Demos are free, well demos of games designed to get you interested (or addicted) to a game, so that you'll buy it. Most of the games that I've bought were because of demos. To aid you sort though the thousands of demos available on the web, I've started doing reviews of all the demos I play.

Install information:

The install size of this demo is 60 megabytes(the size of downloaded files is 43.5 megs), which is not that bad, in fact it's pretty good these days. I had no install problems. The background used within the install program is too busy though, and it's hard to pick out any one image. The time it took to install was very reasonable, and I had no complaints there. Unfortunalty though and the end of the install it asked me to register with Microprose, which I did have some problems doing. With my first try, the connection failed to the 1-800 number, but the second time it went without a hitch.

Errors:

I had two errors, about 2 minutes into the first game, the demo booted me to windows for no apparent reason. No big deal, I was only a few minutes in, so I wasn't annoyed, and I just got the hang of the game, and you always seem to mess up the first time around, so no problem restarting. The third time around, I had gotten the hang of the demo's one level, and I had just finished the objectives, the congratulatory screen when it froze. I had just gotten the cash to upgrade my castle, and I wanted to try building the Mage Guild, cause it looked pretty cool, and it was the only thing left to experience. I'm a little disappointed at the bugs that I've found in the demo, but it's not nearly as bad as some demo's.

Gameplay:

This game is a hybrid RTS and RPG. Both elements are combined, and it's very well done. Let me explain this concept a little more to you. You don't control units, like in all the other RTS games. At the warrior and ranger guilds, you can recruit hero's. These are computer controlled, but you can entice them to attack or explore by placing rewards. Occasionally hero's from other lands will join your kingdom.

Your kingdom is centered around your castle. You can build warriors guild, a ranger's guild, a trade guild, a blacksmith, and a tower, when your castle is at it's first level. Once you have a certain number of hero's recruited, a certain number of houses ( houses are built by computer controlled citizens) etc, you can upgrade to a second level castle which let's you build a Mage Guild.

There's only one resource in the game, gold. You use gold to construct buildings, research technologies, recruit hero's, and place bounties. You can get gold though taxes, a market day at your market (your market is closed for the time of the market day), and via sales. Your blacksmith can sell armor and weapons to heroes, and they pay with money gained from bounties, treasure chests, and killing enemy units and buildings. This improves your heroes usefulness, and you get back some of the money you paid them though bounties. Hehehe.

Graphics:

The graphics in this game are moderately good. The unit graphics are extremely well done, as are the portraits and interface art (it is a little bit busy though). The terrain graphics though are very good. I like the art for the trees, and the building art is ok. I like the construction art, because it's unique for each building. (Unlike say, AoK).

Performance:

I was really impressed with the game performance, it was superb. The game preformed better than almost any other that I've recently played on my computer. Since my computer was very close to the system requirements, I was impressed. Most companies put the requirements lower than they actually should be, but in this case, the requirements are quite true. (Note: I was only able to test it on one computer a P200, 64 megs ram)

Difficulty:

The demo is not at all difficult, in fact, it's great. I think that it's just about the perfect level of balance, not impossible for people new to the game, and yet still interesting enough for veteran players of the RTS/RPG gaming. I personally feel that demos should be relatively easy, so that people don't get frustrated with the game.

Tips/Walkthrough:

-Open a warrior's guild and a ranger's guild. Fill them both up with the maximum of 4 recruited units.

-Build several towers, and research arrows. This helps you defend your town.

-Don't use too many explore or attack flags. Use them only for vital objectives, say finding the dark castle, destroying it, and killings those vampires.

-The only effective way that I found to destroy Vampires is though the use of towers upgraded with arrows. It helps to have towers surround your castle, not only to destroy the vampires, but to harass the smaller creatures.

Usefulness of Game help (Tutorials, Read-Me's, etc...)

The game help was helpful, and slightly above average.

Final Thoughts

I heartily recommend this demo to anyone interested in the RTS/RPG genres. I can excuse the bugs, because the game is from an early build of the game. It may be a big download for those of use with slower modems, so I recommend getting Go!Zilla (www.gozilla.com) and scheduling the download for at night, this way the download is faster, and easier. For those not wanting to spend the time downloading it, it's on the Demo disc of the April 2000 PC Gamer. I'm going to keep my eye on the game, and I'm already considering buying it, which, in my opinion, is the goal of every demo.

Sites on the web related to the game:

Cyberlore Studios - The people who made the game.

Official Majesty Site - The official site.

Majesty - Dragon - Apparently the most comprehensive fan site around. A good place for news.

Wallpaper site for Majesty - A very nice site which has very very nice wallpaper with a majesty theme.

Download locations:

Adrenaline Vault

Happy Puppy

Official site using Gigex.