Lords of the Realm III
Lords of the Realm III
Game
Game2015
Lords of Magic: Special Edition
Developer Impressions Games
Lords of Magic is a turn-based strategy Microsoft Windows game designed for Windows 95/98 by Sierra On-Line. The game was intended to combine elements of Heroes of Might and Magic II and Lords of the Realm II. The special edition also contains the Legends of Urak quest pack, a set of five individual quests that revolve around stories unrelated to the main plot of the game. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
214 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy) · newest Oct 31, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
94
LovedLoved
166 positive · 11 negative
95% range 89–96%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 166 | 11 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 17 | 0 | 19 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
439 of 472 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
94% recommend · 168 yes, 11 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 179 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (514 of 557 positive).
Players praise the game's nostalgic value and unique blend of turn-based strategy and real-time combat. [1][2][3] Many note the steep learning curve and dated interface, but find the gameplay rewarding. [1][4][5] Some reviewers report technical issues on modern systems, particularly Windows 10 and 11. [6][7][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [7]
Game is broken on Windows 11, refuses to open passed the launcher box. However, I will not be refunding it in hopes that something comes along that fixes it.
- [1]
OG Sierra development at it's finest. Just remember the game is almost 30 yrs old, so it's not a modern interface, and there is no hand-holding. LOMSE has never been a problem to get running (Win95 to the present 11, on non-gaming laptops/towers), and it's a natural 4:3 aspect. It's OK to start on Easy for your first time, like most 90s games- Hard difficulty is meant to be challenging, and near-impossible for …
- [2]
The nostalgia is strong with this one... Growing up, I used to watch my parents play this all the time. I remember when I finally got to play it for the first time. I chose the Chaos faction...and got absolutely wrecked. So many years later, I tried it again. Went with Order that time, came so close to victory...but no dice. THEN, we lost the disc for the game. Oof. When I saw this game was out on Steam, I …
- [4]
hardcore rules, steep learning curve and oldschool low polygon graphics are the only drawbacks to this, a semi-original high fantasy game made before the modern LOTR movies hit the genre. Its unique and fun in a timeless way and it needs a modern remake please please please please. each faction has enough variety to feel unique and different and has its own pros and cons and magics which make sense per lore. its …
- [3]
Lords of Magic is one of my favorite childhood games. It has endless replayability, 24 unique champions to play as, 5 special campaigns, and complex magic and thief systems I never even delved into that deeply as a kid. All units can be renamed, and every unit has multiple icons that are randomized whenever you make a new unit. It is a 90s game, so the uniqueness of units can only go so far, but in every new game I …
Summarised from 34 of the 215 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
94% of the 179 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Lords of Magic: Special Edition. The complaint that keeps coming up: dated graphics and clunky interface. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Lords of Magic received average reviews. The Special Edition received above-average reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 214 · most liked firstOG Sierra development at it's finest. Just remember the game is almost 30 yrs old, so it's not a modern interface, and there is no hand-holding. LOMSE has never been a problem to get running (Win95 to the present 11, on non-gaming laptops/towers), and it's a natural 4:3 aspect. It's OK to start on Easy for your first time, like most 90s games- Hard difficulty is meant to be challenging, and near-impossible for 1st-timers. Save often, and have multiple saves slots while learning the ropes.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →we need more of Lords of Magic (PC game) in modern society. absolutely incomprehensible UI, may God have mercy on your soul, this is bad and poorly designed but beautiful games.
neutral · AI labelView post →Some things that appear simple are not so simple as they appear. For instance, chess. Or Lords of Magic Special Edition. The basic game is straightforward: pick one of seven religions, and either a warrior, thief, or mage as your leader. Try to survive the upcoming war of conquest waged by the Death religion to sacrifice non-believers and bring the God of Death to the world of Urak. Each religion's units have different strengths and weaknesses. The mages of each faction have spells that fit…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There is an old video game called Lords of Magic in which the Order faction (which is about unified effort towards the greater good) has as its top-level spell "Heroic Demise". Mechanically the spell gives one unit a big boost to all its stats, but the catch is that at the end of the battle that unit always counts as having been killed. I was very reluctant to use it when I was a little kid because I didn't want to kill my own units, but of course the lesson is that units will die anyway and…
neutral · AI labelView post →What a great game from the glory years of Sierra. It came off the heals of Lords of the Realm 2, another great game, and was glorious. I had the demo as a game and pleaded with my parents that we get this game and it was rewarded with a Christmas morning. I played this and quickly found the best units and always got them. It did get a bit lame after a long time but then they had the fun extra missions of the legends of Urak. It was nice. So, when I came back as an adult I found a mod that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What kickstarted your world building journey? If you can identify, what was the first point of inspiration that led you where you are now? For me it was the cover of Island of the Lizard King (yes, only the cover) and the game, Lords of Magic. #worldbuilding
neutral · AI labelView post →When is remake? Of all the $h1t @$$ games being remade how has no one picked up this gem?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll bite- 10 games to describe me: Lisa: The Painful Undertale The King of Fighters 15 Jet Set Radio Future Starcraft Brood War Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage Lords of Magic Ultra Street Fighter 4 WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$
neutral · AI labelView post →Better than Diablo 4!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you loved the music in this game, thank Keith Zizza at https://buymeacoffee.com/zizza
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lords of Magic: Special Edition, developed by Impressions Games and published by Rebellion, stands as one of the most ambitious strategy titles of the late 1990s—a hybrid of turn-based empire management, real-time tactical battles, and role-playing progression wrapped in a mythic fantasy world. It presents the land of Urak, a continent divided by eight elemental faiths—Life, Death, Order, Chaos, Fire, Water, Earth, and Air—all locked in eternal rivalry after the dark lord Balkoth plunged the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The nostalgia is strong with this one... Growing up, I used to watch my parents play this all the time. I remember when I finally got to play it for the first time. I chose the Chaos faction...and got absolutely wrecked. So many years later, I tried it again. Went with Order that time, came so close to victory...but no dice. THEN, we lost the disc for the game. Oof. When I saw this game was out on Steam, I immediately purchased it. I can proudly say that, after about 20 years of on and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →GUYS. GUYS. Memories of an old video game that I ADORED as a kid struck me like a thunderbolt and I realized that I can play it and I can STREAM it! And I'm gonna do that this week! It's Lords of Magic, a 1997 fantasy strategy game, and the nostalgia might actually kill me live on stream! Come see!
