I started playing the beta version of Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, and I must say, I’m somewhat addicted. Before we get down to the brass tax, let’s just say the following: There may be (and certainly will be) changes before it hits the shelves, so that’s a good thing, because there are still a few rough edges.

The gist of Majesty 2 is that you’re a king trying to establish a reputation as a hero, so you engage on a series of micromanaging quests to prove your worth as a leader to your people. Every mission, you have to practice elements, such as slaying fell beasts, earning gold for your treasury and improving your citizens. The animation is smooth and fluid, the graphics are beautiful, and the story is fun and engaging. For example, as your heroes journey from quest to quest, you’ll discover ruins or temples, and they will have histories and detailed backstories for each of them, giving an otherwise basic SimCity-style game a more rich and magical feel.

The main focus of Majesty 2 is at once its joy and its hurt: your heroes. Each mission, you must build (in addition to economic structures) guild halls to recruit heroes. As your heroes slay monsters, they gain treasure and experience and gradually improve. At the end of each mission, you select one hero that will be recruited as a lord. Every subsequent mission will have a hall of lords that allows you to hire out formerly chosen lords with all their powers and equipment intact.

However, you don’t really have control over your heroes. They all have a unique personality matrix that you can influence but cannot control. So if you want a hero to explore the map, click a spot and place a bounty on the mission. If the mission is far from your castle in dangerous terrain, it is unlikely your heroes will follow with enthusiasm unless they are very high level with lots of power. But of course, if a hero is that high of a level, you will have to offer a very high bounty to attract their attention.

Rangers are most likely to seek quests for exploration, rouges will seek treasure, priests will be more likely to guard your defenses, and warriors will be more likely to hunt down and kill wandering monsters. But they will not simply do what you tell them to do; they do it if they feel like it, and that can be annoying as hell.

For example, every turn (broken down into days/nights), your people will return to an inn, Hall of Lords, guild hall or castle (whichever is closest) and rest for the night, then they will wake up next day and look for adventure. But if a dragon is attacking their guild hall, that doesn’t mean they will fight the dragon, and it doesn’t mean they will run from the dragon. They will just wander around until you put a worthy bounty on the dragon.

I really like my little band of heroes. They each have certain personalities and attitudes that make them (and consequently Majesty 2) a unique simulation game. One reason this is unique is that the reason any hero is even interested in bounties is because you create items of value in the town, such as healing potions. So you can make money by spending money.

I mean, in most games like this you build a unit, point at a target and tell it what to do, and they do it. Here, your hero might say, “Hmm ... the king is offering a bounty of 1,000 gold pieces for me to slay that werewolf.” Maybe they’ll journey out there, and maybe they won’t. But in the meantime, that’s a pretty big bounty to shell out on your part. But that’s OK, because once your hero earns the loot (if they earn the loot), they will come back and theoretically purchase a new sword worth 500 GP and maybe four or five potions at 100 GP each. So they actually are reinvesting their bounties back into the city, and you’re not losing anything and are getting rid of the werewolf.

But as for a straight city builder, I am slightly disappointed. You have very few building choices and almost no control of the design of your town. Your peasants will build homes with no consideration to city order or structure and will do so seemingly randomly and haphazardly. I’ve replayed several levels because a peasant will build a house too close to a spawn point for predators, which attracts the monsters’ attention, and they, in turn, come to destroy the house and then my town before I’m ready. I would blame myself for bad planning, but the peasants put the homes where they want, and I have no control over it.

Again, another disappointment is that you’re pretty much stuck with the standard buildings you could expect in real-time strategy games — that is, everything you build is directly related to your military. For example, a market earns you gold, which can be used to make guild halls, weapon shops, potion shops and other places to buy power-ups for your heroes. But you don’t have the little unique buildings that just make a city builder fun (such as gardens, statues, monuments, different style housings and so forth).

I have to reserve judgment until the full game comes out. Right now, pretty much everyone speaks Russian in the game, and you can read what they say in English text, but it’s clear they didn’t finish translating everything yet for the beta.

Another little thing I’d like to see changed is the ability to correct a simple placement error or mistake. As in, once you put the foundations for a building (even if you do it accidentally), you’re stuck building it. You can’t “remove” the foundations and shift it; you’re stuck with what you did, even before you start building it. The same is true for bounties. When you place a bounty on a target, the money is removed immediately from your treasury. If you lift the bounty a second later, too bad; the money is already spent whether or not a hero claims it.

Finally, I’d like to see a better transition between night and day. I think it would be cool that during the “night” turn you see slight merger in lighting so you can feel like it is a new day. I’m still enjoying the game, but I can dream, right?

Overall, I enjoy Majesty 2, and I will continue to enjoy it. Keep in mind: Although this is a fantasy game, Majesty 2 isn’t really for kids. And if you like simulation games, this may not be for you. But, if you are a fan of real-time strategy games and would like a fantasy spin, Majesty 2 may be what fills that gap.