Explanation

Let me tell you a story. This was the summer of 1998.

I was at my childhood friend’s house, in an upper middle class suburb of Stockholm – called “Ekerö”.

His mother, who had sustained an aggressive form of Breast Cancer, had been outside, and spontaneously bought this computer game.

She knew NOTHING about computer games. Using Microsoft WORD was an attempt to hack into NASA, as far as she was concerned.

She just knew that her dear son, her only son, LOVED computer games. And she supported that interest, because she loved her son with every atom in her body.

She died, soon thereafter.

Lords of Magic

The game that she bought? It was called “Lords of Magic”.

As my friend talked about this game, I could see the enthusiasm on his face, and hear it in his voice. Since you could play it without the CD, he gave it to me, so I could play it at home.

I was BLOWN away.

I had not played Heroes of Might and Magic at that time, because my introduction came with Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (which came out a year later).

Which I loved.

I still think it was the best Heroes of Might and Magic game ever made. But I do not know if I am being nostalgic, or if it REALLY was the best! =)

Anyway.

The worldbuilding for Lords of Magic was incredible. It was the most well built fantasy world – I had ever come into contact with.

It was one single world, instead of letting the computer generate a new map every time (which is usually the case).

But this allowed the company who made the game, Sierra On-Line, to put a lot of time into this world. As they only had to make ONE world.

This world had a BRILLIANT design.

Factions

It is inhabited by 8 Factions. And these factions are based on the elements themselves. On the building blocks of life.

Not only that, but each Element, each Faction, had an opposite – a nemesis.

In the list below, I will list the opposites by each other.

The 8 Factions of “Lords of Magic”:

1. Life
2. Death (opposite of “Life”)
3. Earth
4. Air (opposite of “Earth”)
5. Fire
6. Water (opposite of “Fire)
7. Order
8. Chaos (opposite of “Order”)

As I remember it, the kingdoms that were at odds with each other, were located on opposite sides of the world.

As far away from each other as possible. This makes a lot of sense. It was also symbolic.

It was also impossible for them to establish good diplomatic relationships with each other.

Here is a description for each faction lifted from the Wikipedia Page of Lords of Magic.

Life

Referred to as the ”Elddren”, the followers of life are elves who fight with oaken staves and bows. Their structures are carved out of trees with white bark and golden leaves and they are at home in the woods.

Their land is a distinct vibrant green. Life has the strongest archers in the game, but suffer from weak melee fighters. Eventually they can summon Pegasus riders and the mighty phoenix.

Death

The Dark Elves who follow Golgoth. They inhabit the swamps and marshes of Urak and are feared for their potent necromancy, spear-throwers and cavalry.

They have very few weaknesses, the greatest one being that that other faiths are initially hostile toward them, and their relationships will automatically depreciate over time. Their special creatures are the vampire and lich.

Earth

Based heavily on the hobbits and dwarves of Tolkien, the Earth-Folk live in giant mushrooms and earthen burrows. 

They have the slowest movement speed of any faction, an often crippling weakness, but make up for it in the endurance and strength of their warriors. They can summon golems and the Great Worm.

Air

In Urak, both storm giants and fairies make their homes among the clouds. Air Mages are renowned for their incredible magic and their giants wield massive swords that can topple foes.

They suffer from weak cavalry but typically their armies march quickly and unhindered. Eventually they can summon a storm dragon.

Fire

The volcanoes and lava filled caves are home to the faith of Fire, a people composed of both Giants and Dwarves. Their magic is destructive and their offense relentless.

They can do large amounts of damage but often can’t handle much themselves. They can eventually summon a mighty dragon who can destroy armies on its own.

Water

The Amazons rule the waters in Urak. The Water people live in coral-encrusted homes by the shores. They benefit from the strongest ships in the game by a margin so large that most faiths can’t even compete for dominance.

They also have strong cavalry and warriors and quick scouts. They suffer from lacking a special creature that succeeds on land and from poor archers. They are the only faith that can summon more than one legendary creature, the Giant Arachnids.

Order

Heavily based on the legends of Camelot, the members of Order represent a typical medieval fighting force. Plate-armored knights and hardy crossbowmen make up their ranks.