positive · AI labelView post →Game is broken on Windows 11, refuses to open passed the launcher box. However, I will not be refunding it in hopes that something comes along that fixes it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Reskeet a picture of the very first game you remember playing. There are three different ones I remember playing as a little kid. I'm honesty not sure which one I played first. It was either Evel Knievel for the Gameboy Color, Super Mario World, or Lords of Magic.
neutral · AI labelView post →Lords of Magic is one of my favorite childhood games. It has endless replayability, 24 unique champions to play as, 5 special campaigns, and complex magic and thief systems I never even delved into that deeply as a kid. All units can be renamed, and every unit has multiple icons that are randomized whenever you make a new unit. It is a 90s game, so the uniqueness of units can only go so far, but in every new game I played, I would rename and bond with my squads of lizardmen, cat scouts,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →- Arcanum (Just spent an insane amount of time in it) - Diablo (First Action RPG) - Baldur's gate (First CRPG) - Lords of Magic (First strategy game) - Morrowind (which is a bit later than the others but was my first console RPG so it's basically how I learned how to use a controller)
neutral · AI labelView post →Who dares stand before my fairy horde!? Oh… Oh no… My Frost Giant Mage!!! 😭 Game Over, but can really you be upset with such a delicious late 90’s cutscene? Lords of Magic truly brings me back to some late night gaming sessions when I was young.
positive · AI labelView post →Schedule for next week! We're wrapping up one more campaign in Lords of Magic, then continuing the 90's nostalgia train with another game from my childhood: Master of Orion II, a 4X space strategy game hailing all the way from 1996! Prime the plasma cannons and load your photon torpedoes!
neutral · AI labelView post →Oops, I streamed for 2 hours longer than intended because I was having so much fun with Lords of Magic! Had some trouble with a bug right at the end, but man this game is SO full of magic. More on Thursday! We passed the love to @purrcelaindoll.bsky.social, who's playing the demo for Heartworm!
positive · AI labelView post →Old school, Janky AF, and great fun for what it is.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played this for the first time in 2024 so the following review is not biased by any nostalgia for the game. However, it is biased by a fondness for retro games and the fantasy genre. If you enjoy retro fantasy games like myself, then this game is for you. Lords of Magic is an easy to learn, turn based strategy game with real time combat in which you develop your buildings, build up your army, and go out to conquer your enemies while exploring the world of Urak. The artwork and audio is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game. If you do as well, you can get a WORKING Version from GOG website. As this one is broken if you have windows 10-11. I don't have another version of windows so I cannot tell you if it does work just with a earlier version. That said, I do have a laptop with the original CD of the game, purchased back when I was a little kid. That does work and the version of windows I had back then was Windows XP.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An old favorite that hasn't aged well. When this game was brand new I would spend many an hour munching on carrots, drinking strong black tea, and trying to win this game when I should have been studying for my college classes. The turn based strategy combined with real time battles is most welcome here, but the interface and graphics are clunky and dated. The sound effects and voices are great, but some of the design just looks silly. The dwarfs and gnomes are cute but the Nordic high elves…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lords of Magic was a fantastic PC game that I never actually figured out how to play. seemed fun though.
neutral · AI labelView post →"Lords of Magic: Special Edition" is an ancient game from 1997. It's a whopping 26 years old at the time of this review. The game lacks support for any modern gaming display resolutions (or widescreen monitors), hasn't been modernised or updated to run smoothly on modern gaming PCs. Despite this lack of modernisation, it carries a pretty high price tag for such an ancient game. This seems to have been put on Steam as a nostalgia gouge. Topically this is basically a clone of Heroes of Might…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is timeless and unique. It truly needs a remastered edition!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The greatest game of all time
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Classic game, still very fun. Feels a bit slow paced by today's standards and the graphics could use an overhaul, but it is still a great game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's ok. There's not much going on and I can see why people like it, coming up with broken strategies and all that. I waited until Balkoth was to distracted fighting Life and Order over the Fire Capital to notice My Chaos Commandos sack his capital in a daring raid.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My games to play when I can't decide what to do is always either Lords of Magic or a PS1/2 game like Dark Cloud, Wild Arms 2.
