Lords of the Realm
Lords of the Realm
Game
Game2015
Lords of the Realm II
Developer Impressions Games
Lords of the Realm II is a 1996 video game developed by Impressions Games and published by Sierra On-Line for DOS, Microsoft Windows and Macintosh. The second title in the Lords of the Realm series, it is a medieval-themed strategy video game in which players compete with feuding lords to control the counties of a kingdom. Gameplay consists of turn-based resource management of villages and castles on a map, and… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
192 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy) · newest Nov 2, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
96
LovedLoved
171 positive · 8 negative
95% range 91–98%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 171 | 8 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| Lemmy * | 3 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Overwhelmingly Positive
1,308 of 1,358 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
95% recommend · 166 yes, 9 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 175 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (1,649 of 1,716 positive).
Players praise Lords of the Realm II as a nostalgic classic that remains fun decades later. [1][2][3] Some note dated graphics and simple mechanics, but still recommend it. [4][5][6] A few reviewers report technical issues and poor AI. [7][8][6]
Liked
Representative posts
- [7]
It runs poorly out of the box and crashes randomly during the start-up. You might want to use DDrawCompat to eliminate the awful low-resolution blackboxing. To run the game in windowed mode (read: not have your other windows crushed and reformed every time you start it and to allow video capturing), you should get DxWnd. The most important setting in it is: DirectX -> Emulation and have that set to: None. The irony …
- [1]
Absolute nostalgia! Those who have played this game as children, will have a blast... Highly recommended!
- [4]
I got this game as a gift for Christmas back in 1996 when I was twelve years old. My family didn't have a lot of money, but my father had made the sacrifice to buy me a PC three years prior so that I could start learning to use it. I played this game for many, MANY happy hours on that old Packard Bell, and I still come back to it every once in a while today. It's a bit simplistic by today's standards, I suppose. The …
- [5]
I have been playing this game since I was a teenager. It was fun then, it is fun now. I am very surprised to see a game with such basic graphics (256 colors) still being played and sold today. Despite being marked in the store as designed for Windows, it also works perfectly on Linux Mint.
- [2]
Can't belive I'm playing this again especially in 2026 but its still fun destroying everything with a army of archers
Summarised from 34 of the 188 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 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Lords of the Realm II sits at 96% positive across 179 opinionated reactions from 3 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Lords of the Realm II peaked in ninth position on PC Data sales charts in January 1997. It was listed by the firm as the 14th highest-selling computer game of 1997, and the 19th of 1998. David Lester stated that the game sold 2.5 million copies worldwide. According to review aggregator website Metacritic, Lords of the Realm II received "generally favorable" reviews. Several critics praised the combination of turn-based and real-time strategy gameplay, although some felt the modes conflicted with each other or would not both appeal to strategy players. The turn-based mode was praised: Next Generation viewed its emphasis on economic management as "plausible" and "realistic" and gave it a…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 192 · most liked firstAbsolute nostalgia! Those who have played this game as children, will have a blast... Highly recommended!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Exactly. There were a ton of these in the 90s, like *StarCraft Brood War*, *Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal*, and my personal favorite *Lords of the Realm II: Seige Pack*. Even today, there are plenty of great examples, like the new DLC for *Factorio*, *Space Age*. Good DLC isn't a problem, MTX and DLC acting like MTX are the real problems.
neutral · AI labelView post →Can't belive I'm playing this again especially in 2026 but its still fun destroying everything with a army of archers
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I got this game as a gift for Christmas back in 1996 when I was twelve years old. My family didn't have a lot of money, but my father had made the sacrifice to buy me a PC three years prior so that I could start learning to use it. I played this game for many, MANY happy hours on that old Packard Bell, and I still come back to it every once in a while today. It's a bit simplistic by today's standards, I suppose. The graphics are dated, and the gameplay is slow and straightforward compared to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There are many games where managing an increasingly expanding empire gets so tedious they stop becoming fun. Rome: Total War, Lords of the Realm II, even Civilization has that problem. Game devs know this, so historical accuracy is sacrificed for game mechanics emphasizing fun/progression.
neutral · AI labelView post →Man, I used to play this game ALL THE TIME back in the day. It was one of those management/strategy games that had more depth than anything I was ever used to and nearly mastered it at 11 years old. Even these days, the game has an "expansion" i wasn't aware of that has more advanced systems that continue to provide a challenging and fruitful experience. The only neg I have toward it is its seemingly "realistic medieval time events!" that are basically the plague that wipes out all your people.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’m OLD old and Lords of the Realm II w/Siege Pack is my comfort game (when I don’t have time for Alpha Centauri w/Crossfire).
