''Fantasy Empires'' is a

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

fantasy wargame for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

made by

Silicon Knights Silicon Knights was a Canadian video game developer. Founded in 1992 by Denis Dyack, the company was headquartered in St. Catharines, Ontario. They started developing for computers such as the Atari ST and IBM PC compatibles. After 1996, they m ...

and published by

Strategic Simulations Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) was a video game developer and publisher of over 100 games from its founding in 1979 to its dissolution in 1994 (though the brand was in use until around 2002). The company focused on computer wargames then lat ...

in 1993. The game uses the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'' license, and is set in the fictional world of

Mystara Mystara is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role playing game. It was the default setting for the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons, "Basic" version of the game throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Most adventures published for t ...

Gameplay

The player is first tasked with creating a character along iconic ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roles. This persona serves as the leader of the army during battles, but does not fight. The main portion of the game is played on the 'strategic map'. In this portion of the game, the main tasks include expanding territory by invading and conquering provinces either neutral or enemy owned, constructing building improvements on provinces already owned, and hiring troops. Troops can only be hired if the appropriate buildings are constructed. Apart from humans, the game also has provinces where orcs, dwarves,

elves An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda''. In medieval Germanic-speakin ...

halfling Halflings are a fictional race found in some fantasy works. They tend to be depicted as physically similar to humans, except about half as tall and not as stocky as the similarly sized dwarves. Halflings are often depicted as having slightly p ...

s, and shadow elves can all be built as units in the army. The game comes with a full view or fog of war option. The full view allows the entire world to be seen, while the fog of war only allows knowledge of adjacent kingdoms. The AI uses a

neural net In machine learning, a neural network (also artificial neural network or neural net, abbreviated ANN or NN) is a computational model inspired by the structure and functions of biological neural networks. A neural network consists of connected ...

. Some features of the game are making truces (the breaking of which could cause lawful or neutral characters to become chaotic), creating different types of heroes ( fighter, dwarf, elf, magic user,

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

), setting the battle scale (from 20:1 to 1:1) and casting magic spells based upon the points derived from heroes (magic user, clerical, and druidic). Multiple battles with the same troops against 50 or more opponents could cause them to become veterans or even elites in rank. The game comes with a number of NPC opponents, some of whom go all the way through the 36th level and present a formidable challenge.

Reception

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' in 1994 stated that "''Fantasy Empires'' succeeds at all levels", approving of the randomized countries and "seamless integration" of human and computer opponents. The game was reviewed in 1994 in ''

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

'' #207 by

Sandy Petersen Carl Sanford Joslyn "Sandy" Petersen (born September 16, 1955) is an American game designer. He worked at Chaosium, contributing to the development of ''RuneQuest'' and creating the acclaimed and influential horror role-playing game Call of Cthul ...

in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the game 3 out of 5 stars. A review in the German computer gaming magazine POWERPLAY 12/1993 rated 61% for the original 1993 floppy disk version. According to

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1999 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for Quake, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

, "''Fantasy Empires'' was a solid and fun strategy game, as well as an oddly forgotten credit for an excellent developer".

Reviews

* ''

Tilt Tilt may refer to: Music * Tilt (American band), a punk rock group, formed in 1992 * Tilt (British band), an electronic music group, formed in 1993 * Tilt (Polish band), a rock band, formed in 1979 Albums * ''Tilt'' (Cozy Powell album), 1981 ...

'' (Dec, 1993) * ''Génération 4'' (Dec, 1993) * ''

MikroBitti ''Mikrobitti'' (formerly called ''MB'', ''MikroBitti'' and ''MikroBITTI'') is a monthly Finnish computer magazine published in Helsinki, Finland. History and profile ''MikroBITTI'' was first published in May 1984. The original publisher was Tec ...

'' (Jan, 1994)

References

External links

*
Review
in ''

Compute! ''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', is an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET. ...

'' {{Dungeons & Dragons video games 1993 video games Computer wargames DOS games DOS-only games Dungeons & Dragons video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer hotseat games Mystara Role-playing video games Silicon Knights games Strategic Simulations games Turn-based strategy video games Video games developed in Canada