neutral · AI labelView post →"There's only ONE Lord of Life and he doesn't ride a dinosaur!" - my fundie cousins if they found out about this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Old school graphics, but the sounds effects, game play and strategy are still a lot of fun!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →8 teams all in one map same time. fluid game where the player can get what he asks for. both turn based overworld with limited strategy making it simple to focus heavier on micro-management and mostly planning turns ahead before combat but always with an option to negotiate and trade before or after real time combat in dungeons or randomly generated battlefields. the difficulty is kind of open to interpretation and imagination. there are bugs which run fine but may seem confusing on a first…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Originally published by Sierra back in the day, this classic 4x was the beginning of a long journey outside of the Civ series. I love firing these old favorites up once or twice a year for a spin around the block. I still quote some of the Barbarian and Fire voicelines to my wife and kids around the house.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →will not let me play the game and i have tried every step tech support has given me
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →save often is the no.1 rule. Find a strategy and someday someone will revive this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My go to favorite game is Lords of Magic, the UI sucks, the AI is so easy to beat, has some annoying bugs but the fantasy art style is charming, the music is really good and I just love it dispite its flaws. (I wouldn't mind a rework of sorts thst fixes the garbage hero inventory )
positive · AI labelView post →Post a Mage. I wish I could get Lords of Magic to run on Linux, its my comfort game.
neutral · AI labelView post →This is my OG go to when I need to check out and have a good time. For me its a blast from the past that reminds me of a simpler time. It also has an amazing lore behind it which I am all about.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's just too damn old at this point. I don't recommend this unless you have nostalgia for it. Arrow keys to scroll view, keys not re-bindable, hurts to look at, mods just tinker with balance for the most part & don't address resolution or key UI problems.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →And if there were patches, you 100% had the choice to run it without them. There was a bad patch for Lords Of Magic SE that completely screwed up the difficulty scaling. Of course the version GOG had up for the longest time (I think they supposedly fixed it) was the base game plus that patch.
neutral · AI labelView post →played this game on a gateway 95' haha i still love the game. just wish it had updated graphics
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A childhood favorite of mine. The game hasnt aged terribly well and its a bit buggy but hits that nostalgia just right.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →hardcore rules, steep learning curve and oldschool low polygon graphics are the only drawbacks to this, a semi-original high fantasy game made before the modern LOTR movies hit the genre. Its unique and fun in a timeless way and it needs a modern remake please please please please. each faction has enough variety to feel unique and different and has its own pros and cons and magics which make sense per lore. its really got something for people who like unique 4X.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I saw some cousins of mine playing Lords of Magic at a family reunion once, and I eventually got a copy for myself It's clunky, convoluted, and a confusing strategy game I love it so much, this game is everything fantasy I could hope for Keith Zizza's soundtrack for it slaps
positive · AI labelView post →I keep wanting to check out Against the Storm. Age of Wonders IV looks very cool and reminds me of Lords of Magic. But I think I want something historical? Age of Empires IV is on Game Pass but I panicked the first time I tried it.
neutral · AI labelView post →Anyone else remember Lords of Magic? I played this a ton back in the day. I believe I had the Special Edition as a birthday gift one year, and oh the memories I have of it. #Games
positive · AI labelView post →This strategy turn-based builder game is what I consider the pinnacle of the Lords of the Realm series. The interface is bulky, and some aspects are redundant once you encounter a new aspect, but it is a game from the mid 90's. This game was built to last, and has lost very little of it's charm. Especially considering the fact that it is a game released bug-free.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game brings me back to a time when I was a younger man.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So many memories from when I played as a kid.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lords of Magic!!! I was obsessed with this game
positive · AI labelView post →This game is my childhood so I'm very biased. It is a great game but as usual with steam versions of old games it is an un-patched broken version, specifically it has a bug where one very high level enemy, a Pegasus spawns where a level one brownie should in dungeons and over-world encounters.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game rules lol. Nothing quite like it among fantasy civ games
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nostalgic game with turn based game play. Still has multiple story lines for hours of replay. if you like fantasy and mid 90's feel than this game is well worth it!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ah yes, my windows 98 compaq desktop and boombox blasting "trash" from the korn issues album as i an edgy pre teen conquer the realm with an army of brownies screaming "for the horde" because warcraft was still a good rts series and blizzard didnt suck complete ass yet. good times.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lords of Magic is also fun. Its like a mix of D&D and turn based RTS. Its also very cheap on steam. Also super old game.
positive · AI labelView post →i remembered this cover art from when I was a kid and can not believe I have found this game again. Thank you for bringing it back!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was the original designer/producer on Lords of Magic For all effective purposes, I am Balkoth Glad you enjoyed the game
positive · AI labelView post →dose not come with pach is un playable for the rase i want dont like it they need to pach it
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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