The faction of Order is the most well-rounded in the game but suffer from not excelling in any field. Also, in the regular game their city is found close to the center of the game world, so an Order player who makes many enemies will quickly realize they have bitten off more than they can chew.

Their special creatures are spirit warriors and Sir Lancelot of the Lake; when fully leveled, Lancelot is superior to the special creatures of the other factions.

Chaos

Barbarians who roam the mountain and plains of Urak. Living in a tribal society, these warriors excel at brute force, but lack in defense and marksmanship.

Their warriors and horsemen can strike fear into many, but their laughable stickthrowers make effective ranged attacks next to impossible.

They can summon a Hydra as their special creature. They also benefit, and sometimes suffer, from a chance-based magic system. Their spells can either do great harm to their enemies, or themselves.

Guides

1. Here is a short beginners guide on Steam.
2. Here is a long guide on Reddit.
3. Here is a link to a collection of player made guides on Steam.

Here is a link to each individual section:

• Here are 9 Guides on “Classes”.
• Here are 6 Guides on “Gameplay Basics”.
• Here are 5 Guides on “Characters”.
• Here are 4 Guides which provide “Walkthroughs”.
• Here are 4 Guides on “Weapons”.
• Here are 3 Guides on “Secrets” (cheats, bugs, broken tactics).

But Lords of Magic is a game you can play without reading any guides first.

Multiplayer

This game was rushed out 3-6 months too early (maybe more!), so the only playable mode was its single player campaign, which was good, but also had some bugs.

There was no multiplayer.

There were no servers to connect to. It was not possible to connect directly to another IP-address, and play that way. Back then, a lot of games had this function.

There was no “Local Area Network” play.

Which would have allowed you to setup two computers and play with a friend. This way, you can share this world together, and play against the computer in various scenarios.

A Game Update

If a new gaming company took this game:

1. Bought the rights
2. Updated the graphics
3. Removed the bugs
4. Added Multiplayer gameplay

– then, we would have a GREAT GAME!

They would not have to do anything else.

But a nice feature would be to add various single player modes. These games work best against the computer, so there needs to be more than the main campaign.

Doing this would not require a lot of work. A medium sized team could do this in a couple months. The game is already finished.

Apparently, this game had such an engaged fanbase, that they continued patching the game, after it stopped being updated. Remember: this was back in 1998.

People BARELY had internet, back then. You would have needed some serious programming skills – in order to patch a game like this.

This was a hint of greatness.

When writing this text, I almost gave this text the title: “Lords of Magic: The BEST Game That FAILED”.

It is a bit dramatic. I admit it! But it might ACTUALLY be true!

Game Mechanics

The game mechanics of this game are very strong, virtually PERFECT. The map movement is turn-based, but the combat is real-time – with pauses.

This real-time combat changes the feel of the entire game. It makes a big difference.

Through your conquests, you can accumulate “Fame” and “Followers” – which gives you various bonuses.

It was 26 YEARS since I played this game, so I do not remember ALL the details! =)

Devoted Fanboy

But a Devoted Fanboy posted this in-depth guide to Lords of Magic on Reddit. It contains 14 Parts, which are posted as comments to the original thread.

The introduction was very well written.

Here it is:

Introduction: What is Lords of Magic?

LoM is a strategy game released for PCs in 1997. It combines simplified elements from many gaming genres including:

1. Real-time strategy (think Warcraft)
2. Turn-based grand strategy (like Sid Meier’s Civilization)
3. Roleplaying games (Dungeons & Dragons style)

LoM can be considered representative of the 4X subgenre of strategy games:

1. eXplore
2. eXploit
3. eXpand
4. eXterminate

The player must explore a vast map of the game world, build the military and economic power of his faction by working with or against other factions, and ultimately overcome and destroy the game’s villain: the Death Lord, Balkoth.

In 1998 the ‘Special Edition’ expansion of LoM was released and added new buildings, new creatures, and the more story-based ‘Legends of Urak’ single-player missions.

You can find the rest of the guide here.

Steam

You can actually buy this game on Steam for 5 Euros (or 6 Dollars). Here is the Steam Page.

There is a “Special Edition”, which includes the expansion “Legends of Urak”. It contains a series of quests, more content, and hopefully some bug fixes.