positive · AI labelView post →Still as fun to play as it was almost 30 years ago on Windows 95.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Thought I'd checkplay before the refund window expires; I lost five hours. Talk about old school addictive! As a kid, I remember I only had the demo for this game, but I replayed that demo probably for hundreds of hours. Now I can actually do the campaign. And for the young'uns, part 2 was C1vilization before C1vilization.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have been playing this game since I was a teenager. It was fun then, it is fun now. I am very surprised to see a game with such basic graphics (256 colors) still being played and sold today. Despite being marked in the store as designed for Windows, it also works perfectly on Linux Mint.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Been playing this game since I first tried it in 1996. Something about it is just so soothing. It's super simple by today's standards, super easy, and there's no difficulty slider really to speak of. Sierra game studio was a solid company back in the day.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A Wooden Palisade. A Motte and Bailey. A Norman Keep. A Stone Castle. A ROYal Castle.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An all time classic! You have not played a true turn based medieval game until you have played this one. A must add to your collection!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you are here, you already know about this badass classic.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Playing and drafting the article for Impressions Games' Lords of the Realm II (1996). This was my dad's first strategy game when he got a computer in 1997. It's turn-based and real-time in a way that was slightly unusual. Fun sieges. Medieval soundtrack goes off
neutral · AI labelView post →Classic and perfectly designed. Stay away from LOTR 1 or 3... this one is the only one you want.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Classic Lords of the realm 2 game that way to addicting for being so old. nothing hits it like this game does
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Strategy similar to chess with actual battle.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Probably the best game on Steam. Pity that LOTR3 was so crap
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →All your peasants are fed by dairy, my lord. Same.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →you know what gets me, why does no one remaster and make advancements to this game? this game is amazing and what 20 some years later is still an amazing game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →*Lords of the Realm II* It was my favorite game as a kid, and I still enjoy playing it today. It was perhaps the first game that I could do about as good or better as my older siblings, and I loved playing with the various settings and features. An honorable mention is *Sim City 2000*, which we took turns playing. I don't play it anymore though, so it's more nostalgia and less something I actually play. I now play *Cities: Skylines* as a form of homage to those memories.
positive · AI labelView post →I haven’t had a ton of time for gaming lately, but I did get in a quick session of Lords Of The Realm II. This is my comfort food of games.
positive · AI labelView post →one of the best games ever made and i still love it to this day
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yes, yes, come into my bottleneck filled with crossbows
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of the top 5 games from the days of AOL on CD! If you're tired of RAY TRACING sucking the life out of your machine, and getting no enjoyment out of it anyway... This is the game you should play. Do you like StarCrVft? This is the beginning. Do you like AgeOFEMpires? This was the beginning. Do you have an itch in the back of your mind that makes you want to find the PERFECT strategy? DOPE! Do you want to bum-rush your rivals? ...uh... yeah... not for you. BUT WE LOVE YA ANYWAY!!…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have a biased opinion of this game just from the shear nostalgia of having grown up with it. Classic Sierra game. If you don't like old games, it's probably not for you though.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →When I was but a lad, my father one day came home with this game. With wide eyes I began to play and began to have a lot of fun with it. Not near as much fun as my father had as he stayed up for several nights playing this game. It was fun, learning tactics on taking castles, defending in field battles, and trying to keep the knight from ransacking my cows! You fight against everybody, slowly taking them out, from throwing them into dungeons to hanging them you take their lands and get rid…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lords of the Realm II, released in 1996 by Sierra On-Line and developed by Impressions Games, is a strategy game that masterfully blends turn-based resource management with real-time tactical combat in a medieval setting. Despite its age, it remains a standout in the genre due to its distinct mechanics, atmospheric presentation, and the way it combines kingdom-building with warfare. Set in a fictionalized version of medieval England, the game puts you in the role of a noble vying for control of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →FEED YOUR PEASANTS TO KEEP THEM HAPPY..........RIGHT CLICK ON ITEMS....... CATTLE PROVIDE...........
