Where to get it

1993 · Silicon Knights · Adventure · Role-playing

Fantasy Empires

Create alliances, defeat enemy kingdoms and forge an empire in this Dungeons & Dragons game world! Under the computer Dungeon Master, you'll interact with fantastic races, command dozens of troop types, send your heroes on quests and construct a variety of buildings and fortifications.

Released: 1993
Platforms: MS-DOS Windows
Genres: Adventure Role-playing Simulation Strategy Turn-based strategy
Developers: Silicon Knights
Publishers: Strategic Simulations
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Themes: Fantasy
Country: Canada
Languages: English
Time to beat: 6hmain story7hcompletionist

About

Fantasy Empires is a role-playing fantasy wargame for MS-DOS made by Silicon Knights and published by Strategic Simulations in 1993. The game uses the Dungeons & Dragons license, and is set in the fictional world of Mystara.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

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, halflings, and shadow elves can all be built as units in the army.

Reception

Computer Gaming World 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 #207 by Sandy Petersen 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, "Fantasy Empires was a solid and fun strategy game, as well as an oddly forgotten credit for an excellent developer".