The 449 User Reviews on Steam are 91% Positive. Me and my childhood friend’s opinion of the game – seems to be THE NORM!

I might actually go and buy it.

The Heroes of Might & Magic Killer

The “Heroes of Might and Magic” game series was well made, essentially bugfree, and contained a lot of playable modes.

It was the BIGGEST turn based game of its time.

Lords of Magic could have been bigger.

But in order for this to become feasible reality, as few things would have needed to happen.

1. The team would have needed another 6-12 months to fix everything in the game.
2. They would add features such as Local Area Network play, Multiplayer, and variations of the Single Player mode.
3. The game would have needed a proper launch, with marketing efforts behind it.
4. It would have needed a strong expansion, about a year later, that also fixed all the major bugs, and gameplay problems – in the original game.
5. This expansion would also add new content, with focus on the single player experience. As, back then, most play was against the computer.
6. Another expansion would follow a year after the first expansion. It would contain more game features, and more game content. This expansion would improve the game graphics.

After these two expansions, they would start working on the sequel, “Lords of Magic 2”.

This game would be a better looking, smoother running version of the original game.

In order to run the game smoothly on most operating systems, you played with a 800 X 600 resolution. The highest playable resolution was 1360 X 768.

If all these things had been in place?

Then.

This game would have become the Heroes of Might & Magic Killer.

Player Made Content

In a perfect world, they would have allowed players to add new content to the game.

They could have released a “Game Editor” that allowed you to make single player scenarios. The company could have uploaded these scenarios to their website, and offer cash rewards for the most popular ones.

The creator could have been offered a “stipend” – to develop this scenario further.

Both the Starcraft games – and the Warcraft games – had game editors like this.

Remember that this game was being patched by the devoted fanbase even WITHOUT the help from Sierra On-Line.

Imagine what would have happened if they were actively cooperating with the fanbase?

The fans would have made a lot of good content, the game would have grown, and EVERYBODY wins.

Steam Reviews

Here are some handpicked reviews from Steam.

They are listed in order of popularity, as ranked by steam. But very short reviews have not been included, because they add no value.

Enjoy!

DuskCookie

DuskCookie: I’ve used to play this game non stop when I was younger. One of the few games that I ended up getting super addicted. The game is basically Heroes of Might and Magic except a bit more tactical on the combat side.

When this game popped up on Steam, I knew I had to buy this game out of pure nostalgia. While I still have the original disc, I wanted this version to play on Steam. To this day, I still rate this game pretty high.

If you don’t mind the game being wide screen and the graphics to be a bit grainy, get this game especially if you like strategy games.

Saveclementine

saveclementine: This game deserves to be so much better known than it is! My dad bought it on release with our first computer back in the late 90s and it is still his absolute favorite game now in 2017. I used to spend hours watching him play it, and even now it’s still a ton of fun.

I think what really makes it is the level of detail. The developers clearly spent a lot of time working on the lore. Each of its faiths has a great, distinctive feel. Every unit has their own separate portrait and voice prompt (these get repetitive but really add depth).

The combat is really clunky and can be very challenging and seemingly random (I tend to just autocalc everything if I’m being honest), but there’s just something so satisfying about building up your awesome army and conquering your neighbors.

Although it can be kinda easy to get stuck in a gameplay rut, there’s a decent amount of variation to be found through the various faiths and lords, the map editor (completely change up the map or even build your own… it adds way more variety than you’d expect), and the story mode expansion.

That being said, I really wish this game had gained the popularity needed to get a sequel (or two or three). It would be awesome to see a more modern take on this. 

One thing I’d really like to see added is more expansion to the economy. A more robust trading system and financial management would really help the endgame (at which point your only options are really to kill off all of your allies, wander around fighting random dungeons, or just quit your hard-earned game. Boo!).

If you like strategy, fantasy, or especially both, this is definitely worth a try.

Mangs

Mangs: I am writing this review to showcase my Let’s Play of this game, which I recently released on my YouTube channel named; Mangs.

Lords of Magic was the first game I ever played as a child. Gifted to me on Christmas eve when I had just turned 9 years old, it was a game that stirred my interest for turn-based strategy.

I did not even understand the language, but I loved the graphics, sounds and especially the music. I played this game so much I ended up having to re-buy it twice due to breaking two of my CD’s.