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dig Dug is an interesting thought (great Commadore64 oldie as well), though not where that quote game from. It's from the greatest game ever made: [Lords of the Realm II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_the_Realm_II)
positive · AI labelView post →> Wine Yup, I ran `MtG: Arena` since public beta on Linux (way before the Steam release) and it was fine. I would have to manually reinstall every update until someone fixed it in the Lutris script, but the installation process was totally fine. I also installed a bunch of games before Steam was even a thing on Linux and they ran just fine in WINE (old PC game Lords of the Realm II, Starcraft & Starcraft 2, and others). > The Deck helped more with popularity & spread of Linux, rather…
neutral · AI labelView post →Replaying mid-90’s computer game Lords of the Realm II and loving it
positive · AI labelView post →Lords II is a rather rare strategy game which has both full control turns and real time action sequences that gets your blood pumping, an excellent combination. It also offers a wide range of difficulty settings to suit a player's skill level, and the quick AI turn times keeps the game in motion.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game functions as I remember it. The music doesn't loop properly and will break upon switching screens. The combat is weirdly fast and engaging while the turn based aspect is more slow and methodical. A blast from the past for sure, and a good play if you're into rts/tbs. I wish there were texture updates for more modern pcs/higher resolution screens. Speed runs are possible too, for those into retro speed running.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You need some 90's gaming nostalgia! There's a lot about modern games that make them taste like bland slop. Come play this one from your childhood...or even before you were born!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't know what they've done to this version but it's much crappier when it comes to controlling the army as well as autocalc the battle results. this game was nostalgic and great. there was no reason to Fk with it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i like the simplicity of the game. a great childhood classic
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do I recommend this game? YES! I grew up with this game. Played it on the old windows...97? 98? original windows? one of those. Even was lucky enough to play multiplayer between either two laptops or the computer and a laptop. Granted, I got my ass beat back then cause I didn't know what I was doing. Got a lot of tips from paying attention to my opponents moves. Now, good luck beating me ^-^ Apparently I've done 112 hours on this account for steam. I probably have at minimum a few hundred. I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In 1996 this game was the first non-educational game i ever played, and it changed my experience of gaming forever. I was very pleased to find the whole pack of the Lords game up and playable. I could relive the magic of that Xmas day on my families brand new windows computer in the corner of the small kitchen. It is exactly what i remember, what was a truly basic and simple game, broken and all. Its so honest, just so very Sierra era games. I guess what im saying is, if like me you remember…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this for my Dad and he seems to like it better than the Internet Archive version
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of my favorite nostalgia games of all time, simple and so much fun
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game. I could play it for hours. It never gets old.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I... actually don't think I played any 1996 games in the year 1996. I would say my favorite game now is Escape Velocity. I do want to give a shout out to Lords of the Realm II as another favorite from my childhood (though I know I didn't play it until a few years after its release)
positive · AI labelView post →A classic. I always thought this is the inspiration for the Total War series. It has a very similar style.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An absolute Sierra classic, and just as I remember from the 90s. Comes with a launcher that automatically sets the Windows compatibility settings for the main executable, and perhaps other files. I was pleasantly surprised that with some minor tweaking it essentially ran out of box on Windows 11. Certainly better than trying with the old CDs. The game itself is pure turn-based strategy awesomeness mixed with real-time battles. The units are scaled in the sense that single units onscreen…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Welcome to Lords of the Realm II
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I just randomly stumbled onto Lords of the Realm II, a game I adored as a kid. It's 80% off for a price of ~60 cents. Instant buy! store.steampowered.com/app/397350/L...
positive · AI labelView post →I've played this off-and-on ever since it came out on CD-ROM. At this point, you have to treat it as a slice of history rather than something that can actually compete with today's strategy games. Total War: Shogun 2 outdoes this by a mile. I could list off bunches of pros and cons, but I'm not going to. Instead, I'll say the following: - This is very easy to pick up and play for strategy beginners. - It's got a lot of personality and character. - It's a lot of fun despite a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sharing a random spindle: Lords of the Realm II *Disc says '96, so I remember nothing, but it's a Sierra game so...
neutral · AI labelView post →Lords of the Realm 2 is a medieval, turn-based strategy game with real-time combat. The general premise of the game is to successfully balance the needs of your people with military preparations to protect and expand your kingdom. Pros/Cons Pros: The game came out in 1996 so the graphics are noticeably dated but nonetheless, it still looks good for its age. I have put 75 hours into the Steam version of this game so far, playing every map available, and I have yet to encounter a bug. Other…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an old school game that isn't as easy as you think. It is a great game to play late at night while watching TV. I still have the original CD from decades ago.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It runs poorly out of the box and crashes randomly during the start-up. You might want to use DDrawCompat to eliminate the awful low-resolution blackboxing. To run the game in windowed mode (read: not have your other windows crushed and reformed every time you start it and to allow video capturing), you should get DxWnd. The most important setting in it is: DirectX -> Emulation and have that set to: None. The irony is that you will get a black screen if you do not disable the emulation. That…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good nostalgia hit, game still hits the same but the difficulties are considerably easier than I remember.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely top tier, still haven't found something modern that scratches the itch in the same way. Love this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love this old classic. Once you understand it, it's not a very complicated or difficult game, but it still holds up.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Major blast from the past , my mom loves and has not yet beat it she said its really good strategy game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What can I say about Lords of the Realm II? Still in my top 5 games ever. I wish Lords of the realm III had been a real successor.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played the absolute heck out of this when I was a kid. I mostly just loaded up skirmish and had a bazillion battles at bridges. The AI was never too bright so those were just massacre moments. Excellent music, fun gameplay if you do decide to go the campaign route even. Today I mostly just skimmed through it to make sure it works fine and well in Windows 11. It does. Already loved it and if I didn't have eleventy thousand games to play I'd probably spend more of today with this.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the greatest games ever made. And its still an absolute blast to play!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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