Knights. Lords. Queens. Battles. Castles. Sieges. Kingdoms. Weapons of all sorts. And Boiling oil. Every movie I could find with these I watched since I was a tot. Found all these in Lords of the Realm II. And a great deal more. I have followed this game for years. I love it.
Despite the simple graphics, there is enough detail to support your imagination. If you love strategy games that can be played as a single player, this is perfect. You can change its basic game elements – money, land, cattle, food, weapons. You can vary the number of characters can play. The characters are classic. A brusque Baron. A vain Countess. An egotistical Knight. A pretentious Bishop. Each capable of treachery. Each with a different style. The best part of this game: endless variations. Not just in the basic elements: build castles or armies, form alliances or go on your own, tax or build happiness, cattle or grain. Each scenario has its own idiosyncrasies. Each world its own difficulties. Add choices in playing out the battles or “autocalc.” Levels of difficulty, variations of weather, other elements add to the game play levels of complexity that raise this game to one that transcends its basic simple design. Great fun that I highly recommend. A true classic at a great price.
It is not graphically demanding. Playable on Windows 8.1, 10 𝒂𝒏𝒅 11!
Edit: Since the time of my initial review, after playing around with the compatibility mode, restarting Steam, restarting Windows, in an honestly haphazard manner, I finally got the game to work on Windows 11 22H2 after a Steam update. I said this elsewhere in the Lords discussion - but felt honor bound to say it here. I will add that I still have 2 copies of the Bart Farkas "Lords of the Realm 2 - The Official Strategy Guide - from 1997 - still sitting in the bookcase lol, next to the original Sierra CD. This IS the only game that I have still been playing for that long - only Civilization 3 comes close.