Looking back at it 20 years later, I am amazed how far this game was ahead of its time compared to other games. While it may be clunky, slow and outdated by today’s standards, it poses a real challenge to even the most hardened veteran, and it’s systems are still complex and tricky to figure out.

The game’s diplomacy system, while not terribly advanced, still allows you to be somewhat tactical by befriending other nations via the use of gifts and trades.

The magic is very tricky, requiring you to research your spells before using them, but once you get going, magic becomes a terribly force on the battlefield, allowing you to wipe out entire armies with your wizard alone.

This would be a problem if the game was named anything else than “Lords of Magic”, but with magic being such a central theme of the game, I am okay with it being as devastating as it is.

For all the love I have for this game, it can be terribly frustrating at times though. Even your toughest units die so incredibly fast in battle. Saving them feels like a hopeless and sometimes monotonous task, and in order to succeed you HAVE to babysit your units like crazy until they start leveling up.

Even at max level however, they usually do not last very long on the battlefield, but at least they have a fighting chance.

I also heavily dislike the auto-calculate feature that allows you to resolve battles with the click of a button, as it goes way too easy on the player, often tempting you to auto-calculate simply because the result is more desirable. 

I suggest not using this feature at all if you want to have a good experience with this game, unless it is to quickly get rid of a small, meaningless army that would otherwise not pose a threat to you.

20 years later, this game continues to captivate and amaze me. The music, graphics and sounds are timeless to me, and completely one-of-a-kind. If you enjoyed games like Heroes of Might and Magic as a kid, you will absolutely love Lords of Magic. I seriously recommend it!

Ystadyr

ystadyr: Straight to it, Lords of Magic is one of the best. I cannot do it justice, it’s really a diamond. I’ve played it since the demo came out 19 years ago, and I played it yesterday.

Overall: 9/10

Game Length: Hours

Complexity: Moderate

Replay: Infinite

The music has that rare perfection, it is atmospheric, beautiful, and yet blends into the background and doesn’t annoy on repeat (unlike say, Civilization I and II). The gameplay itself is fun, sensible, and keeps getting deeper the more one plays.

While the rules are simple, they mingle to form complex situations. The AI is unexpected, good even by today’s standards. There’s tons of customization without it being overwhelming or senseless.

It’s endlessly replayable, every New Game plays out differently. Of course, you can always play as the main villain instead for a completely different experience, or one of the expansion Quests. There’s even a complete map creator if you want more. You literally cannot run out of game to play.

Everything matters, from terrain, to spells, to flanking, to army movement, and so on, there is no aspect of the game that is ‘useless’ or ignorable.

Now it is also likewise quite unforgiving, rarely is there a chance to take back a bad decision, it’s not that any mistake will spell your doom, it’s that one could. Getting yourself stuck in the zipper of imperial overreach is very much a possibility.

This is a challenging game, and it does not have much tolerance for tactless blind charges, dumb is dead.

It is however true, just as in real war, that sometimes a misstep could not be foreseen, or luck sides against you, and in a close battle that can be the difference that causes utter defeat. The game is only <mostly> fair, not completely fair. Even a solid victory can be Pyrrhic.

I’ve seen it said that the game is well balanced, or not at all. I disagree, I think it has that always-sought after and rare perfect imbalance.

Yes, some Faiths are easier or harder for beginners, because their strengths are intuitive or obvious to implement.

But each one can win consistently, they just use unconventional tactics, and come into their pinnacle at different stages.

Like, Life infantry may be weak, but that’s because they’re not meant to fight, they’re meant to Parry in full defense, holding the line while your archers eat up the enemy.

The Air infantry make terrible infantry, because you should use them like cavalry instead. The best Fire spell harms all units on the battlefield, but Fire Mages and Elementals are resistant, making them the ideal sacrificial mercenary strike team to soften a powerful enemy army at low cost. 

Chaos Stickthrowers are generally mistaken to be the worst ranged units, but their attack speed is the quickest, so they lock down powerful enemy melee units if targeting it together as a group.

There’s always a useful method to be found. Not every Faith fights best in a traditional style, and often their true strengths are meta – such as economics, mobility, recovery, or synergy.

