came to a halt. However, more recently, fans of the original majesty series have notably created a browser-based role-playing game titled
Majesty: Heroes of Ardania which incorporates the world in the games.
Majesty takes place inside a medieval-like fantasy world known as "Ardania," inhabited by a diverse collection of humans, dwarves, elves, animals, beasts, and monsters. Kingdoms in Ardania are watched over by various gods whose disciples offer considerable assistance to the kingdom. Even if you have not played Majesty you can still browse this site to learn more about Ardania and the heroes and monsters therein.
Demo
The demo which features an original quest can be downloaded from the official site (
link).
Review of Majesty
By the creator of majestypalace.com
At the time of this writing, it's been over seven years since the release of original
Majesty game in March 2001. At that time when the traditional RTS model was being refined by Blizzard and Ensemble Studios, Majesty was a new and daring experiment combining both simulation and RPG with the traditional RTS environment. For its unique approach, Majesty was an outstanding work that excelled in originality and creativity. Unlike traditional RTS which had the player control groups of units, Majesty's units move autonomously with almost no direct control by the player. The units themselves autonomously decide when it's fitting to go into battle or retreat to the base. This hybrid approach to gameplay remains the most defining character of Majesty which has never been well-replicated in any other game.
Besides the wonderful simulation engine, Majesty also came along with an intriguing fantasy world to support the storylines in the game. The Majesty world with castles, dwarves and dragons gives a sense of popular medieval legend, while at the same time, shows its originality by incorporating mythological themes, such as a pantheon of gods, to form a unique background story. The exotic appearance of the Lunord and Helia followings show that much effort was put in to create something far more original than the average "medieval" fantasy game. The design of the Majesty World
In some ways, the simulation approach to strategy gaming had both merits and practical limitations. The merits, as mentioned, offered a feel of gameplay drastically different from any traditional RTS game (or simulation game, for that matter). The limitations, however, was that it was perhaps less compatible with already-established mainstream strategy, simulation, and RPG audiences. Most strategy gamers, for example, prefer to exercise skill in precise unit control, while the emphasis on unit to unit combat rater than macroscale development probably distanced Majesty from conventional "city-building" games. Furthermore, the nature of the simulation game probably made it difficult to build storylines with complicated character development preferred by RPG gamers. The eventual halt of the Majesty series was perhaps partly due to the difficulty in finding the right niche in the gaming community.
Northern Expansion, released in March 2001, was the last official Majesty game by Cyberlore. While Northern Expansion was a fitting and exciting expansion pack for fans the original, the release of Warcraft III months later questioned the technology of Majesty's engine. At the time, a 3D sequel to be named
Majesty Legends was in the works but the project was ultimately scrapped with the downsizing of Cyberlore, bringing the official line of Majesty games to a closure.
Today, the Majesty series is still celebrated for its originality and design still not replicated in any other game. The existence of fan-made projects such as Heroes of Ardania is a testimony of
Majesty's intrigue.
Box Cover Art
