Battle Realms

Battle Realms' gameplay is like many other real-time strategy games. There are several factions which all have various types of available structures and units to produce. Unlike other real-time strategy games though, the basic worker units (peasants), which are used for resource gathering and construction, also act as the base unit to be upgraded into military units. Thus, military buildings in Battle Realms are used for transforming and upgrading units rather than producing them directly, as peasants are the only units that can be produced outright: they must be trained in a military building and later converted into basic or advanced warrior units depending on the building in order to the player to build their army.

Peasants gather three resources in the game: rice, water and horses. Horses are war units (Optional Resources) that can be used to combine with other military units i.e. riding or can be turned into pack horses when assigned for peasants. Another unusual trait is unit generation, where peasants are produced automatically at no cost. The rate at which new peasants are produced is inversely proportionate to the current population of the player's army.

In single-player, the plot mainly revolves around Kenji, the last heir to the Serpent's Throne. When he returns from exile, Kenji comes across bandits raiding a peasant village. From there, he can either save the peasants or help the bandits in killing them. If he chooses to save the peasants, he will follow the path of the Dragon clan. If he aids the bandits, he will follow the path of the Serpent clan.

In Kenji's Journey, the player may choose which territories he or she wishes to attack first. (Otomo, his lieutenant, gives you the options.) When Kenji returns from Malcomson, he must decide whether to rebirth the Dragon Clan and save the peasants honor with righteousness or take up reigns in his brother's and his father, Lord Oja's, footsteps and lead the Serpent Clan. Taking specific territories might give benefits, and other Zen Masters may join Kenji.

The game was met with positive reception upon release, as GameRankings gave it a score of 82.04%, while Metacritic gave it 82 out of 100.

Igromania magazine gave the game 9 out of 10, calling it an "ideal contemporary Real-time strategy". The reviewer noted good gameplay and praised the graphics and animations, but he said the game did not deviate much from traditional RTSes and the AI did not stand out.