However, the balance between preparation and tactics, skill and luck, quality vs quantity, those factors are superbly arranged.

Lords of Magic did have troubled development, it was a buggy mess that was beloved despite that, and the game wasn’t completely fixed until support was discontinued. 

Steam offers the 3.01 version, however it retains one significant Unit ID bug that replaces Brownies (tiny weak scouts) in some low level battles with Pegasus Riders (absurdly strong late game tank).

To that end I completely recommend the unofficial 3.02 patch, dedicated fans took development to the finish line, removing the last bugs and improving the menu and game interface. As always, use at your own discretion.

That said, the game shines, not for it’s functional but dated graphics, but the fluff. Each and every of the 160+ spells has it’s own story text, revealing the culture, legends, and life of the people of each Faith.

Every dungeon has a serviceable description, that unveils a deeper moral ambiguity than you’d expect. Sure, some Paladin Lord of Order is expected to liberate a sacred statue from miscreants, but what of robbing and pillaging the estate of a wealthy ex-thief?

It makes no difference mechanically, but it highlights that victory is at all costs. It clearly takes influence from the Lord of the Rings, but it absolutely makes up itself. Even the building quotes hint at a rich and full culture and history for each Faith.

When it’s cheesy it’s homage to Conan the Barbarian, Tolkien, Beowulf, King Arthur, and other classics. Even the hefty manual is more narrative than tutorial.

In short, more than anything, it’s voluntarily immersive. It lets you care. It brings you in and makes it believable that there’s a whole world.

The story, the music, the atmosphere, the strategy, all are crafted together masterfully to create a cohesive and fulfilling fantasy 5x – explore, expand, exploit, exterminate, and experience.

Eschaton

Eschaton: This game had the best graphics I had ever seen on the PC when it first came out. I was 12 then and I still think the gfx are pretty good.

That was the main reason why I shelled out $40 at the time, not knowing that it would end up being one of my favorite games of all times for other reasons too.

Namely the excellent soundtrack, 3D world map that makes for interesting exploration (even though originally there was only 1 map in the game), immersive diplomacy, good thief abilities for spying on or stealing from the enemy (also it’s fun decimating weaker enemies with just 1 thief as they can ”hide in the shadows”) and a ton of spells that I never even got around to trying most of.

Many artifacts to find for the champions, although it’s often annoying to not be able to use them as they are often faith dependent.

The combat system is clunky and somewhat tedious but basically strategic with missile units and mages usually doing most of the damage.

It is often simple to trick the computer by having it chase one of your melee units around while you fire on them with missiles, and the enemy doesn’t evade well if at all.

I suppose you could have an army of mostly melee units, but you’d better find the best ones in the game because most of them are pretty weak.

The redeeming aspect of battles is the rpg-like element of experience points that levels most units (not all) up to 5, and champions much higher.

I always preferred playing as the Life faith, and it may be the easiest one to start with as they have the best missile units (archers) in the game.

A tip would be to free your great temple as soon as possible (before the first 7th day) in order to start gaining followers for gathering resources and creating new units. 

New followers arrive to your empire every 7 days, depending on how much ”Fame” you have gained.

I really hope they fix the ”Pegasus bug” as I have already run across 3 of these level 8 creatures and it takes an entire army with my best champions to take one down, usually losing a couple units in the process.

Not necessarily a bad thing as it adds challenge, but I really don’t think a level 2 hamlet is supposed to spawn this creature.

I really really hope they make a Lords of Magic II, or at least an HD update for this game!

Ben

Ben: Well strategy players, RTS players, RPG players, this is it. You’re done seeking. You’re done looking for the dragon you’ve been chasing since 2001. This game is it. 

It’s the ultimate piece of art that belongs next to Dwarf Fortress and Pablo Picasso’s wooden sculptures in the Modern Art Museum.

Here we have a RPG strategy with RTS elements staring us in the face, and it has been staring us in the face since 1996.

The DOOM players overlooked it and the Diablo players were so blinded by Blizzard’s genius that Lords of Magic was thrown to the wayside, never looked upon again until now.

Here we have one of the greatest video games in the past hundred years. A true diamond in the rough in which all visions of modernity have built upon and supposedly improved upon but they fall short of its greatness.

Give it a try. I certainly will be playing it.